Antiques stores and warehouses in the Kingston and Saugerties area — like Milne Antiques & Design shown here — are so treasure-filled, prop stylists for HBO shows filmed in the region scour their shelves.
After nearly two years at home staring at the same stuff (if I may use a technical term), stir up your imagination with a day trip to six very different antique stores in Kingston, Saugerties and Hurley, where the goods range from classic emerald rings and antique medicine cabinets to salvaged cast-iron columns and first-edition books.
The distance from the farthest points on this itinerary is about 20 minutes, so you can easily visit every shop in one day with a stop for lunch, assuming you don’t get lost in snowdrifts of nostalgia. Don’t have all day? The Saugerties stores and restaurant are walking distance from each other. Please note: Check days and hours before setting out — some establishments are only open on limited days. Fridays and Saturdays are your best bet to see them all.
Saugerties Antiques Center, walkable from several restaurants and shops in downtown Saugerties, sells estate and costume jewelry, furniture, and more from a mix of vendors and owner-acquired items.
“People come to Saugerties for the real bargains,” says Dan Selden, owner of Saugerties Antiques Center. “We sell wholesale to the public.”
On a recent Saturday, Selden sat at his desk behind large display cases brimming with vintage jewelry and worked on a repair. His 6-year-old pug Ava lounged on a sofa nearby. “She has her own fan base,” Selden says.
So does Selden, who began selling antiques in 1981. He’s been at his current location for the past eight years, where in addition to his own items, he offers merch by 15 vendors. Browse an extensive assortment of fine and costume jewelry, furniture, art, kitchen items, comic books and Funkos, a collectible doll that looks like an oversized Kewpie with attitude and better hair. Saugerties Antiques Center, 220 Main Street, Saugerties, NY, 12477, 845-246-8234
Fed-On-Lights Antiques in Saugerties is a destination for film and television stylists, historic home buffs, and everyday shoppers seeking specialty lighting, plumbing and antique fixtures. The shop also offers lamp rewiring and repair services.
Don Curry has sold antique lighting, plumbing and fixtures in the same two-story 1830 building for more than four decades. Walk carefully down the narrow aisles that lead from room to room as you admire the chandeliers, wall sconces, marble-top sinks, clawfoot tubs and plumbing fixtures. Stylists for film and television, including Netflix and HBO, are frequent visitors. “HBO bought many items for the show ‘Pretty Little Liars,’” says Curry, who also repairs and rewires lighting. “They had three houses to do.” Fed-on-Lights, 34 Market Street, Saugerties, NY 12477, 845-246-8444
Partition Street is dotted with cute cafes and bakeries, and Miss Lucy’s Kitchen, with its well-made food, farmhouse décor and casual atmosphere, is a great stop for brunch or lunch. Sit in one of their mismatched chairs to dine on eggs benedict or a kale salad with puffed quinoa and apple. Non-designated drivers should consider trying one of their unusual specialty cocktails. Miss Lucy’s Kitchen, 90 Partition Street, Saugerties, NY 12477, 845-246-9240
Related: Antiques road trip: Treasure hunting in the southeastern Catskills
With inventory that changes constantly — merchandise has just 2 months to sell or is taken off the floor in favor of something else — Kingston Consignments always offers a fresh hunt for vintage goods. Bonus: its location in the Stockade District puts it within walking distance of other Kingston shops and restaurants.
Need mid-century chrome chairs in lemon yellow fabric? How about a Le Creuset pot or a Bolivian flag? At Kingston Consignments, merchandise has 60 days to sell or its owners are directed to come back and fetch it. Consignment makes up about 20 percent of the store; 26 dealers make up the rest. The merchandise, which leans heavily to mid-century, includes furniture, tchotchkes, kitchen items, books, art, clothing and more. “In this business, you realize you’ve never seen it all,” says co-owner Craig McElroy, who’s been at it since the late 80s. Kingston Consignments, 66 N. Front Street, Kingston, NY 12401, 845-481-5759
From bathtubs and heating grate covers (shown here), to kitchen hardware and lighting fixtures, the massive Zaborski Emporium in Kingston is a four-floor paradise of architectural-salvage seeking.
Imagine that hundreds of old buildings have been taken apart, their doors, radiators, bathtubs, stained glass windows, sinks, light fixtures and other contents sorted and put on display. Now you have an idea of what it’s like at Zaborski Emporium, where all four floors of the 40,000-square-foot former shirt factory are filled to capacity with architectural salvage, as well as antique furniture and household items.
“We’re known from coast to coast,” says Stan Zaborski, who recently passed ownership to his son Steven. “We’re known as a one-stop-shop for TV stations, the Metropolitan Opera and others,” including stylists for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” who stopped by recently. Don’t miss a birdcage shower from 1895 that Zaborski says probably cost $5,000 when new (current price, $18,000), and an antique German sink made of Monel, a nickel-copper alloy, with an $8,000 price tag and eight interested parties as of this writing. Zaborski Emporium, 27 Hoffman Street, Kingston, NY 12401, 845-338-6465
Milne At Home Antiques & Design's warehouse in the Rondout District of Kingston changes its inventory regularly, featuring French and early American antiques, in addition to rugs, paintings, garden planters and more.
While working on her M.B.A. at Columbia University in 1997, Rebecca Milne covered her dorm room walls with Vargas girl posters surrounded by lights, built her own bed from plywood, hung a French chandelier and added a French urn filled with branches and flowers. Her decorating skills won her “Coolest Dorm Room in America” from U.S. News and World Report.
Soon, friends began asking her to decorate their rooms, and thus a career in interior design was born. At her Kingston warehouse showroom in the Historic Rondout District, you’ll find furniture, paintings, sculptures, outdoor concrete planters and statuary, and rugs. The collection goes from France to early Americana to mid-century in just a few steps. Milne also restores and reupholsters furniture and designs custom pieces. “We like to mix things together to create an eclectic look,” she says of her style. Check out an 18th century bench and two groovy church pews from the 1960s. Milne At Home Antiques & Design, 81 Broadway, Kingston, NY 12401, 845-331-3902
Iris Oseas’s late husband Jonathan specialized in antique tools for building, cooking and woodworking, dating back to colonial times. The shop still has many tools for sale, as well as country and formal furnishings, china, glass, paintings, Asian objects and paper ephemera. “Many people use our woodworking tools to repair antique houses,” Iris Oseas says. The shop operates out of an 18th century building on her property, next door to an 18th century cemetery. Van Deusen House Antiques, 59 Main Street, Hurley, NY, 845-331-8852
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