| Official Name: | Rhinecliff, New York |
| Settlement Type: | Census-designated place |
| Mapsize: | 220px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | New York |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Dutchess |
| Subdivision Type3: | Town |
| Subdivision Name3: | Rhinebeck |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 2.70 |
| Area Land Km2: | 2.66 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0.04 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 1.04 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 1.03 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.01 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Total: | 380 |
| Population Density Km2: | 142.80 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 370.01 |
| Timezone: | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Elevation Ft: | 55 |
| Coordinates: | 41.9194°N -73.9511°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 12574 |
| Area Code: | 845 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 36-61368 |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 962439 |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Rhinecliff is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located along the Hudson River in the town of Rhinebeck in northern Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Rhinecliff was 425.[2]
Today’s Rhinecliff was founded by Europeans in 1686 as the town of Kipsbergen by five Dutchmen, among them Hendrikus and Jacobus Kip. They moved from Kingston on the west bank to live in the new settlement along the eastern shore of the Hudson. By this time England had already taken over New Netherland, the former Dutch colony that included Manhattan.
The Hudson River Railroad's Rhinebeck station opened in 1851 at Slate Dock and was relocated south to Shatzell's Dock the next year. Charles Handy Russell, a real estate developer and owner of the ferry service to Kingston, created a small village around the relocated station. It was originally called Shatzellville, then Boormanville after railroad president James Boorman. Russell's architect and builder, George Veitch, invented the name "Rhinecliff" in reference to Rhinebeck and the nearby cliffs.[3] (Contrary to popular rumor, the hamlet was not named after the Wyndcliffe estate, which was never formally called "Rhinecliff".)[4] The Rhinecliff Hotel opened around 1855, and the post office was renamed Rhinecliff in 1861.[5]
Anna L. and Levi P. Morton, who owned the nearby Ellerslie estate, constructed and endowed the Morton Memorial Library in Rhinecliff in memory of their daughter Lena. It was dedicated as a library in 1908.[6]
Rhinecliff is located in the western part of the town of Rhinebeck, west of Rhinebeck village. It is directly across the Hudson River from the city of Kingston. The closest river crossing is the Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge (New York State Route 199), 4miles to the north. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Rhinecliff CDP has a total area of 2.6sqkm, of which 0.04sqkm, or 1.37%, is water.[2]
Rhinecliff is one of the oldest intact hamlets along the Hudson River and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributor to the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District. At 20miles long, this historic district is the largest National Historic Landmark (NHL) designation in the country.
Rhinecliff is also included in the Local Waterfront Redevelopment Program (LWRP). It is designated a Scenic Area of Statewide Significance (SASS), a contributor to the DEC Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District, a contributor to DEC Scenic Roads designations, and is in the Hudson River National Heritage Corridor. The hamlet serves as the water and rail gateway to the larger Town of Rhinebeck.
The hamlet is demarcated by large agricultural and wooded area to the north, east, and south, and bounded by the Hudson River on the west. Steep topography, formed by contorted slate ridges and valleys, define the site-specific and seemingly random orientation of the small, frame nineteenth-century houses and winding narrow roads. The hamlet had a mid-nineteenth century building boom, but its boundaries and building density have changed very little over the last one hundred years.
As part of the town of Rhinebeck, the hamlet of Rhinecliff is included within the jurisdiction of the town government.
A proposal to build a large contemporary residence overlooking the Hudson on Grinnell Street in the hamlet is generating controversy in Rhinecliff. Several Rhinecliff residents have spoken out against the proposal, objecting to the size of the proposed residence, its modern style, and that it blocks views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains. Other Rhinecliff residents have defended the proposal, arguing it will be a beautiful addition to the hamlet and that it blends the historic and the modern in a creative way. In 2014 the matter was before the Rhinebeck Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.[7]
It is within the Rhinebeck Central School District.[8]
Nearby notables, past and/or present, have included Levi P. Morton, Vincent Astor, Natalie Merchant, and Annie Leibovitz.
According to her biographer Louis Auchincloss, Edith Wharton was a frequent childhood visitor who later described the Wyndcliffe mansion as "The Willows" in Hudson River Bracketed. In her autobiography, A Backward Glance (1933), Mrs. Wharton wrote about Wyndcliffe and her aunt.[9]