The Burning of Kingston runs October 15 through 18 in Uptown Kingston, with reenactments, a colonial ball, film screenings and museum tours. On Sunday, October 18, the last day, the program moves west. By late morning the runners, the awards and the afternoon tours are all on Hurley's Main Street, and the town's own festival is a short walk away at Town Hall.
Hurley isn't a side trip on that Sunday. The 1777 story the weekend tells ends here, and so does the 2026 schedule. The route connecting the two places is a paved trail Ulster County opened two years ago, and the town is still building along that same corridor.
The Refugee Route Is Already Paved
In October 1777, more than 2,000 people fled Kingston for Hurley as British soldiers burned the city. The town's September newsletter notes that most of them could save only what they could carry.
If you've biked or walked the O&W Connector, you've already covered much of that ground. Ulster County describes it as a 1.8-mile trail that starts at Washington Avenue in Kingston and joins the O&W Rail Trail near Route 209 in Hurley. The county announced a Hurley-side ribbon-cutting for May 30, 2024. Before that, in February 2023, the County Legislature approved nearly $3.6 million to blacktop the section from Washington Avenue to Route 209. A Daily Freeman race report from November 2025 says the first 3.5 miles of the O&W are now paved.
The county lists the main Hurley parking lot on Route 209, just north of the Esopus Creek bridge. There's also parking at the O&W building, 79 Hurley Ave., in Kingston. That pavement is what lets a commemoration that starts in Uptown Kingston finish in Old Hurley without anyone touching Route 209 traffic.
How Sunday Moves West
The Rotary Club of Kingston is holding its fifth Capital to Capital 5K, a run/walk that raises money and awareness for the Ulster County Veteran Service Agency. In-person participants follow the O&W from Uptown Kingston to School House Lane in Hurley. Here's how the day unfolds, using the times printed by each organizer:
- 9 a.m. Check-in and late registration open at the O&W trailhead parking lot, 495 Washington Ave., across from Ulster Savings Bank.
- 10 a.m. The 5K starts. The Hurley Heritage Society opens its museum at the same hour for the awards reception.
- 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Back in Kingston, the Kairos Consort of Singers presents Lessons and Chorales of the Revolutionary War Period at Old Dutch Church, 272 Wall St.
- Around 11 a.m. Runners finish on Schoolhouse Lane, and awards follow at the Hurley Heritage Museum. UCAT buses start running from Hurley back to Kingston at 11.
- Afternoon Hurley Day runs in the Town Hall parking lot at 10 Wamsley Place, with free admission, food and craft vendors, children's activities and a bus back to Kingston.
- 1, 2 and 3 p.m. The Hurley Heritage Society leads walking tours of the colonial stone houses on Main Street.
- 3 p.m. The Bard Conservatory Vocal Arts Program performs "Songs of America" at Old Dutch Church to close the weekend.
The 5K costs $25 for adults and is free for children 12 and under. The first 100 registrants get a handcrafted commemorative Rev250 medallion. The race is also a hybrid. Virtual participants can cover 5 kilometers anywhere between October 3 and October 19, which means the window is already open. To get an official finisher's certificate, log your time on Zippyreg by 11:59 p.m. on October 19.
Two details don't line up across the published sources, so check them before you go. The town's event page lists Hurley Day from noon to 4 p.m. The September newsletter lists it from 1 to 4 p.m. The weekend schedule also describes the 5K kicking off at the Senate House, while Rotary puts check-in at the Washington Avenue trailhead. Rotary is running the race, so plan around its details.
Schoolhouse Lane Is Part of the Story
The finish line has its own history. The town newsletter recounts that in 1777 the British came close to burning Hurley too. They got within sight of its main street and traded cannon and musket fire with the Colonial Militia.
The Hurley timeline on the commemoration's website records that Lieut. Daniel Taylor was hanged from an apple tree beside Schoolhouse Lane. Once the British threat passed on October 24, General George Clinton left Hurley and took his troops back to their base at New Britain, near Newburgh. When runners finish on Schoolhouse Lane around 11 a.m., they finish on a street that shows up in that 1777 record.
The Month the State Government Met on Main Street
You'll often hear that Hurley "was the capital." The documented version is more specific. According to the timeline, when the British invaded Kingston, New York's Council of Safety moved first to Marbletown. It relocated to Hurley on November 18, 1777, and held its sessions at the Van Deusen House. The council probably boarded at the Wynkoop Inn, though the timeline offers that as likely rather than certain. At General Clinton's request, it moved to Poughkeepsie on December 18 to be closer to Newburgh. The timeline describes the Council of Safety as combining the state government's legislative and executive functions. For one month, that government met on Hurley's Main Street.
The 2 p.m. tour is the easiest way to put that history in front of you. The Hurley Heritage Society says the tours cover the town's more than 350 years and the stories behind many of its stone houses, and it strongly suggests registering ahead. A shuttle runs from Uptown Kingston for the tours, and museum entry is free. The museum is in the Elmendorf House at 52 Main St. Its newest exhibit is "Hurley in the Revolution: History Happened Here."
Timing matters if you want a second visit. Ulster County's tourism listing gives the museum's regular season as May through October, open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. That makes October 18 one of the last weekends of the season. If you miss the exhibit that Sunday, you have about one more weekend to see it.
What Hurley Is Building on the Same Ground
The parts of town that host this Sunday are also where Hurley is spending its effort this fall.
Two doors down Main Street from the museum, the town is turning the former library at 44 Main St. into the Hurley Heritage Community Center. The plans include a first-floor community and welcome center, offices for the town Historian and Recreation upstairs, and accessibility upgrades. In the September newsletter, Supervisor Mike Boms wrote that renovations are in full swing and still aimed at finishing by the end of the year. Next October, the people walking those tours may have a welcome center on the same block.
The trail is getting attention too. On August 25, the Town Board voted to seek bids for 14 bench sites along the Hurley Rail Trail, including ADA-compliant stone-dust paths from the bench pads to the paved trail. That vote starts the bidding. It doesn't mean the benches are in, so don't expect them on race day.
Closer to the cemetery side of town, the Ulster County Department of Public Works was scheduled to start work in mid-September on Zandhoek Road. The project replaces the north-side drainage ditch with culvert pipes and paves over them to make a pedestrian and bike path. Work runs from West Street along Zandhoek Road and Fortner Street to Millbrook Avenue. The town says it will press the county for a later phase that extends the path to Lucas Avenue. The county Legislature approved $2.4 million for the work. If you're in town for the afternoon, the Dug Hill Park ballfields are also finished, with new fencing and dugouts in place for fall flag football.
Hurley Day is still looking for volunteers of all ages. You can sign up by emailing [email protected].
Grist Mill Real Estate has worked across the Mid-Hudson Valley since 1974, and we care about the old stone houses on streets like Hurley's Main Street as much as you do. If you own one of them, or have wondered what one of those houses would mean for your family, we'd be glad to talk it through over coffee after the tours. Work With Us.
