On paper, Nyack has much to recommend it, so we were surprised at what we found, and now feel compelled to take on the roll of mythbusters.
1. The general area around Nyack is referred to as "The Nyacks," which conjures physical beauty, luxury, good food, beautiful beaches -- like "The Hamptons." In fact, Nyack last saw luxury in the 19th century when it was a shipbuilding hub. Now, the sad boats strewn along the marina look as though they are held together with duct tape. And Nyack became "The Nyacks" because of town infighting over taxes.
2. Nyack is most famous for a nutty 1991 court case in which a judge ruled that one of the houses in town was haunted and ordered the owner to disclose that fact to prospective buyers. Scary, no?
3. The Edward Hopper House lends the town some respectability, but a funky sign in the window pronounced the home and gallery closed.
4. The village of Nyack covers only 1.6 square miles and half of that is under water. Had we not stopped at this cool diner for lunch, we would have been done with Nyack in the blink of an eye.
Durf and I went to a town called Pecos once. It's in Texas. We agreed that it was the most pathetic town we'd ever seen. To this day, Pecos remains in our lexicon as a metaphor for...well, lots of pathetic things. You might wonder if Nyack will now supplant Pecos. The answer is no. Pecos wins. Nyack lacks the distinction of ignobility.
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