Catskill's Main Street has undergone a quiet transformation over the past decade as weekenders from New York City discovered the village. The result is a short commercial strip with an appealing mix of working art galleries, antique dealers, independent bookshops, and a handful of good restaurants and cafes. It has not been overrun — the scale is human and the prices remain reasonable by Hudson Valley standards.
The galleries tend toward contemporary work by artists who live in the region, and several have connections to the landscape-painting tradition that Cole established here. The antique shops are the real draw for some visitors: the selection is genuine rather than curated, and you can still find 19th-century Hudson Valley furniture and art at prices that would be impossible in New York.
Bridge Street, running perpendicular to Main, has a few more shops and connects to the creek walk. The whole of central Catskill is easily covered on foot in an hour or two.