Herman's Nursery was located on rt 44 in Poughkeepsie and visiting over the holidays was a tradition for many families.

I remember as a kid growing up in Lake Carmel, long before ever moving to Dover Plains, the family and friends would pack up the car and head to Herman's Nursery in Poughkeepsie to visit the Winter Wonderland every year complete with Santa and his reindeer (they actually had a reindeer and other animals in a small petting zoo enclosure). We would walk through the store first looking at all the many aisles of lit-up artificial Christmas Trees and ornaments that they had available for purchase (we would always pick up a new ornament for the tree each year). And we would check out the Christmas village set up that the store had on display, and then it was off to the Christmas tunnel.

The Christmas tunnel at Herman's was a walk-through that featured animated holiday scenes and decorations. We loved walking through the tunnel and then visiting Santa and his reindeer afterward. I also remember a hot dog cart on the premises and grabbing a couple of dogs and a soda before venturing back to the car for the ride home.

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Herman's was built in 1960 and was a popular business that employed hundreds of people over 5 decades. I remember being sad when the business was shut down and buildings started to be dismantled. William Herman passed away sadly in 2017, and we're thankful for the memories he made for my family and many other families over the years with his store.

We would visit other area nurseries to carry on our holiday family tradition including Lewis Country Farms off Overlook Rd, but they would eventually close as well in 2007. We eventually settled on Adams Fairacre Farms just down the road on rt 44 as a spot to visit. Adams always had a pretty cool Christmas tunnel as well, but nothing will ever beat Herman's for me.

Hudson Valley Christmas Traditions in 2022

Herman's Nursery may be no more, but there are plenty of other great places to see with the family around the holidays here in the Hudson Valley. Check out 5 of the Greatest Hudson Valley Christmas Traditions, that you can enjoy in 2022.

Take a trip down memory lane with the Christmas at Herman's video below.

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