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Coppersea Distilling’s wide-open outdoor farm space in New Paltz is a pandemic-perfect craft beverage hangout. Abundant in natural resources, once a vital thoroughfare of trade and travel, the Hudson Valley has long been a tourism destination, though the nature of its draw has evolved over time. In the 19th and early 20th century, it was a pastoral refuge for the wealthy and powerful, who built their estates along the river. In the early 1900s, creatives flocked to arts colonies to be kissed by the muse of nature. The Borscht Belt resorts fostered a culture of luxurious summer recreation and a safe haven from anti-Semitism. In the second half of the 20th century, the rocky crags, thick forests, and winding waterways sang out to hikers, bikers, and rock climbers, who travelled from all along the East Coast to summit the peaks, swing from the ledges, and swim in the lakes.
Ronnie Maisonet knew he was making special seafood when guests at the family events he catered asked for bigger portions and seconds before he’d doled out first servings.
Now, during a pandemic and one of the three worst economic downturns in a century, he and his wife Tiffany are turning a seafood side project into their primary business. Next month, they’ll open the Crab a Bag Puerto Rican seafood restaurant at 85 Liberty St. in the City of Newburgh.
Despite the coronavirus, they’re not alone.
Americans are founding new businesses at the quickest rate in over a decade, according to U.S. Census Bureau data tracking applications for the employer identification numbers used to form companies.