The Albany-Hudson Electric Trail follows the route of an electric trolley that operated from 1899 to 1929 from downtown Albany through Rensselaer and Columbia Counties to the City of Hudson. Its name honors both that history and its present-day use. The 36-mile route transformed transportation in the area by providing a high-speed alternative to horse and mule travel on muddy roads, and at its height in 1915 the trolley carried 1.4 million riders annually, helping spur dramatic growth in communities along the line. In December 1929, the rising popularity of automobiles and the Great Depression brought the trolley to an end. Today the former rail corridor is owned by National Grid and serves as a vital link in the region's electricity distribution network. Stuyvesant Falls, along this route, was a typical nineteenth-century industrial community built at a source of water power on Kinderhook Creek. An 1836 account recorded two large cotton factories, two saw mills, a grist mill, a plaster mill, a paper mill, a satinet factory, two stores, two taverns, and forty-nine dwellings there. The Van Alen Cotton Mills and views of the upper and lower falls remain visible from the bridge, and the Stuyvesant Falls Mill District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The 750-mile Empire State Trail links New York City, the Hudson River Valley, Buffalo by way of the historic Erie Canal, and the Champlain Valley and Adirondacks, connecting urban centers, village main streets, and rural communities while highlighting the state's natural beauty, cultural heritage, iconic landscapes, and outdoor recreation.