Hudson was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1848 to the Thirty-first Congress, and moved to Lexington. Hudson lived in a large house on the town Common ("Battle Green"), about where the driveway of the Hancock Church is today. The house was moved to Belfry Terrace in the early 1900s. Hudson served as a selectman of Lexington from 1868 to 1875, and wrote a comprehensive history of the town, first published 1868. Hudson presided at the centennial celebration of the battle of Lexington in 1875, and delivered an address.