Hudson River Maritime Museum

01/05/2024

Please note: Hudson River Maritime Museum will be closed to the public on Sunday, January 7 due to the forecasted snowstorm. The Live Edge Table Build class at the Wooden Boat School has been reschedule to January 14. Stay warm and safe everyone!

01/05/2024

We've limited spots left for the first class in a new series of workshops aimed at sharing tips and teaching skills that all boatbuilder's and a boat owner's should have in their toolkit. Learn the basics of using epoxy for marine application. Grab a spot now!>>> https://bit.ly/3RGVkAj

01/05/2024

🎵On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Twelve Hudson Bricks🎶

Bricks, bricks, bricks! Gee, thanks, honey! Rich clay deposits left over from glacial lakes during the last Ice Age made great raw material for a flourishing brickmaking industry up and down the Hudson River throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. At the industry’s peak, the Hudson was home to more than 100 brickyards employing over 10,000 workers.

01/05/2024

Loveen was built by John Francis Reaney as a rowboat in 1925 and carried cargos of seaweed much of her career, and saw work in the fishing trade. She is an outstanding example of her class of vessel: starting her life as a 22 foot rowboat, but converted to a gaff cutter rig.

https://www.hrmm.org/history-blog/sail-freighter-friday-gleoiteog-loveen-1925-present-and-galway-hookers

Image: Loveen Under Sail on Galway Bay. Courtesy of the Galway Ho**er Sailing Club.

01/04/2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us on the water in 2023! We can't wait to cruise with you again.

01/04/2024

🎵On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Eleven Steamers Steaming🎶

After Robert Fulton launched the North River Steamboat Clermont in 1807 and made a successful voyage from New York City to Albany, steamships began to multiply on the Hudson River as both cargo and passenger-carrying vessels.

Our hometown passenger steamer here on the Rondout Creek was the Mary Powell (pictured here), known as the Queen of the Hudson, operating between Rondout, NY (later incorporated into Kingston) and New York City from 1861 until 1917.

01/03/2024

🎵On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Ten Shipwrights Building🎶

HRMM may only employ one full-time shipwright (our master shipwright, Wayne Ford), but our Wooden Boat School’s many boat building and boat restoration classes can certainly accommodate more shipwrights in training! The next boatbuilding class available for aspiring shipwrights is the February 1-3 group build of a Kingston pram.

01/03/2024

The Annual Riverport Women's Sailing Conference returns on March 23, 2024. Welcoming all genders and levels of experience, this is a great opportunity to gather with sailors and aspiring sailors and improve their sailing skills. Register now via the link in the bio or at https://www.hrmm.org/riverport-womens-conference.html

01/02/2024

🎵On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Nine Sloops A-Slooping🎶

The sloop is a single-masted sailing vessel that was common on the waters of our estuary in the 18th through 19th centuries. The sloop’s design was ideal for carrying people and cargo up and down the Hudson, where shallows loom underwater and the wind can be fickle and undependable.

Our friends at the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater are still sailing up and down the Hudson in a replica of these historic sailing vessels. In the 1960s, Pete Seeger, his wife Toshi, and a group of activists and musicians began an initiative to advocate for a clean Hudson River, and they believed a historic Hudson River boat would be just the way to inspire people to feel connected to these waters. Since her launch in 1969, the Clearwater has been advocating for environmental protection of the Hudson and conducting hands-on environmental education.

01/02/2024

Our popular Furniture Restoration and Repair Class returns January 27 & 28. Join instructor Max Smith, a professional piano tuner, luthier, boat builder, and woodworking enthusiast, for this course covering methods for conserving structural and cosmetic details of furniture. Bring furniture pieces to be worked and Max will guide you through troubleshooting problems so your treasure can be restored to its former glory. https://bit.ly/47NHi5v

01/01/2024

🎵On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Eight Rowers Rowing🎶

In 1999, Rondout Rowing Club was formed at the Hudson River Maritime Museum to bring the sport of rowing to the entire Kingston community. With an emphasis on fun and camaraderie, the friendly club brings rowers from ages 12 to over 80 years together to row in the unmatched beauty of the Rondout Creek and Hudson River. Furthermore, the club sponsors the local Kingston High School Crew Team who train out of HRMM and compete with high schools across the Hudson Valley.

12/31/2023

🎵On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Seven Beacons Beaming🎶

Seven lighthouses remain standing on the Hudson River, with the southernmost standing under the George Washington Bridge and the northernmost standing between Hudson and Athens. Most Hudson River lighthouses warn mariners of navigational hazards like shoals close to shore or flats in the middle of the river. The Rondout Lighthouse, an exception to the rule, marks the entrance to the deepwater port of the Rondout Creek.

When our solar-powered tour boat starts her 2024 season in May, you can even get up close and personal with the Rondout Lighthouse! Our experienced crew and docents lead passengers into the lighthouse and all the way to the top.

12/31/2023

🎵On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Seven Beacons Beaming🎶

Seven lighthouses remain standing on the Hudson River, with the southernmost standing under the George Washington Bridge and the northernmost standing between Hudson and Athens. Most Hudson River lighthouses warn mariners of navigational hazards like shoals close to shore or flats in the middle of the river. The Rondout Lighthouse, an exception to the rule, marks the entrance to the deepwater port of the Rondout Creek.

12/31/2023

Register for the 7th Annual Riverport Women's Sailing Conference on March 23, 2024. Welcoming all genders and levels of experience, this is a great opportunity to gather with sailors and aspiring sailors and improve their sailing skills.
Link in the bio or at https://www.hrmm.org/riverport-womens-conference.html to register

12/30/2023

🎵On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...Six Ice Yachts Racing🎶

In the late 19th century, conditions were cold enough that the Hudson River was often frozen from early December through March, providing the perfect playground for an array of winter pastimes. Ice yachting morphed from a Dutch innovation that used work boats equipped with runners to transport people and goods over frozen waterways into a competitive winter sport adopted by some of the region’s wealthiest families, including the Roosevelts and Aldridges.
At its peak there were at least a dozen gaff-rigged boats and literally hundreds of smaller craft hailing from every community along the river. With frames of varnished wood and sails made out of Egyptian cotton, ice yachts could weigh up to one ton and are capable of racing at speeds exceeding 100 mph.

12/30/2023

Epoxy is an important part of a boatbuilder's, and a boat owner's, toolkit. Learn the basics of using epoxy for marine application in this new workshop on January 19. Sign up today>>> https://bit.ly/3RGVkAj

12/29/2023

🎵On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Five Lumps of Coal🎶

Looking for coal for someone naughty in your life? You would have had no shortage of it in the 19th century port of Rondout! When the Delaware and Hudson Canal was completed in 1828, it connected the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania to the port of Rondout, and from there, to ports near and far. Coal that traveled on mule-towed canal barges would be off-loaded onto Island Dock, the human-made spit of land you can still see just west of the Wurts Street bridge. Old photos like this one show just how high the coal could be piled while it waited to be loaded onto larger vessels to take it up and down the Hudson River.

12/29/2023

"Back in 1929 when I was a deckhand on the steamer “Albany” of the Hudson River Day Line, I thought maybe I’d like to go quartermaster on one of the boats of the Saugerties Evening Line.

I walked from the 42nd Street Pier of the Day Line down to Pier 43, North River, at the foot of Christopher Street—where the Saugerties boat would be tied up during the day. I wanted to talk to an old friend of my brother’s from their days on the “Onteora.’’ He was pilot on the steamer ‘‘Robert A. Snyder” and his name was Harry Grough..."

Read the rest of Captain Benson's adventures in this week's history blog from an article originally published in 1972. Here>>> https://www.hrmm.org/history-blog

12/28/2023

🎵On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Four Dock Lines🎶

Some might say there are lots of ropes on a boat, but seasoned sailors will tell you there are no ropes – only lines! Dock lines secure a boat safely to the dock, and on many boats like our tour boat Solaris, we use four lines to make sure she doesn’t float away. One line on the bow and one line on the stern leave room for two more spring lines. Check out the second image to see a helpful diagram of dock line

12/28/2023

Looking to bring new life to old furniture? Well, look no further! Join us on January 27 & 28 for our highly anticipated Furniture Restoration and Repair Class. Wooden Boat School instructor, Max Smith, who has a knack for all things wood-related, will be your guide to troubleshooting and conserving the structural integrity and cosmetic details of your beloved furniture pieces. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn invaluable skills from an experienced and passionate professional. https://bit.ly/47NHi5v

12/27/2023

🎵On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Three Ospreys🎶

Have you seen the perennial cuties who have made their home atop the abandoned steel crane in the Rondout Creek? Come for a ride on our solar-powered tour boat, Solaris, next season to get a glimpse of these amazing birds and their room-with-a-view. And don’t worry, you aren’t missing out on seeing them while the tour boat is out of the water for winter – ospreys fly south to Central and South America for winter and will return to their breeding grounds in North America by early spring.

12/26/2023

🎵On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...Two Sailing Prams🎶

The Optimist Pram is a stable, 8-foot sailing dinghy perfect for beginning sailors. The Hudson River Maritime Museum’s Sailing School has a few more than two of these boats – in fact, the fleet includes ten Optimist Prams that can be spotted darting around the Rondout Creek and Hudson River each summer. Some of the prams were even built right here in the Wooden Boat School as part of the Youthboat program.

12/26/2023

Say goodbye to power tools and hello to the tranquility of wood chips and shavings gracefully floating to the ground. This two-day class will introduce participants to the art of wooden spoon carving. Handcraft your own beautiful green wood spoon and learn some traditional woodcarving skills along the way. Perfect for newbie woodworkers and aficionados alike! Visit https://bit.ly/471IL6S for more information and to register.

12/25/2023

🎵On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... A tugboat in the yard!🎶

It’s almost as unusual to see a tugboat on dry land as it would be to see a partridge (a ground-dwelling bird) in a pear tree! But Mathilda, the Hudson River Maritime Museum’s largest artifact, lives here in our waterfront yard now that she’s retired from marine service. This 1898 steam tugboat was built in Sorel, Quebec, and for many years worked on the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Coal originally fueled her steam boilers until her engine was changed to an oil-fired, two-cylinder reciprocating unit.

When Mathilda was retired from service in 1969, McAllister Towing Company donated her to South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan, where she sank at her pier a few years later in 1976. After being raised, she sat in dry storage until 1983, when she was then donated to the Hudson River Maritime Museum.

12/23/2023

Start off the new year with a bang and check off that resolution to try something new! Join us for a Group boat building course from January 4-6. You'll have the amazing opportunity to work alongside Wayne Ford, a true master woodworker and shipwright. Wayne's impressive resume includes restoring the famous sloops 'Woody Guthrie' and 'Clearwater'. Over three fun-filled days, Wayne will guide you and your team in crafting a beautiful Carolina skiff from scratch. Get ready to learn the tricks of the trade and experience the thrill of building your own small boat. For more information and to register visit https://bit.ly/41hQLQ9

12/22/2023

WINTER SALE at the Museum Store from December 21-23 only! 10% off all items in our store, plus receive a FREE HRMM Ornament with purchases over $20. Limited time only. Come shop today!

12/22/2023

Please note that the Hudson River Maritime Museum will be closed Sunday, December 24 through January 4. Wishing you all a very safe and happy holidays!

12/22/2023

The third in our recent series of articles was by Raymond A. Ruge and originally published in the January 1943 issue of "Yachting". magazine discusses hull design and construction on ice boats. Read the latest history blog here >>> https://www.hrmm.org/history-blog

12/21/2023

New Workshop Alert! Our Wooden Boat School is offering a new series of workshops sharing tips and teaching skills that all boatbuilder's and a boat owner's should have in their toolkit. First up on January 19 is a class covering the basics of using epoxy for marine application. Grab a spot>>> https://bit.ly/3RGVkAj

12/20/2023

Time is running out! Grab your stocking stuffers, maritime swag, and handcrafted gifts at the Museum Store. Plus. 10% off all items Thursday-Saturday and all purchases over $20 receive a FREE HRMM tree ornament!

12/18/2023

12/18/2023

Time is running out! Grab stocking stuffers, maritime swag, and handcrafted gifts at our Museum Store, open Thu-Sat. Plus, all items are 10% off and purchases over $20 will receive a FREE holiday ornament.

12/18/2023

Hudson River Maritime Museum is once again seeking donations of gloves, mittens, hats, scarves, socks, hand warmers, and umbrellas for their annual MITTEN TREE DRIVE. For over a decade, the museum has collected new or gently used winter wear. The items are hung on a 10’ wooden tree structure built at the museum’s Wooden Boat School. When the tree is full, donations are brought to local adult and children’s services organizations. Items can be for all ages and can be brought to the museum store which is located at 50 Rondout Landing in Kingston. The store is open Thursday-Sunday, 11:00am-5:00pm and a designated box will be available on the front porch to accept donations when the store is closed.