New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Rondout

Hudson River Defenses in the Revolutionary War

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Painting of the frigate USS Confederacy, by William Nowland Van Powell, built in 1778 in Chatham, CT, and later captured and broken up by the British (courtesy Navy Art Gallery, Washington Navy Yard)The Hudson River is not a place that’s conducive to a leisurely scuba dive. The water in the Hudson is very murky, cold, has uninviting currents, and ship traffic, so underwater archaeology in the Hudson River has mainly relied on remote sensing to image the river bottom.

According to Dr. Daria Merwin, an underwater archaeologist by training and Co-Director of the Cultural Resource Survey Program at the New York State Museum, initial surveys have mapped roughly 300 anomalies that may represent historic shipwrecks and there are already a few known sites from the American Revolution in the Hudson River. [Read more…] about Hudson River Defenses in the Revolutionary War

The Natural Cement Industry of Ulster County

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horse-drawn railroad (ca 1899?) transporting natural cement manufactured at plants near Whiteport and Hickory Bush to docks at Eddyville along the Delaware and Hudson Canal (Century House Historical Society)The construction and development of the Delaware and Hudson Canal led to the creation of one of the Hudson Valley’s greatest manufacturing industries in the 19th century — that of the famous Rosendale cement. For a time considered the best cement manufactured in this country it and at the turn of the 20th century was the source of half of America’s production of natural cement.

Ulster County cement was used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge; the Croton Aqueduct, which supplied New York City with water; the dry-dock of the Brooklyn Navy Yard; hundreds of New York City’s largest buildings; and the principal construction projects of the Hudson River Railroad among many other places. [Read more…] about The Natural Cement Industry of Ulster County

Ulster County Archives Puts New Collections Online

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The hull for rescue tug ATR-82 slips sideways down the ways at at Island Dock Inc. on Rondout Creek with onlookers on the Wurts Street BridgeThe Ulster County Archives has launched its first digital collections on New York Heritage Digital Collections, offering free public access. [Read more…] about Ulster County Archives Puts New Collections Online

Hudson River Boatmans’ Christmas Long Ago

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The former steamer Santa Claus after removal of her passenger accommodations and conversion to the towboat A B ValentineOf all the holidays, Christmas is the one that seems to be most closely related to thoughts of home and hearth.  If it is at all possible to do so, almost everyone would like to spend the holiday at home.  Boatmen are no exception.

Many, many years ago, navigation on the Hudson River would virtually cease when the river would freeze over, generally in mid or late December.  Then, since most of the boats had wooden hulls and the ice would cause damage to the wooden hulls, the river steamboats and tugboats would lay up until the river ice went out in March. [Read more…] about Hudson River Boatmans’ Christmas Long Ago

New York State Maritime Heritage Projects Get $400k in Grant Funding

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A postcard showing the General McDonald leading a tow just north of West Point (courtesy Hudson River Maritime Museum Collection)The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced that 18 maritime heritage projects across New York State will be supported by almost $400,000 in federal grants through the New York State National Maritime Heritage Grant Program. [Read more…] about New York State Maritime Heritage Projects Get $400k in Grant Funding

Hudson River Brick Making: Two Kingston Brick Yards, 1905

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Drying Brick, Brick Yard, Rondout, New York (Hudson River Maritime Museum)The following essay is excerpted from Charles Ellery Hall’s The Story of Brick (Building Trades and Employers’ Association Bulletin, July, 1905).

The brick which bears the highly popular brand, “Shultz,” is the product of the Shultz yards at East Kingston, near Rondout, NY. Henry H. Shultz, the present manager of the concern for the Shultz estate, represents the third generation of a family which has been in the brick making business since the earlier half of the last century. [Read more…] about Hudson River Brick Making: Two Kingston Brick Yards, 1905

Kingston’s Boat Building Industry, 1906

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A. McMullen Marine Railway and Shipyard advertisement Rondout (Kingston), NY (Hudson River Maritime Museum)The following article, “All The Yards Are Busy And In Need of More Help. Builders Pay $25,000 Annually In Wages. Several Hundred Men Are Employed,” is from the Kingston Daily Freeman of August 15, 1906.  It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer researcher George A. Thompson and additionally edited and annotated by John Warren.

One of the most important branches of industry that this city [Kingston] is blessed with is that of boat building, which has more than doubled itself within the past ten years [1896-1906].  But few people outside of the men employed on the yards have an adequate conception of the magnitude of this particular work and the number of men employed at good, substantial wages. [Read more…] about Kingston’s Boat Building Industry, 1906

Bloody Affray on the Ice at Port Ewen, Hudson River

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Ice Boating on the Hudson RiverThis essay reprints articles that first appeared in the winter of 1860 in several New York newspapers.  It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Carl Mayer and annotated by John Warren. [Read more…] about Bloody Affray on the Ice at Port Ewen, Hudson River

The Borden Company’s Milk Condensing Plant in 1893

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Borden Company delivery wagon and horseThe following essay, “‘Crazy Uncle Gail’s’ Idea and What Came of It,” by Eliza Archard Conner, appeared in the June 10, 1893 Northern Star of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer George A. Thompson and annotated by John Warren.

About forty years ago Gail Borden, a civil engineer of New England ancestry, conceived the idea that milk could be boiled down in a vacuum till from the liquid condition it became substantially solid, and in that state, preserved by means of another Yankee invention — the sealed tin can — it could be kept for any length of time. [Read more…] about The Borden Company’s Milk Condensing Plant in 1893

An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

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"Early Days of Rapid Transit" by Edward Lamson Henry showing a canal packet boat ca 1840s (Private collection)The following letter, “A Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal To Carbondale,” appeared in the Register of Pennsylvania on August 14, 1830 and was written in the city of New York on August 2, 1830. This letter was discovered and transcribed by George A. Thompson, a volunteer scholar at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, and slightly edited and annotated by John Warren.

Mr. Croswell – I perceive by the paper, that a packet boat commences this day, to run regularly for the remainder of the season, on the Delaware and Hudson canal. Among the pleasant and healthy tours that are now sought after, I would strongly recommend a trip on that canal. [Read more…] about An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

The Hudson River Steamboat Poughkeepsie; Later Known As The Westchester

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Steamboat Poughkeepsie at dock (courtesy Richard V. Elliott Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum)This essay was written for the Kingston Daily Freeman in the 1930s, transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Adam Kaplan and reproduced here in a slightly edited form.

The tale of the steamboat Poughkeepsie is the story of a vessel that is still in service [in the 1930s] – although today the name Westchester has replaced Poughkeepsie and she is no longer a familiar figure on the Hudson River. [Read more…] about The Hudson River Steamboat Poughkeepsie; Later Known As The Westchester

Terror on the Hudson: The Burning of Kingston

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General John BurgoyneTerrorism has been a grim feature of our time, but the tactic is far from new. The Revolutionary War, like every war, was marked by wanton violence. One of the cruelest incidents came in October 1777 when the British attacked the city of Kingston, then the capital of New York State.

A massive enemy invasion in 1776 had driven patriot forces from the city of New York. The delegates who were in the process of writing a state constitution moved away from the fighting, first to White Plains, then to Fishkill. [Read more…] about Terror on the Hudson: The Burning of Kingston

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