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Steamboating

1900 Adirondack Steamboat Tuscarora Restoration Project Underway

December 7, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Adirondack Steamboat Tuscarora at the Upper Carry in 1911 colorized photo E.E. KelloggA group of Adirondack residents and boat experts is outlining a future for the 123-year-old steamboat Tuscarora. 

In 1900 William West Durant — known for great camps and grand schemes — commissioned A. C. Brown, of Staten Island, to build a coal-fired passenger steamboat on the shore of Blue Mountain Lake. [Read more…] about 1900 Adirondack Steamboat Tuscarora Restoration Project Underway

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Architectural Heritage, Blue Mountain Lake, Eagle Lake, Engineering History, Friends of the Tuscarora, Fulton Chain, Hamilton County, Historic American Engineering Record, Historic Preservation, Indian Lake, Marion River, Maritime History, National Park Service, NPS, Staten Island, Steamboating, Transportation History, Utowana Lake, William West Durant

The Sinking of the Steamship Ville du Harve

October 30, 2023 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873)On May 17, 1870, Judge Rufus Wheeler Peckham was appointed a justice of the New York Court of Appeals, but in the early 1870s he began to show signs of skin cancer – a tumor had appeared on his lip. Advised that no known cure was available in the United States, he decided to undertake a trip with his wife to Europe to seek medical help.

On November 15, 1873, Judge Peckham sailed for Europe on the  SS Ville du Havre of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line) bound for Havre, France near Paris. [Read more…] about The Sinking of the Steamship Ville du Harve

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, French History, Maritime History, NYS Court of Appeals, Rensselaer County, Shipwrecks, Steamboating, Transportation History, Troy

New York Steamboats & The Mississippi River

September 25, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Mississippi Riverboats at Memphis, Tennessee (1906)This article is excerpted from “The  Keelboats and Flatboats of the Early Days — Discouragements Overcome by Fulton and his Associates,” originally reprinted from the New Orleans Times-Picayune in The New York Times on August 14, 1891. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Carl Mayer and slightly edited for clarity and annotated by John Warren.

Of the various persons who have disputed Robert Fulton’s laurels as the inventor of the first perfect steamboat, Edward West’s claims are the strongest. West, father of the noted painter William West [William Edward West, 1788–1859, provided numerous illustrations for the books of Washington Irving]. [Read more…] about New York Steamboats & The Mississippi River

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Agricultural History, Black History, Industrial History, Louisiana, Maritime History, Mississippi River, New Orleans, Nicholas Roosevelt, Ohio River Valley, Pennsylvania, Robert Fulton, Robert Livingston, Slavery, Steamboating, Transportation History

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Acquires Historical Paintings by Ernest Haas

September 17, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

"The General Butler on the Burlington breakwater," Ernest Haas, 2000Historical painter Ernest Haas has donated a collection of his original artworks, prints, and materials to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont. Haas has been a longtime supporter of the museum, which already holds a few of his works.

This donation brings the total number of Haas’ original paintings held by the museum to 29. [Read more…] about Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Acquires Historical Paintings by Ernest Haas

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Art History, boating, Champlain Canal, Connecticut, illustrators, Lake Champlain, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Maritime History, painting, Steamboating, Transportation History, Vermont

1889 Tows on the Hudson River: Great Fleets of Freight Boats

September 13, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Hudson River. A tow just north of West Point (Hudson River Maritime Museum)This article, “Tows on the Hudson. The Great Fleets of Freight Boats That Come Down the River,” first appeared in the August 18, 1889 edition of The New York Times. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer Carl Mayer and annotated by John Warren.

Very few persons who journey up and down the Hudson River either upon the palatial steamers or upon the railway trains that run along both banks of this great waterway know how great an amount of wealth is daily floated to this [New York] city on the canal boats and barges that compose the immense tows that daily leave West Troy [now Watervliet], Lansingburg, Albany, Kingston, and other points along the river bound for this city. [Read more…] about 1889 Tows on the Hudson River: Great Fleets of Freight Boats

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Champlain Canal, East River, Erie Canal, Hudson River, Kingston, Labor History, Lansingburgh, Manhattan, Maritime History, New York City, New York Harbor, Pennsylvania, Rensselaer County, Steamboating, Transportation History, Troy, Ulster County, Watervliet

August 1807: Robert Fulton’s Steamboat Makes History

August 18, 2023 by John Warren 2 Comments

The 1909 replica of the North River Steamboat (Clermont) at anchorRobert Fulton did not invent the steamboat. There were perhaps 20 others who worked toward the same goal before the North River Steamboat, later known as Clermont, left the dock in the city of New York for Albany on August 17, 1807. [Read more…] about August 1807: Robert Fulton’s Steamboat Makes History

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Clermont, Clermont State Historic Site, Dutchess County, Engineering History, Hudson River, Industrial History, Legal History, Livingston Manor, Maritime History, New York City, Robert Fulton, Robert Livingston, Steamboating, Transportation History

Hudson River Tugboat Views: The West Shore Railroad, Track Walkers & Hoboes

August 9, 2023 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

Tug Callanan No 1 at Troy June 25, 1954 (Hudson River Maritime Museum)Railroads have been operating along the east shore of the Hudson River for virtually its entire length between New York and Albany since 1851 and along the west shore of the river from Haverstraw [in Rockland County, NY] to a point below West Park [in the Town of Esopus, Ulster County] since 1883, Hudson River boatmen have had plenty of opportunity to observe the changes that have taken place over the years in railroading. [Read more…] about Hudson River Tugboat Views: The West Shore Railroad, Track Walkers & Hoboes

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Cornwall, Dutchess County, Esopus, Great Depression, Greene County, Hudson Highlands, Hudson River, Hyde Park, Labor History, Maritime History, New Jersey, New York Central RR, New York City, railroads, Rockland County, Saratoga and Hudson River Railroad, Steamboating, Stony Point, Transportation History, Ulster County, West Shore Railroad

A True Tempest: American Passion for Shakespeare & The Fate of a First Folio

June 27, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Loss of the steam ship Arctic (lithograph by N. Currier). This year marks the 400th anniversary of the printing of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, one of the key books in the English speaking world.

Published seven years after the playwright’s death, many plays that were never printed in his lifetime, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar, might otherwise not have survived. [Read more…] about A True Tempest: American Passion for Shakespeare & The Fate of a First Folio

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Archives, Cultural History, Libraries, Literature, Manhattan, Maritime History, Massachusetts, New York City, Performing Arts, Pilgrims, Publishing, Shipwrecks, Steamboating, Theatre, Writing

Dutch-American History: The Phoenix Tragedy, 1847

May 17, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

memorial at the Oude Begraafplaats in Winterswijk by Joske MeerdinkI love to make evening walks in the town of Winterswijk, where I was born. The Dutch habit of keeping curtains open makes strolls resemble visits to a museum, with the windows framing paintings that offer ever-changing views. I like to discover routes to find new, unfamiliar places.

One evening, in December 2020, I passede the old graveyard of Winterswijk, a place that usually gives me the creeps. For some reason — I still don’t know why, — I decide to walk across the graveyard this time. I immediately spotted a brightly lit memorial: two bollards holding up a colorful plaque. The sign reads: “The Phoenix Tragedy, 1847.” [Read more…] about Dutch-American History: The Phoenix Tragedy, 1847

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Buffalo, Dutch History, Erie County, Fires, Genealogy, Great Lakes, Immigration, Lake Erie, Maritime History, Netherlands, Shipwrecks, Steamboating

Hudson River Steamboats & Gibbons v. Ogden: 200 Years of the Commerce Clause

May 3, 2023 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Historical Society of the New York CourtsOne of the world’s first steamboats successfully completed a maiden voyage on the river Clyde in Scotland in 1798. That same year, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston proposed to the New York Legislature that he would develop a new form of public transportation, the steamboat ferry, in return for a monopoly on steam navigation in New York waters. Despite the Legislature’s skepticism that steamboat technology was viable, legislation granting Livingston the monopoly was enacted. [Read more…] about Hudson River Steamboats & Gibbons v. Ogden: 200 Years of the Commerce Clause

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Daniel Webster, Economic History, Historical Society of the New York Courts, Hudson River, Industrial History, Legal History, New York City, New York Historical Society, Robert Fulton, Robert Livingston, Steamboating, Supreme Court, Transportation History

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