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Transportation History

State Seeks Comments, Plans For Saranac Lake Railroad Depot Reuse

October 3, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Saranac Lake Union Depot (NYS Cultural Resource Information System photo provided by DEC).The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is calling for submissions of ideas and plans for use and public access to the historic Saranac Lake Union Depot building on the former New York Central Railroad Adirondack Division line in the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about State Seeks Comments, Plans For Saranac Lake Railroad Depot Reuse

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Rail Trail, Adirondack Rail-Trail Debate, Adirondack Railway Preservation Society, Adirondacks, bicycling, DEC, DOT, Essex County, Franklin County, Harrietstown, Historic Preservation, Lake Placid, New York Central RR, railroads, Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor, Saranac Lake, snowmobiling, Tourism, Transportation History, Tupper Lake

The Canal Era in the Finger Lakes

October 1, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

1858 Canal Map of New York StateAs the population of interior New York increased, developers pushed for a faster method of transportation between the area and developed population centers like the city of New York.

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, revolutionized inland travel and ushered in a broader era of canal construction across the state, connecting the state capital of Albany on the Hudson River to Western New York and the Great Lakes. [Read more…] about The Canal Era in the Finger Lakes

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Agricultural History, Binghamton, Cayuga, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga-Seneca Canal, Chemung Barge Canal, Chemung County, Chemung River, Crooked Lake Canal, Elmira, Erie Canal, Finger Lakes, Genesee River, Genesee Valley Canal, Geneva, Great Lakes, Industrial History, Keuka Lake, Lake Erie, Livingston County, Monroe County, Onondaga Lake, Ontario County, Penn Yan, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Seneca Falls, Seneca Lake, Seneca River, Steuben County, Syracuse, Tompkins, Transportation History, Waterloo, Watkins Glen, Wayne County, Yates County

Replica Sailing Canal Schooner Lois McClure Donated to Canal Society of New York

September 26, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Lois McClure courtesy Lake Champlain MaritimeThe Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont, is donating its replica 1862-class sailing canal schooner Lois McClure to the Canal Society of New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the state’s historic canals. [Read more…] about Replica Sailing Canal Schooner Lois McClure Donated to Canal Society of New York

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Canal Society of New York State, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Lois McClure, Maritime History, Museums, Transportation History

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

Asher Durand’s Painted Puzzle of Progress

September 19, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Asher Durand, Progress (The Advance of Civilization), 1853. (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)What Thomas Carlyle in 1829 called the Age of Machinery – later renamed the Industrial Revolution – radically altered conventional modes of being and marked a turning point in man’s relationship with his environment. New production systems delivered an abundance of goods for consumption, but in the process natural resources were depleted, water and soil polluted, whilst fumes contaminated the air. [Read more…] about Asher Durand’s Painted Puzzle of Progress

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Art History, Asher Durand, Cultural History, Engineering History, Hudson River School, Industrial History, Newburgh, Orange County, Science History, Technology, 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

Euro-American Expansion Into The Finger Lakes Region

August 27, 2023 by Guest Contributor 7 Comments

Map of the State of New York (1802) by Simeon DeWitt, (Library of Congress, Geography & Map Division)The Treaty of Paris of 1783 officially ended hostilities between the British and Americans; however, the treaty did not include the allied Indian Nations, leaving their legacy treaties with the Europeans unresolved and their future to be resolved through separate treaties with the new American government. [Read more…] about Euro-American Expansion Into The Finger Lakes Region

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: American Revolution, Auburn, Auburn Prison, Canandaigua, Cayuga County, Cayuga Lake, Cayuga Nation, Finger Lakes, Genesee River, Geneva, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Ithaca, Keuka Lake, Livingston County, Monroe County, Onondaga County, Onondaga Nation, Ontario County, Religious History, Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca Nation, Seneca River, Skaneateles Lake, Social History, Steuben County, Syracuse, Tompkins County, Transportation History, Treaty of Canandaigua, Waterloo, Wayne County, Yates County

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

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