2010 New Exhibit

Steam on the Hudson - Hudson River Steamboat Paintings from the Roger W. Mabie, Donald C. Ringwald, and C. W. Spangenberger collections.

In the great age of steam transportation in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries elegant steamboats and steamships carried passengers on the Hudson, as well as other rivers, and across the oceans. Proud owners commissioned portraits of their steamboats because of their beauty and success as a major form of transportation. In the New York area two ship portrait painters painted thousands of steamboats and steamships in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. These artists, James Bard and Antonio Jacobsen, are represented in the collections of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. Having recently received paintings by these artists from the estate of C.W. "Bill" Spangenberger, we are pleased to exhibit a wonderful group of ship portraits by Bard and Jacobsen, as well as steamboat paintings by William G. Muller, a fine marine artist of the last forty years who is still painting today.

Ship portraits by James Bard and by Antonio Jacobsen from the collection of the late Donald Ringwald are also featured in this year's new exhibit as is a painting by Bard on loan from the collection of the late Roger Mabie.

Henry Hudson and the Half Moon

Henry Hudsons 1609 Ship of Discovery The original Half Moon (Halve Maen) was commissioned on March 25, 1609, for the Dutch East India Company.  She was a ship of exploration designed to take a crew of twenty into unknown and uncharted waters.  Her captain, Henry Hudson, was already a famous explorer of Arctic waters when in 1608 he was hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a Northeast, all-water route to Asia.  The Half Moon Sailed out of Amsterdam in April, 1609, and after a difficult journey along the coast of Norway, turned west and headed for warmer climates. On September 12, 1609, Hudson began his exploration of the river now named after him.  This site documents Henry Hudson's voyage of discovery, the early Dutch history in the Hudson Valley, the Indian cultures Henry Hudson found on his voyage up the river.

Robert Fulton, the Clermont and Other Early Steamboats

Early History of Steamboats on the Hudson River Commercial steamboating on the Hudson River began when Robert Fulton's steamboat ran from New York to Albany on August 14, 1807. The trip to Albany was made in thirty-two hours and the return trip to New York took thirty hours. This was the first voyage of any considerable length made by a steamboat, and immediately following this demonstration, Fulton began regular trips on the Hudson River.  Steamboats introduced a quick and reliable travel along the Hudson River. 

Steamboats of the Hudson River

History of Steamboats on the Hudson River Available on this site are chapters describing the early developments of steamboats and the history of steamboats in New York and on the Hudson River.  Steamboat days were romantic and travel was an adventure. Transportation was a highly competitive business and men struggled to win and maintain place. This hectic competition was a glorious game which helped to advance travel.  new lands were conquered and great cities built where steamboats reached, and the nation halted in its pursuit of agriculture to enter upon the mechanics of engineering of steamboating.

Hudson River Sloops and the Age of Sail

History of the Hudson River Sloop  The most famous sailing vessel to ply the waters of the magnificent Hudson River was undoubtedly the Hudson River sloop of the 17th - 19th centuries.  This incredible hybrid craft evolved form its early European ancestors, built by the Dutch and the English, into a ship specifically suited to the demands and quirks of the namesake waterway. The sloop was the forerunner in the establishment of the vast commerce on the Hudson which reached an extent that was exceeded by few if any other rivers in the world. 

Rondout Lighthouse

History of the Rondout Lighthouse  The current Rondout Lighthouse is actually the third lighthouse built at the mouth of the Rondout Creek.  The first Kingston Lighthouse was built in 1837.  This wood structure became badly damaged by ice and weather and soon became unsafe. A second lighthouse of brick and stone was constructed in 1867 on the south side of the creek, but abandoned in 1915.  In 1913 construction started on a new lighthouse, which is the structure known to area residents today as the Rondout Lighthouse. The largest and last 'family' light built on the Hudson River, the third Rondout Lighhousr was first lit on August 25, 1915. 

The Rondout

Kingston's Historic Waterfront District Soon after Henry Hudson't 1609 trip up the Hudson, a trading post was established at Esopus for the Dutch East India Company's fur trading endeavors.  The name Rondout stems form the Dutch word reduyt or redoubt which means fort. The development of the Delaware & Hudson Canal in 1828 transformed the Rondout Valley into the principal center of commercial activity on the Hudson River. The completed canal, 108 miles in length, ran from Eddyville on the Rondout Creek to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, a point 16 miles from the Wurts brothers' Pennsylvania coal mines.  By the Mid-1800s, a million tons of coal annually were carried on the canal and the surrounding region was booming.  Towing was the main boating activity out of the Rondout in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  In the post-Civil War years, towing on the Hudson River was a highly competitive and lucrative business.  Thomas Cornell and his son-in-law, Samuel Decker Coykendall, pursued the opportunities with enterprise and vigor. The resulting Cornell Steamboat Company, at its peak, owned more than sixty towing vessels and was the largest commercial organization of its kind in the nation. The Cornell Steam boat Company was headquartered at Rondout.