Hudson River Maritime Museum

Rondout Lighthouse

The Hudson River Maritime Museum interprets the Rondout Lighthouse located at the mouth of the Rondout Creek on the Hudson River one mile from the museum. The lighthouse is owned by the City of Kingston. The museum has supplied furnishings and provides docents to conduct tours of the lighthouse. This popular attraction is still a working aid to navigation on the Hudson and has an interesting history as the third lighthouse on the Hudson at the entrance to the Rondout Creek. The lighthouse is reached by a boat which leaves from the dock of the Maritime Museum, most weekends May through September or by reservation for a group tour.

The first lighthouse at the entrance to the Rondout Creek was a wooden one built in 1837, the second lighthouse was made of bluestone and was built in 1867. The famous Rondout Lighthouse keeper Mrs. Catherine Murdock was keeper of the first and second lighthouses after her husband drowned in 1856. Her son James Murdock, her assistant keeper, followed her as keeper in 1907 on her retirement after 50 years, and then became the first keeper at the new (current) lighthouse which opened in 1915. Families lived in the present 1915 lighthouse until 1945. The Coast Guard then manned the lighthouse until 1954 when the light was automated and the building closed. In 1984 the Hudson River Maritime Museum leased the lighthouse and began restoring the building and taking people out to see it. Many, many groups of school children and adult visitors have toured the lighthouse and enjoyed stories of its history as well as the fine view from the light tower ever since.