A Special Place Just For Kids!

Hi! Welcome to the Hudson River Maritime Museum's special, kids-only page!

Here you will find all kinds of cool links to information, games, and fun activities you can do before or after you visit the museum. We'll also announce fun, kid-related activities here. 

"Keep the Lights Burning Abbie" on Reading Rainbow

Like lighthouses? So do we! Check out one of our favorite episodes of Reading Rainbow, where Levar Burton visits a lighthouse and reads "Keep the Lights Burning Abbie."

"Down the Hudson" (1903)

This early film of a trip up the Hudson River goes really fast!

"Boats!" (1939)

The Alexander Hamilton was the last Hudson River Day Line steamship to be built. This film from 1938 shows the ship from a kid's perspective. Have fun with Roger and Nancy as they explore the steamship from deck to engine room and watch other boats go by on the Hudson River. 

Cool History Links

Explore the river that Henry Hudson discovered! This cool website is interactive with lots of great maps and stories. 
Ever wonder what it was like to sail across the ocean like early explorers? Now you can find out! You can read the journal of Robert Juet, Henry Hudson's first mate.
Ever wanted to send messages in Morse code? Now you can! This Morse code translator lets you type a message - then it plays the message back in Morse code. You can even e-mail your message to a friend.
Do you know what all those flags on different ships mean? Here is a nice list of international marine signal flags. Which one do you think you would have to use most often?
This website is kind of old and hard to navigate, but it gives you a tour of the Hudson River, with images and text, from 1846! Check out William Wade's Virtual Trip Up the Hudson. How many things have changed along the Hudson River since 1846?
Packet boats were once common on the Erie Canal and Hudson River, carrying passengers and cargo from place to place before railroads and highways. Here are some neat stories from the 1830s to 1850s from passengers on packet boats. 
Ever wonder what it was like to live on a canal boat? Canal boat Captain Theodore Bentley kept a diary that we can still read today. The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has digitized his diaries as PDFs so you can read online for free.