Last week we learned about the steamboat Rip Van Winkle and learned a wonderful story about Samuel Schuyler. But what really happened to the Rip? This newspaper article, originally published on August 23, 1872 in the Hudson Daily Star​ gives us some insights. 

Marine Notes.
On Tuesday afternoon the old steamer Rip Van Winkle was towed from Port Ewen, where she had been moored since her collision with the bridge at Albany last spring, and by which she sustained such serious injuries it was not considered desirable to repair her, to the dock in front of Major Cornell’s repairing shops, where her state-rooms and other upper works are being removed preparatory to removing the engine and boilers, purchased a few days since by Mr. Isaac Hirsch of this city, and the conversion of the hull into a barge.

The Rip Van Winkle was built in New York in 1845 for the Schuylers of Albany, and was a steamer of 640 tons burthen, with an engine of 54 inches diameter of cylinder and 10 feet stroke of piston. She was furnished with forty-three state-rooms a great number in those days, and one hundred and ninety-two berths. She ran on the through night line between New York, Albany and Troy, until 1852, when she was purchased by Anderson, Romer & Co., then engaged in the freighting business in the place where Romer & Tremper now are.
​
The “Rip” ran between this place and New York one season, commanded by Captain A. L. Anderson, now of the Mary Powell. The Andersons, father and son, disposed of their interest in the concern to Messrs. Tremper & Gillette in 1853, when the firm became Romer, Tremper & Gillette, and the Rip Van Winkle was by them again placed on the route between New York and Troy, where they continued to run her for two years, when she was sold to the Troy Company, then being managed by a man named Haywood, we believe. In 1862, we think it was, the boat was purchased by the Simmonses of Saugerties, and plied for some years between that place and New York. She was rebuilt in 1864, and finally taken off the Saugerties route and used as an excursion boat, principally to the Fishing Banks until 1870, when Major Cornell purchased her. In the spring of ’71, she ran in place of the Thomas Cornell for a time, and during the summer was chartered by Ovid Simmons to run to the Fishing Banks. This spring she was chartered to run to troy in place of the Thomas Powell until that vessel was ready, and it was while on that route she received her death blow by coming in contact with the Albany Bridge during a freshet. – Rondout Freeman.

Today's Media Monday video is one of our own! In this short documentary film, independent researcher Harv Hilowitz outlines the history of the Lenape people in the Hudson Valley, from pre-contact to the present. This video was recorded as part of the RiverWise Project.

If you want to learn more, Harv is leading a series of programs on Lenape history aboard our 100% solar-powered tour boat Solaris! Get tickets here.

To learn more about the Lenape in New York today, visit the Lenape Center.

Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the official end of slavery on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The message of freedom for enslaved people came late to Texas - more likely on purpose than by chance. It was not until the Union Army arrived to announce - and enforce - the order that people were finally freed from bondage. Galveston, Texas was the first to celebrate that holiday, and today for the first time in American history it becomes a federal holiday. 

Although descendants of enslaved people have celebrated the holiday for over a century, this may be the first time you are learning about it. And while Juneteenth is a celebration (one you can join at the events listed below), it is also a commemoration of time spent in unjust bondage and a call to reckon with the history of slavery in this country. To that end, we thought we would take time today to share some resources on slavery in the Hudson Valley, so that everyone can learn that yes, there was slavery in the North, even in your own backyard. Keep scrolling for events, books, documentary films, online exhibits, organizations, and more.

Harambee Juneteenth Celebration
Saturday, June 19, 2021 - 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location: Pine St. African Burial Ground, Kingston, NY
​
Join us as celebrate Juneteenth- our African American Independence Day and the Grand Opening of the Pine St. African Burial Ground block party style with music, food, burial ground tours, children's activities and more.
FREE for all ages!
LINE UP
12:00 - Ubaka Hill & POOK – opening ceremony
12:20 – House Blessing by Pastor Hubbie (Pastor Doris Schyler)
12:25 – Burial Ground Ritual - Caru, Shambet, and Miss V; Libation by Rev. Evelyn Clarke
12:55 – Rev. Evelyn Clarke sings "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson)
1:00 – Welcome and Commemorations by Tyrone Wilson - CEO/Founder, Harambee; Julia Farr - Executive Director, Kingston Land Trust; Seth McKee - Executive Director, Scenic Hudson; Dignitaries: Congressman Antonio Delgado, NYS Senator Michelle Hinchey, Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan, Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg, Ulster County Comptroller, March Gallagher, Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa, Mayor Steve Noble
1:30 – The Saints of Swing feat. Miss Renee Bailey
1:55 – Sax legend Eric Person Jazz Quartet
2:15 – New Progressive Baptist Church Choir
2:20 – Vocal Phenom Christopher McDole Jazz Quartet
2:45 – Enchanting Vocalist Ms Marleen Merritt
3:00- Anthropologist Joe Diamond on the PSABG and Honoring Mr. Ed Ford
3:15 – Energy Dance Company
3:30 – POOK
3:55 – Oliver King as Frederick Douglas - “What to a Slave is Your Fourth of July?”
CLOSING 

​Juneteenth: Passion & Perseverance
Saturday, June 19, 2021 - 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Location: New Rochelle, NY

9am-11am- Ward Acres Community Garden – 300 Broadfield Road, New Rochelle, NY 10804
• T’ai Chi Workshop
• Councilmember Sara Kaye
• Councilmember Yadira Ramos-Herbert – Juneteenth History
• Historian Barbara Davis – Carpenter Cemetery African American Burial Ground – Presentation
• Thelma Thomas – Storyteller
• Bokandeye African American Dance Theater
• Coffee and Pastries

12 Noon-2pm – New Rochelle City Hall – 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801
• Bokandeye African American Dance Theater – Procession
• Juneteenth Flag Raising
• Lift Every Voice and Sing – Kay Boyd
• Welcome – Stuart Reid, President Board of Directors, The Lincoln Park Conservancy, Inc.
• Invocation – Minister Mark McLean, Pres. New Rochelle Branch NAACP and Pres., Interreligious Council of New Rochelle
Imam Mohamed Shaffieq Chace, Islamic Center of New Rochelle
• Remarks – State, County and Local Officials
• Councilmember Yadira Ramos-Herbert – Juneteenth History
• DJ Smithyboy (Maison Smith) – ALMS Student
• Juneteenth – A Narrative of Freedom – NRCA Rotunda Gallery Exhibit/Opening Reception
• Artist Richela Fabian Morgan – Juneteenth Quilt Workshop
• Solomon Darden and Darrin Greaves - NRHS Spoken Word Artists
• Martin Luther King Awards Ceremony – WestCOP Presentation
• Wayne Henderson Sextet
• Steven Vilsaint – Hip-Hop Dance Performance – Accent Dance NYC
• Lucia Jackson – Jazz Vocalist and Ron Jackson – Acoustic Jazz Musician with Dancers Sarita Apel and Andres Bravo – Accent Dance NYC
• Rocky Middleton Jazz Ensemble
• Benediction – Rev. Wallace Noble, St. Catherine A.M.E.Zion Church and
Rabbi Jessica Fisher, Beth El Synagogue
• Juneteenth Books will be on display at the New Rochelle Public Library
• Food Vendors, PPE Station

3pm – 9pm – Thomas Paine Cottage Museum and Thomas Paine Memorial Building – 20 Sicard Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10804
Thomas Paine Cottage Museum Family Activities:
• Arts and Craft Workshop – Creating Juneteenth Flag
• Scavenger Hunt
• Capoeira – Luanda New Rochelle – Performance
• Juneteenth Videos for Kids
• Juneteenth Exhibit and Self-guided Tours
• Juneteenth Desserts
Thomas Paine Memorial Building Activities:
• Freedom Exhibit – Artists Fred Spinowitz and H. Lloyd Weston
• Thomas Paine’s Letter on Slavery – Presentation/Discussion
• The Crossing and the Ten Crucial Days – Songs from the Play
Thomas Paine events conclude with a screening of Soul Food
Information: ltrgroup1@aol.com facebook.com/thelincolnparkconservancy

Juneteenth 2021 Celebrations in New Paltz
​Saturday, June 19, 2021 - 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Location: Historic Huguenot Street
81 Huguenot StNew Paltz, NY, 12561

Join us on Saturday, June 19th the Elting Memorial Library and Historic Huguenot Street are teaming up to celebrate Juneteenth!

At 11am, June 19th, a kick off and benediction will be held at the Hasbrouck Park playground. This includes a placard dedication in honor of Julia Jackson, the last surviving enslaved woman to live in New Paltz and a revered historian, storyteller and beloved friend of the community. An important announcement will be made as well. Speakers will include: Mayor Tim Rogers, Rev. Jennifer Berry, New Paltz Town Historian Susan Stessin-Cohn, and Albert Cook with a performance by Resisterhood: New Paltz.

Next, join us at Huguenot Street 3 - 7 PM for live, local music and a family-friendly pot-luck or bring-your-own-picnic lunch on the lawn. Light refreshments will be provided.​

White Plains Juneteenth Heritage, Inc. - Virtual Juneteenth Celebration
The 2021 theme "Preserving Our Legacy", illustrates the historical commitment of those who came before us and our determination to continue to fulfill their legacy. With that imparted, it is of great importance that we achieve our desired objectives which are to better communicate the history and celebration of Juneteenth, gain greater participation from the overall community, educate our youth in the importance of this historical holiday and strengthen funding so that this celebration will continue to thrive. 

This virtual program was held on June 12, 2021 and filmed. The program is available online at the White Plains Juneteenth Heritage, Inc. Facebook page. 

There are lots of great books, articles, and exhibits to explore to learn more about slavery in the Hudson Valley. Links are to purchase. Check your local library collections to borrow.

Long Hammering: Essays of an African American Presence in the Hudson Valley to the 20th Century by A.J. Williams-Myers. Dr. Wiliams-Myers addresses the integral role that African Americans played in every aspect of Hudson Valley society, which historically is the embryo of New York history.

In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831 by Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt-Biagini. In Defiance documents 607 fugitives from slavery in the 18th and 19th-century Hudson River Valley region of New York State.

Freedom’s Gardener: James F. Brown, Horticulture, and the Hudson Valley in Antebellum America by Myra B. Young Armstead. James F. Brown escaped slavery in Maryland and became a gardener at Mount Gulian in Beacon, NY. Dr. Armstead uses his diary to illuminate his life and the history of slavery and freedom in the Hudson Valley.

Watch Myra Young Armstead's recorded lecture for the Newburgh Free Library.

Peekskill's African American History: A Hudson Valley Community's Untold Story by John C. Curran. Highlighting African American stories in Peekskill from the American Revolution through to Paul Robeson and the Peekskill Riots of 1949 and beyond.

Slavery and Freedom in the Mid-Hudson Valley by Michael E. Groth. Focusing on the struggle for freedom in the central Hudson Valley prior to the Civil War.

The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War​ by Jonathan Daniel Wells. ​In a rapidly changing New York, two forces battled for the city's soul: the pro-slavery New Yorkers who kept the illegal slave trade alive and well, and the abolitionists fighting for freedom.

Watch a recording of Jonathan Wells' lecture for HRMM.

The Last Slave Ships: New York and the End of the Middle Passage by John Harris outlines how even after the slave trade was made illegal, merchants based in the United States were still sending hundreds of illegal slave ships from American ports to the African coast.

Watch a recording of John Harris' lecture for HRMM.

"Where Slavery Died Hard," Cragsmoor Historical Society (2018)

Historic Hudson Valley has a whole host of videos on slavery in the North, but this video is a good place to start - "Introduction: Stories of Slavery in the Colonial North." 

"Hidden History: Slavery in the Hudson Valley" short film by Vassar College.

The Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center works in the Ponckhockie neighborhood and throughout Kingston with community programs, children’s literacy and after school programs, and more, with hundreds of books available. The African Roots Library partners with the Hudson River Maritime Museum in co-hosting the Conference on Black History in the Hudson Valley. You can learn more and donate at africanrootslibrary.org.

The Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, NY tells the story of Stephen and Harriet Meyers, the Underground Railroad in New York, and its connections to today. The Underground Railroad Education Center is a new partner in the Conference on Black History in the Hudson Valley. You can learn more and donate at undergroundrailroadhistory.org.

TMI Project: Black Stories Matter, also a conference partner – tmiproject.org/blackstoriesmatter

Harambee and the Pine Street African Burial Ground, also a conference partner – harambeekingstonny.org

The African American Historical Society of Rockland County – aahsmuseum.org

The Mid-Hudson Antislavery History Project – pages.vassar.edu/mhantislaveryhistoryproject

The Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library in Poughkeepsie – africanrootslibrary.tripod.com

This is not a comprehensive list, but will hopefully give you a good foundation on the topic of slavery in the Hudson Valley. To contribute other resources to this list, please add to the History Alliance of Kingston's "Black History Collaborative Research Project." For Black history articles on the Hudson River Maritime Museum blog, explore our Black History category. And if you have a Black history story you would like to tell or research you would like to share, please send a proposal in to the Conference on Black History in the Hudson Valley, held this year on Saturday, October 2, 2021.

Editor's Notes: This article, "Mr. Fillmore and His Friends" was originally published on August 18, 1856 in the Albany Evening Journal. It is a stinging critique of Millard Fillmore and his support for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Fillmore was born in 1800 in Moravia, New York and served in state politics before entering Congress as the Representative for NY's 32nd District.  Winning the Vice-Presidency in 1848 on the Whig ticket, Fillmore became president in 1850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor. Although he was not chosen as a candidate by any party during the election of 1852, he ran as a third party candidate in the election of 1856 under the Know Nothing party. This article was almost certainly in response to his candidacy. He ultimately lost to Democrat James Buchanan, a staunch proponent of state's rights who exacerbated tensions around slavery and made way for the four-way-split Presidential election of 1860, resulting in the victory of Abraham Lincoln.

The article also sharply critiques the Fugitive Slave Act. Passed by Congress in 1850 and signed into law by President Fillmore, the Act was a concession to Southern states in an effort to preserve the Union as part of the Compromise of 1850. Many Northern states had passed state or local ordinances requiring jury trials for fugitive slaves, denying use of jails or state officials in their retrieval, and otherwise attempting to protect fugitive slaves, or at least keep from getting involved. Tens of thousands of enslaved people made their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad in the 1830s and '40s, joining free Black communities in Northern states and building lives and families.

But Southern states were angry about the lack of cooperation from their Northern counterparts and the attrition of enslaved people to the North, especially in slaveholding states that bordered free states. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was designed to force compliance of state officials, overrule state and local laws, fine state officials who did not arrest fugitive slaves, and fine and imprison anyone who aided or abetted a fugitive slave - a clause specifically designed to target abolitionists. Because habeus corpus was suspended in fugitive slave cases, Black Americans had little recourse to dispute accusations, no matter how much evidence proved them false. Several cases found in lower courts for the accused were overturned by the Supreme Court as a violation of federal law. Disturbingly, the Act also provided rewards for officers who captured fugitive slaves, regardless of whether or not they were actually fugitives.

​These clauses not only led to some of the unjust events outlined in the article below, but angered many Northerners and turned more to the abolitionist cause. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 in response to the law. The novel went on to become one of the best-selling books of the century (surpassed only by the Bible). Although the Compromise of 1850 did temporarily hold the United States together, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a concession to slaveholding states that only exacerbated the divisions over slavery, and helped inflame the tensions that would lead to the Civil War. 

Sometimes you run across history when you least expect it. In selecting today's steamboat biography, chosen on a whim for the name, we unexpectedly encounter steamboat captain Samuel Schuyler. Schuyler was a Black steamboat captain based in Albany operating in the 1840s and, as you'll see from the article below, a shrewd and savvy businessman. His sons later took over the family towing business. You can learn more about the Schuyler family in one of our past blog posts "Exploring the History of the Black Hudson River Schuylers."

Editor's Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article written by George W. Murdock, for the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman newspaper in the 1930s. Murdock, a veteran marine engineer, wrote a regular column. Articles transcribed by HRMM volunteer Adam Kaplan. For more of Murdock's articles, see the "Steamboat Biographies" category

The “Rip Van Winkle” was built for the Hudson river, to run between New York and Albany as a day boat. The career of this vessel forms one of the most interesting chapters in steamboat history on the river which carried the historic “Half Moon” in her quest for a short route to India.

George Collyer built the wooden hull of the “Rip Van Winkle” in 1845, and her horizontal half-beam engine was built by W.A. Lighthall. She was 242 feet, three inches long with a breadth of beam of 25 1/2 feet. She was rated at 640 tons. Her cylinder was 50 inches with a 10 foot stroke, and she carried two iron boilers on the guards, each boiler being 28 feet long with a 7 1/2 foot shell diameter.

When she first appeared, the “Rip Van Winkle” was a wonder both in performance and appearance, and she was dubbed the “steam yacht.” She was placed on the Day Line in opposition to the Troy boats, “Niagara” and “Troy,” but she failed to make the time required and was hauled off the route.

Staterooms were added to the “Rip” and she then became a night boat competing with the old People’s Line and with the famous steamboat “Belle.” The “Express” was running with the “Rip Van Winkle” at this time- making three different night lines running out of Albany in 1845. Towards the end of this season, the People’s Line bought the “Rip Van Winkle,” and in 1846 she was sent to the Delaware river to run between Philadelphia and Cape May.

​In the fall of 1846 the “Rip” was returned to New York by the People’s Line and was placed in service in opposition to the “Belle,” the only opposition vessel to the People’s Line during that period.

One morning when the “Belle” arrived in New York, her captain, Samuel Schuyler, found the “Rip Van Winkle” berthed in the slip at Park Place. Old Captain Schuyler was incensed at this action and posted bills that he would continue to operate despite all opposition, and would carry passengers to Albany free of charge [editor's note - to undercut the "Rip Van Winkle" and drive them out of business]. This was the only time in the history of the Hudson river that passengers were regularly carried on river vessels for no charge, although in later years various opposition lines did charge as low as 25 cents per person. The result of this move on the part of the foxy old captain was the retirement of the “Rip Van Winkle” from the field, leaving the “Belle” to run the balance of the season alone.

​The following year Captain Schuyler purchased the “Rip Van Winkle” and ran her in opposition to the People’s Line until 1851 when he sold her to Daniel Drew and retired from passenger traffic, devoting his time to the towing business. Daniel Drew rebuilt the “Rip Van Winkle” and during the year of 1852 ran her to Albany. Then he sold her to Captain Jacob H. Tremper who placed her in service between Rondout and New York. Later the “Rip” worked out of New York as an excursion boat, and then in 1859 she returned to Hudson river traffic, running out of Coxsackie. In 1865 she was placed on the Troy route, running in line with the “C. Vanderbilt.” She remained on this line under the direction of Captain O.T. Simmons, until 1867 when she again went to New York for excursion purposes.

During 1870 the “Rip Van Winkle” ran to the Fishing Banks, and then in 1871 she was purchased by Thomas Cornell of Rondout. In the spring of 1872 she was chartered to the Citizen’s Line, taking the place of the “Thomas Powell.”

On April 16, 1872, while on her way from Troy to New York, the “Rip Van Winkle” ran into the Maiden Lane bridge at Albany, carrying away her starboard wheel and shaft, and seriously damaging her engine and hull. No lives were lost in this accident, but the “Rip” was taken to Port Ewen and laid up until 1879.
​
In the fall of that year, the “Rip Van Winkle” was towed to Rondout where her boilers and engine were removed. Back she went to Port Ewen, and there her hull was broken up by Daniel Bigler in the year 1880. Today the bell of the “Rip Van Winkle” can be seen by local residents, hanging in the tower atop the Cornell Shops in Rondout- a reminder of the once fine steamboat which sailed the waters of the Hudson.

Today's Media Monday features this 10-minute tour of lower Manhattan from 1937!

Produced by the Van Beuren Corporation as a travelogue, part of the "World on Parade" series, "Manhattan Waterfront" was distributed by RKO Pictures in 1937. Watch the full movie below!

We see tugboats and sailing schooners, barge families, Fulton Fish Market, We also see the lives of the super-rich contrasted with the lives of the poor, living in waterfront shacks, or in neat houses built on top of abandoned barges. Interestingly, despite the fact that 1937 was the height of the Great Depression, the narrator blames the indigent for not taking advantage of the "land of opportunity." We also see most of Manhattan's bridges, including the 6 year old George Washington Bridge with only one deck. ​

How much of lower Manhattan can you still recognize today? 

If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​

​The bateau is retired.
   
The bateau returned to the Albany area and was used for a series of river outings and day trips. She survived several floods including one in which a dead tree was carried onto her, temporarily preventing her from floating. But as the kids who helped build her left the area for college or other endeavors, Sturgeon was no longer being used. The grey and weathered boat needed a new home.

Six years after our Hudson River trip, the manager of a historic site in the Mohawk Valley reached out to me about using the boat to interpret eighteenth century bateau travel. The site manager borrowed a beat-up diesel flat bed to carry the bateau to her new home. The truck was delayed by a flat tire. When it arrived, we discovered that a leak in the hydraulic system prevented the bed from tilting or the winch from operating.

​The bateau was still on the shore of the Vlomanskill on a site with no road access. She would have to be dragged across a muddy field, under an overhead sewer main, and through a gap in a strings of bee hives to reach the truck. We placed the boat on her bottom, led a chain from an old pick-up truck to the wrought iron ring in the bow and told the pick-up driver to keep going no matter what. Two men got on each side of the boat to help “steer” and push. The ironwork in the bow held and the bateau plowed through the mud and sod on her way to the road.

​An amateur historian driving by paused as we were struggling to get the muddy boat up onto the truck bed. He took the license plate number and subsequently called archaeologists at New York State to report the theft of a sunken eighteenth century boat. Frantically, he shouted “they’re getting away with it.” The weathered and mud-caked boat had finally aged and weathered enough to look like the French and Indian War prototypes she was inspired by. 

Thank you for joining us as we traveled along with Muddy Paddle on his bateau adventure! To read other adventures by Muddy Paddle, see: Muddle Paddle on the Erie Canal,  Muddy Paddle: Able Seaman, about Muddy Paddle's adventures on the replica Half Moon, Muddy Paddle's Excellent Adventure on the Hudson, about his first canoe trip down the Hudson River.
 
If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​

Editor's Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article written by George W. Murdock, for the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman newspaper in the 1930s. Murdock, a veteran marine engineer, wrote a regular column. Articles transcribed by HRMM volunteer Adam Kaplan. For more of Murdock's articles, see the "Steamboat Biographies" category

Most of the steamboats built during the period before the Civil War were originally passenger vessels, and it was only in the later years of their service that they were rebuilt for towing purposes. Not so with the steamboat “Pittston”- she was one of the few sidewheel vessels built purposely for towing on the Hudson river, and she was in use for 57 years, hauling heavily laden barges on the river.

The wooden hull of the “Pittston” was built at New York in 1852. She was 108 feet long, breadth of beam 20 feet, depth of hold six feet, and her gross tonnage was rated at 74 with net tonnage at 58. The Allaire Iron Works of New York built her vertical beam engine which had a cylinder diameter of 32 inches with an eight foot stroke.

​The “Pittston” was constructed for the Pennsylvania Coal Company and was considered one of the finest vessels of her type to appear on the Hudson river. During this period the offices and yards of the Pennsylvania Coal Company were located at Port Ewen and the towboat “Pittston” was placed in service towing canal boats off the Delaware and Hudson Canal from Eddyville to Port Ewen. She was under the command of Captain Thomas Murry with James Mollin as chief engineer, and she continued on this route for a period of 13 years.

In 1865 the Pennsylvania Coal Company moved its headquarters to Newburgh and the towboat “Pittston” was purchased by Thomas Cornell of Rondout. For the following five years the “Pittston” towed out of Rondout along the river to various ports, and in 1871 she was placed in regular service between Rondout and the city of Hudson. A year later, 1872, found the “Pittston” in service on the route between Rondout and Newburgh, towing in line with the towboats “Frank Carter,” “Ceres” and later the “Isaac M. North” of the Cornell Line. The crew of the “Pittston” during the years of the Newburgh run are listed as captain, William Roberts; pilots, Wash Saulpaugh and Joel Rightmyer; chief engineer, James Purdy.

In the year 1875 the “Pittston” was withdrawn from the Newburgh route and placed in service between Rondout and Eddyville on the Rondout creek, taking the place of the steamboat “Maurice Wurtz” which had been towing on this route since 1857. The “Pittston” was used for towing the canal barges of the Delaware and Hudson Coal Company from tidewater at Eddyville to Rondout and she was under the command of Captain George E. Dubois, with Alonzo Woolsey as chief engineer.

​The “grand old days of the Delaware and Hudson Canal” came to a close in 1898 when the canal was abandoned, and the towboat Pittston” was then used around the Rondout harbor and as a helper for tows on the river. In September 1909 the “Pittston” was found to be in an advanced state of wear, and she was sold and broken up after 57 years of continuous service as a towboat.

The Pittston is one of many wrecked and abandoned boats in and around the Rondout Creek. To learn more about shipwrecks and other vessels, take one of our new Shipwreck Tours aboard our 100% solar-powered tour boat Solaris! 

​If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​

On Saturday our Featured Artifact was the bell of the Mary Powell, and you may have noticed that Captain Benson mentioned it was located at Indian Point Park for many years after the Mary Powell was scrapped. And maybe you thought to yourself. Indian Point PARK? Isn't Indian Point a nuclear power plant? 

Well, it wasn't always. To find out more about the history of Indian Point, check out the video below.

Indian Point Energy Center was officially closed on April 30, 2021 after 59 years of operation. Constructed in 1962, it was embroiled in controversy with the burgeoning environmental movement, which was focused on the Hudson River. To learn more about the history of the Indian Point Energy Center in relation to environmental activism in the Hudson Valley, check out our online exhibit, Rescuing the River, or visit the physical exhibit in-person at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. 

This week we've got something a little different! Here's a fun story about the bell of the Mary Powell, as told by Captain William O. Benson. 

Editor’s Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article featuring stories by Captain William O. Benson (1911-1986). Beginning in 1971, Benson, a retired tugboat captain, reminisced about his 40 years on the Hudson River in a regular column for the Kingston (NY) Freeman’s Sunday Tempo magazine. Captain Benson's articles were compiled and transcribed by HRMM volunteers Carl and Joan Mayer. See more of Captain Benson’s articles here. This article was originally published on June 4, 1972.

When the "Mary Powell” was of being broken up at Connelly in the early 1920's, there was great interest among Hudson Valley residents in mementos from the old steamboat.  It seemed that almost anything that came from the steamer, whether it was a section of joiner work, a flag pole, a deck chair, or even a baggage check or spike, found a ready buyer.

Many items acquired by people interested in souvenirs from the old “Queen of the Hudson” were genuine.  Others, however, were not.  One of the latter that even today occasionally appears are bells reputed to be the bell of the “Mary Powell." I have seen locomotive bells, farm bells, big bells and small bells, all supposed to be the bell that graced the forward spar of the steamer during her career on the Hudson River.  All are fakes, for the real one was removed before the steamer was sold for breaking up, for awhile was installed at Bear Mountain, later at Indian Point, and is now at the New York Historical Society Museum in New York City.

In the fall of 1919, when the “Mary Powell” was sold to be broken up, she lay aft of the steamer “Albany” at the Sunflower Dock at Sleightsburgh on the south side of Rondout Creek.  Just before she was sold, orders came from the New York office of the Hudson River Day Line to Michael Rafferty, the mate of the "Albany”, to remove the bell from the "Powell” and put it aboard the "Albany.”

Transferred to “Albany”
That winter my father was doing carpenter work on the “Albany” and on Saturdays, and other days when I was not in school; I used to take his lunch over to him.  After the bell of the "Powell" was taken down from the mast in back of her pilot house, it was put on a large hand truck and placed on the deck in the after port gangway of the "Albany.”

One day when I was on, the “Albany,” I stood alongside the bell thinking how big it looked sitting there on the hand truck.  Alongside the bell on the deck was a chipping hammer, one end round and the other end like a blade.  Being a young boy of nine and not thinking, I picked up the chipping hammer and started to hit the bell to hear it ring. 

I must have pounded the bell 15 or 20 times when Mr. Rafferty came along and said in a very nice way, “Here, here, William, you are putting marks in that soft metal.  Use this.” And he handed me a wooden fid [sic].  When I hit the bell with the fid, though, it only made a dull sound, so I didn’t bother anymore.
 
That spring of 1920, when the “Albany” went into commission, the “Mary Powell’s” bell went down the river with her and was put ashore at Bear Mountain.  There, it was installed high on the hill above the boat landings.  Today, in that same location, there is a very large cast bronze deer’s head in its place.  

When the Hudson River Day Line built its own recreation park at Indian Point, just below Peekskill, the "Powell’s” bell was moved from Bear Mountain and installed on a wooden frame adjacent to the line’s steamboat landings. 

This was in 1923 or 1924.  When one of the line’s steamers would come around Jones Point, the bell would be rung to let people at the park know one of the Day Liners would be landing in about five minutes.

When I was a deckhand on the "Albany" during the seasons of 1928 and 1929, we lay at the Indian Point pier one day with a charter.  I went over and looked at the bell from the “Mary Powell” and sure enough there were the dents I had put there many years before with the chipping hammer. 

Mike Rafferty, the man who removed the bell from the “Mary Powell,” was a fine man to have as a mate.  He was very aristocratic looking, very strict, but fair with everyone with whom he came in contact — whether you were an old hand or a green deckhand in your first season.  He had once been a chief in the Kingston Fire Department, before it became a paid department in 1907. 

On to New York
After the Day Line sold the Indian Point Park in the mid 1950s, Alfred V. S. Olcott, the old Day Line’s president, had the "Mary Powell" bell taken to New York.  There, he presented the bell as a gift to the New York Historical Society on Central Park West, New York City.  When he made the presentation, there was a photograph of him and the bell in the New York newspapers.  The old Indian Point Park is now the site of Consolidated Edison’s nuclear electric generating station. 

So, the bell that was heard and carried on the “Mary Powell” for all those years — from the time she was built until she turned her last wheel — and then placed at Bear Mountain and Indian Point, now has reached her final port. 
​
Also at the same museum is the "Powell’s" soft, sweet-sounding whistle.  The “Powell’s” whistle, after the “Queen” was withdrawn from service, was installed on the Day Liner "Robert Fulton.”  When the “Fulton" left New York for the last time, the whistle was acquired by William H. Ewen, Sr. of Hastings-on-Hudson, a former president of the Steamship Historical Society of America, and he, in turn, donated it to the same New York Historical Society.

Of course, that wasn't the end of the bell of the Mary Powell! After the Hudson River Maritime Museum moved to its present location in 1983, the bell of the Mary Powell was brought to the museum on long-term loan from the New York Historical Society.

If you'd like to visit the bell in-person, and even ring it (it's very loud!), you can visit the Hudson River Maritime Museum. And if you'd like to learn more about the Mary Powell, check out our new exhibit, "Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson," available in-person and online. 

​If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​