 Postcard of Kingston Point Park, c. 1900, showing the Ferris wheel and crowds. Hudson River Maritime Museum Collection. Tonight the museum will welcome Wes and Barbara Gottlock to discuss their book Lost Amusement Parks of the Hudson Valley as part of the Follow the River Lecture Series. So we thought we'd revisit some of the stories of amusement parks and steamboat landings on the Hudson River we've already published here on the History Blog. Follow the links in the introductions below to read more about each park.  Postcard of Kingston Point Park, featuring the island bandstand and rental boats. Hudson River Maritime Museum Collection. Kingston Point Park Kingston's own local amusement park, Kingston Point Park was built by Samuel Coykendall, owner of the Cornell Steamboat Company and Ulster & Delaware Railroad. It featured a merry-go-round with a barrel piano (which is now in the museum) along with walking paths, a Ferris wheel, boat rentals, and other attractions. The main point was to serve as a landing for the Hudson River Day Line, and trains and trolleys would whisk passengers to Kingston and the Catskills. Kingston Point Park also featured prominently in 4th of July celebrations in the past.  Hudson River Day Line steamer "De Witt Clinton" approaching Indian Point Park in foreground, circa 1923. From the Donald C. Ringwald Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum. Indian Point Park Formerly a farm, Indian Point Park was purchased specifically as a destination park for the Hudson River Day Line to rival that of Bear Mountain. It was later converted into a nuclear power plant.  Postcard of steamboat docks at the Palisades, Hudson River Maritime Museum Collection. Palisades Interstate Park The creation of the Palisades Interstate Park was due in large part to the work of women. The Palisades had long been a major landmark for any Hudson River mariner. Elevators were used in the late 19th century to get visitors from their steamboats at water level up to the park on top of the cliffs. Escaping Racism Amusement parks and picnic groves on the Hudson River could also be an escape. So in honor of Black History Month, we're re-sharing this wonderful article on how Black New Yorkers used steamboat charters to area parks to escape the prejudice and racism of the 1870s. Lost Amusement Parks of the Hudson Valley There's still time to join us for tonight's lecture! Register now. 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!
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 Hudson River Day Line ticket, excursion to Indian Point. Hunter Haines Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum. 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. 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!
 Photo of Bob Boyle and the Hudson Valley. Photo by Evelyn Floret for Sports Illustrated. Riverkeeper. In March 1966, a small group of recreational and commercial fishermen, concerned citizens and scientists met at a Crotonville American Legion Hall intending to reverse the decline of the Hudson River by reclaiming it from polluters. With them was Robert H. Boyle, an angler and senior writer at Sports Illustrated, who was outraged by the reckless abuse endured by the river. At the group’s initial meeting, Boyle announced that he had stumbled across two forgotten laws: The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1888 and The Refuse Act of 1899. These laws forbade pollution of navigable waters in the U.S., imposed fines for polluters, and provided a bounty reward for whoever reported the violation. After listening to Boyle speak, the blue-collar audience agreed to organize as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association, and dedicate themselves to tracking down the river’s polluters and bringing them to justice. Right from the start, the grassroots actions taken by the fishermen went against convention. While many organizations sought environmental justice through protests and civil disobedience, the HRFA sought to protect the Hudson through advocacy and law enforcement. At the group’s core was a belief that everyday people should be able to defend our public resources from maltreatment and damage. The Fishermen’s actions to protect the communal watershed quality showed that ordinary citizens had legal standing in protecting our natural resources. The Fishermen were as good as their word. Their first target was Penn Central Railroad, which for years released petroleum products into the Croton River, a Hudson tributary. HRFA informed the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Attorney, calling on enforcement of The Refuse Act, but were ignored. So the HRFA took the law into their own hands: they sued Penn Central, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Secretary of the Army. This caught the attention of the U.S. Attorney's office, which then joined the HRFA in its suit against Penn Central. The HRFA prevailed, and the fine provided the first bounty afforded to a private organization from a polluter. Emboldened, the HRFA distributed thousands of copies of “Bag a Polluter” postcards for citizen whistleblowers to fill in and to mail back to the organization. Soon, they were collecting even larger bounties against polluters such as Anaconda Wire and Copper, Standard Brands, Ciba-Geigy, American Cyanamid, and Westchester County. The Fishermen also joined with Scenic Hudson to stop Con Ed’s proposed hydroelectric plant on the face of Storm King Mountain. It was, in large part, the discovery of a striped bass spawning ground near the proposed site that ultimately prevented the building of the facility.  Riverkeeper John Cronin aboard the first Riverkeeper patrol boat, oil tanker in the background, c. 1983. Photo by Don Nice. Riverkeeper. These victories provided new funding to expand HRFA influence along the Hudson. Meanwhile Boyle — inspired by the British tradition of posting ''riverkeepers'' on private trout and salmon streams — envisioned doing the same thing for the Hudson and called for someone who would be “on the river the length of the year, nailing polluters on the spot...giving a sense of time, place and purpose to people who live in or visit the valley.” Boyle found his first full-time Riverkeeper in John Cronin, a commercial fishermen and activist, in 1983 and the HRFA built the first Riverkeeper patrol boat that same year. Soon after, acting on a tip from a New York State Trooper, Cronin learned that Exxon tankers were flushing out jet fuel residue and filling up with river water to take to an Exxon refinery. Cronin collected data and evidence. His proof was so thorough that Exxon had little choice but to settle, paying $1.5 million to New York State for a private river management fund and $500,000 to HRFA. HRFA merged with its growing Riverkeeper program in 1986 to form one group to protect the river. Since then, Riverkeeper has brought hundreds of polluters to justice and forced them to spend hundreds of millions of dollars remediating the Hudson. In 1997, Riverkeeper negotiated the $1.5 billion New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement on behalf of upstate communities, environmentalists, and New York City watershed consumers. It is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development. In recent years, Riverkeeper has helped to get Endangered Species Act protection for Atlantic Sturgeon and new fishing regulations for herring. The organization also campaigned to ban fracking in New York State in 2014. Riverkeeper began sampling the Hudson in 2006, and in 2008 started our full-estuary sampling project, in partnership with CUNY Queens College and Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Today, this program aims to improve the water quality of the Hudson and its tributaries through increased water quality monitoring and public notification, consistent investment in wastewater and stormwater infrastructure and better water quality policies.  The Riverkeeper patrol boat on Catskill Creek, 2013. Photo by Bob La Buff. Riverkeeper. In 2018, nearly 50 organizations and 180 individuals partnered to collect 5,400 samples. The data Riverkeeper has gathered since establishing our estuary monitoring program have illuminated some of the river’s challenges. Riverkeeper has identified where wastewater infrastructure is failing and seen investments pay off in improved water quality, and defined critical baseline information about the presence of pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other trace contaminants. In January 2017, Riverkeeper reached an agreement with New York State and Entergy for the shutdown of the two aging nuclear reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center. Riverkeeper fought this decades-long battle to close this aging and unreliable nuclear plant with laws that protect the fish. When the Indian Point closes in 2021, its cooling intakes will power down and this will save a billion river creatures from destruction each year. We continue to work to ensure that Indian Point’s closure and decommissioning are done right and community interests are addressed. Today, Riverkeeper is renewing its commitment to “A Living River,” our priority is to give the Hudson its life back. Fish such as the Atlantic sturgeon, American shad and striped bass — three iconic Hudson River species — are among many that remain endangered or in decline. We cannot be content with protecting these dwindling populations. One way Riverkeeper is working to restore life in the Hudson is by removing obsolete dams along the creeks and streams that nourish the river. These dams not only block fish from their historical spawning grounds, but trap sediments, nutrients and minerals vital to the food web. We have secured written agreements for the removal of several dams to allow passage of migratory fish, and we’re continuing to reach out to dam owners. And a new film, “Undamming the Hudson,” is helping to keep the issue alive. On the Mohawk River, we are helping develop the state’s agenda in ways that protect fish. The DEC’s new Mohawk Basin Action Agenda will investigate ways to prevent invasive species from migrating from the Great Lakes, and support a migratory fish passage through the Erie Canal locks and dams, which segment the natural flow. Riverkeeper is also thick in the battle against ill-conceived storm surge barriers that would choke off the river where the Hudson meets the ocean. Several options considered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would have catastrophic consequences for the river and New York Harbor. Specifically, storm surge barriers – giant ocean gates – would choke off tidal flow and the migration of fish – damaging the life of the Hudson River Estuary forever. At Riverkeeper’s founding, the river was little more than an open sewer. Thanks to the massive reductions in pollution we’ve helped foster over the past half-century, our vision of a clean, safe and vibrant Hudson is finally within reach. Looking into the future: Riverkeeper will bring the same energy to our ecosystems work that we did to cutting pollution, closing Indian Point and protecting your drinking water, so that the mighty Hudson will brim with life, once again. AuthorDan Shapley is the Director of Riverkeeper’s Water Quality Program and a founding board member of the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance. This article was originally published in the 2019 issue of the Pilot Log. 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!
 Souvenir pennant from Hudson River Day Line’s Indian Point Park. From the Donald C. Ringwald Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum. In 1923, the Hudson River Day Line created a recreational park at Indian Point, south of Peekskill on the east shore of the Hudson, for Day Line passengers. The original purchase of 320 acres, a former farm, extended more than a mile along the riverbank. Indian Point Park was a day trip destination for Day Line passengers set up to rival the popular park at Bear Mountain.  Hudson River Day Line steamer De Witt Clinton approaching Indian Point Park in foreground, circa 1923. From the Donald C. Ringwald Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum. A 1923 Hudson River Day Line magazine article described the park as a “shady and always cool resting spot for those who wish to escape the city’s heat.” The park featured a cafeteria, picnic tables, swings, two baseball diamonds “for boys and young men” and lots of shade trees. The amusement area had rides and games for all ages, a dance hall, a beer hall and miniature golf.  Hudson River Day Line steamer De Witt Clinton approaching Indian Point. Swimmers at Indian Point Beach in foreground, circa 1923. From the Donald C. Ringwald Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum. Water activities included the riverfront beach, a swimming pool, rowing on a “tranquil mountain lake” and speedboat rides. Indian Point Park provided a woodland respite for city dwellers. The Hudson River Day Line steamers left New York City docks in mid-morning, arrived at Indian Point Park at lunch time, giving passengers three hours to spend at the park before returning to the New York City docks in the late afternoon. The park property backed up to the Croton and Mt. Kisco reservoirs that provided water to New York City. Walks through the forested lands and along wildflower paths were outlined in Day Line brochures. In addition, a farm on the property provided produce for the meals served on the Hudson River Day Line steamers. From 1923 to 1948 Indian Point Park was operated by the Hudson River Day Line. In 1948 the park was closed to be reopened under new ownership in 1950, at which point cars and buses brought visitors to the park. By the mid-1950s the amusement park closed and the property was purchased by Consolidated Edison Gas and Electric Company for the nuclear power plant that opened in 1962.  Merritt-Chapman & Scott lifting 255 ton nuclear furnace for Con Edison, Indian Point plant, circa 1957. From the Hudson River Maritime Museum. |
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