Today's Featured Artifact is actually from our research library, although it is old enough to be its own artifact. It is the leather-bound book, Instructions and Directions to Light-House and Light-Vessel Keepers in the United States. This third edition was published in 1858 by the United States Light-House Establishment (later the United States Lighthouse Service) and this particular copy is embossed on the leather front cover that it is the property of the United States Light-House Establishment and that this particular copy belongs to the Van Wie's Point Light.

Van Wie's Point Light was a white stone beacon light located off of Van Wie's Point, which is on the West side of the Hudson River, half way between Castleton-on-Hudson and Glenmont, NY, across from Papscanee Island. It was installed in 1854 and the tower did not include keeper's quarters.

Henry Van Wie hired as keeper in 1853, presumably while the beacon was being constructed, but he was dismissed before the year was out and replaced with Herman Wendell, who served from 1853 to 1858, when he was also dismissed. 

Finally, in 1858, a suitable keeper was found - William Welch (husband of Catherine Van Wie). Welch was keeper when this instruction manual arrived, writing in large, loopy script, "Rec'd August, 1860." 

William Welch remained on as lighthouse keeper until his death on September 7, 1910 at age 93 - the oldest and longest-serving light keeper in Hudson River history, serving 52 years (beating Catherine Murdock by at least one, if not two years).

​He was succeeded by his son, Warren Welch (who was 66 years old at the time), who served as keeper until at least 1915. Before his death in 1930, Warren Welch also served as chief engineer aboard the steamboat "Hendrick Hudson." 

Van Wies Point Light was replaced with a black skeleton tower sometime in the 1930s. 

Although this particular version of the lighthouse keepers instructions has not been digitized, you can read the 1881 Instructions to Light Keepers by clicking the button below.

Today is the last day of our countdown of Hudson River lighthouse introductions in the lead up to Giving Tuesday, which is tomorrow! We're fundraising for our upcoming "Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River" film this Giving Tuesday, so if you haven't donated, there's still time!

You can read a brief history of the Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, also known as the Little Red Lighthouse, on our Facebook or Instagram accounts, or you can join us in a re-watching of our very first, very homemade lighthouse film we made during the 2020 RiverWise voyage - the trip that started us on the road to Seven Sentinels!

If you want to know more about the Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse, check out this past blog post about one of the first keepers. 

Thankfully, we've got a real filmmaker on board for the Seven Sentinels film, so prepare yourself for some truly stunning modern footage of the last seven lighthouses on the Hudson River, combined with expert interviews, tours, and lots of historic photos and film footage. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out below!

We'll be dropping a new teaser trailer on December 20th, so stay tuned.

Do you have a favorite Hudson River Lighthouse? Tell us in the comments!

Giving Tuesday is coming up next week, so for today's Media Monday post, we thought we would share our newly released trailer for the forthcoming film, "Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River!" 

After a summer of recording footage and interviews for all of the seven remaining Hudson River lighthouses, we're going to spend the winter reviewing footage, editing, and starting to put together the film, with a planned release date of July, 2022. 

We are so excited for this project, but we can't do it without your help. For that reason, we've launched a crowdfunding campaign in hopes that those of you who love lighthouses as much as we do will help us tell their stories. Watch the trailer below for a taste of what's to come!

Our crowdfunding campaign runs for the next two months. In that time, you'll be seeing more lighthouse content here on the blog as we share some of our coolest finds. Keep your eyes peeled for another sneak peak trailer, too! 

If you'd like to donate, we have some great perks. Click the button below and help us reach our goal of making it to the $5,000 mark by Thanksgiving!

If you or your business would like to become a sponsor of the films or other film projects, please contact Sarah Wassberg Johnson at [email protected]. 

We're also doing a daily countdown to Giving Tuesday starting tomorrow on our Facebook page and Instagram account. Click the links and follow us to make sure you don't miss the updates.​

We'll leave you with a few behind-the-scenes photos from some of our trips this past summer. Thanks for your support!

2021 is the 100th anniversary of the Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse installation, but a pair of lanterns on a tall pole (often called post lights) were the first aid to navigation at Jeffrey's Hook, which is a rocky outcropping at the base of Washington Heights and dangerously close to the shipping channel. Installed in 1889, the lanterns shone red to warn mariners away from the hook.

Very few records of the keepers of the post light, and even the lighthouse itself, remain. However, when doing research for the upcoming lighthouse film, we ran across this intriguing pair of newspaper articles from 1891 featuring keeper Patrick Roach and his family. The articles below were published in the New York Herald on November 26 and 27, 1891 and are reproduced here in their entirety, transcribed by Sarah Wassberg Johnson.

“A Woman’s Leap From Fire: Husband and Daughter Dragged From Windows of the Burning Shanty”
New York Herald, November 26, 1891
The family of Patrick Roach had a narrow escape last night from burning to death. Their home in 175th street, near Kingsbridge avenue, was set on fire, it is supposed, by young ruffians of the neighborhood who bore them a grudge.

The house, a two story frame shanty, stood on a rock twenty feet high, just back from the street. Roach is keeper in Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse and he lived in the shanty with his wife, Bridget, and Mary, his nineteen-year-old daughter.

The family spent last evening preparing for their Thanksgiving dinner. Roach left the kitchen early, and went to a room adjoining to lie down. A little later Mrs. Roach went upstairs to go to bed, and Mary was left alone.

FLAMES ALL AROUND THE GIRL
She sat in the corner of the kitchen reading by the light of a lamp on the table. Presently she heard a low rumbling sound in the opposite corner of the room and saw a flame shoot up from the floor. Other flames shot up all around her, and the terrified girl ran to the door leading up stairs and shouted to her mother that the house was afire.

Then Mary, in an effort to get out, began to dodge the flames that were fast filling the room, Suddenly the window was thrown open and a man put in his arm and lifted Mary out.

By this time Roach had awakened and skipped into the glazing kitchen. The smoke and flames were nearly suffocating him when a man came to his rescue and dragged him out of the window.

Mrs. Roach tried to go down stairs, but the smoke drove her back. She went to the window. “Jump!” shouted the crowd that had gathered in the street.

DO NOT KNOW THEIR RESCUER
Out the window sprang Mrs. Roach and landed on the street thirty-five feet below, bruised and shocked, but with no bones broken.

The fire burned up everything in the house and left very little of the house standing. Mary’s hands were badly burned and her father was burned on the hands, arms and legs. They refused to go to a hospital and sought shelter at a neighbor’s house.

Neither knew the man who had rescued them, and he did not make his presence known after he got them safely out of the house. There may have been two rescuers for all Roach and his daughter knew.

The Roaches told me that they had strong suspicions that the fire was started by a gang of young teamsters, known as the McDowell gang, who hang about the neighborhood, do mischief at night and play ball on Sunday. Sometimes their ball would be thrown into Roache’s [sic] house, and one day Mary kept it. The next day Mary was hit with a baseball thrown at her and she complained to the Washington Heights police, who stopped the ball playing.

Since then the rowdies have talked of being recognized and the other night Mrs. Roach’s sister, while passing the gang, heard them say that they were going to “get even” with “Paddy” Roach.

No arrests were made last night.

“This Fire Still a Mystery”
New York Herald, November 27, 1891
The Roach family, whose two story shanty on the rocks in 175th street, near Kingsbridge road, was burned Thanksgiving eve, insist that the house was set on fire. The police of the Washington Heights police station pooh-pooh the idea and are making no investigation.

Roach and his daughter believe that members of the McDonald gang set the shanty afire. The family have had trouble with the gang and Miss Roach says the young fellows have threatened several times to force them to leave the neighborhood.

How the person or persons who dragged the members of the family out of the burning building happened to be on hand so soon after the fire broke out is a mystery if the rescuers were not the incendiaries. The Roaches were too much excited to recognize the rescuers.
​
Roach is keeper of the Jeffrey’s Hook lighthouse at Fort Washington. Some government papers were destroyed in the fire. Roach and his daughter were painfully but not seriously burned. They are being cared for by relatives. 

Last week Hudson River Maritime Museum staff were at the Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse filming for our upcoming documentary film on Hudson River Lighthouses. But did you know? Yesterday was the Little Red Lighthouse's 100th birthday! So to speak. October 10, 1921 was the first day the Jeffrey's Hook lighthouse was lit and put into service. Now part of Fort Washington Park in Manhattan and managed by the Historic House Trust and New York City Parks, the Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse is affectionately known as the Little Red Lighthouse, after the famous children's book by Hildegarde Swift. 

​To learn more about the history of the lighthouse, check out our short history video from the RiverWise series, and keep your eyes peeled for more information about our upcoming documentary film series! 

And if you've never read The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, you can pick up a copy from your local library, or read along with the classic recording and images below.

When this ABC news special first aired in the 1980s, the few remaining Hudson River Lighthouses were in rough shape. Some, like the Saugerties lighthouse, were even in danger of collapsing. 

Thankfully, local governments and volunteer organizations stepped up to save them from total destruction. This video, hosted by ABC News reporter Roger Caras, features the Rondout Lighthouse and Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, with interviews with Elise Barry, who wrote the National Register nomination for all seven lighthouses, and Emily Brunner, daughter of Hudson-Athens keeper Emil Brunner. 

You can visit almost all the Hudson River Lighthouses today! For more information visit www.hudsonriverlighthouses.org. Tours of the Rondout and Esopus Meadows Lighthouses are available on our 100% solar-powered tour boat Solaris! Get tickets here. 

Do you have a favorite Hudson River lighthouse? Share in the comments!

Today's Media Monday is all about woman lighthouse keeper Kate Walker! Kate was the keeper at Robbins Reef Lighthouse from 1890 to 1919. Although she did not keep her lighthouse for as long as Catherine Murdock, Katherine Walker became just as famous. To learn more about Kate, check out this video by the U.S. Lighthouse Society's Historian. 

The Robbins Reef Lighthouse is currently owned by the Noble Maritime Collection in Staten Island. The Hudson River Maritime Museum is working on a documentary film about Hudson River Lighthouses, and Robbins Reef is one of them! You can help bring the museum's documentary film series to life by sponsoring or donating at www.hudsonriverwise.org/support. 

​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!​

Today's Media Monday features a recent lecture at the Hudson River Maritime Museum - "Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson," given by Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Director of Exhibits & Outreach at the museum.

​For upcoming lectures, visit our Lecture Series page!

If you'd like to learn more about Hudson River Lighthouses, visit our lighthouse website, or purchase the book, Hudson River Lighthouses​, published by 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!​

Completed in 1874, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse marks the southern point of the Middle Ground Flats - a dangerous mud flat located smack between the sister cities of Hudson and Athens. Site of the famous wreck of the Swallow, a lighthouse had been requested to mark the flats - which at the time were submerged at high tide - since the 1830s. But it was not until after the Civil War that funds were appropriated and the lighthouse constructed. 

Henry D. Best was its first keeper, and was succeeded by his son Frank M. Best in 1893. However, not everyone was happy that Frank got the job.

Sometime after June 7, 1894 (the article itself is undated), the Hudson Columbia Republican published an article entitled, "A Complete Vindication - Rebuke to Those Who Brought Charges Against Light-Keeper Best." 

You can read the original article for yourself:

A COMPLETE VINDICATION
Rebuke to Those Who Brought Charges Against Light-Keeper Best

As the result of the examination conducted by H. W. Alden, Esq., upon May 31st in relation to certain charges preferred against Frank M. Best, light-keeper of the Hudson city light [sic], the Inspector of the Light-house Board, Third District, has made the following report and determination to the National Light-house Board at Washington, D.C., which completely vindicates Mr. Best’s good character and trustworthiness and exposes the falsity of the charges made against him.

We publish the full text of the report, it being a matter in which all citizens of Hudson should be interested, as it discloses the unscrupulous methods adopted in the case, which same methods might at any time be put in operation to attack the character of any person, however up-right and honorable he might be, should he happen to incur the enmity of the ruling political faction:

JUNE 7th, 1894.
SIRS: - In reply to the Board’s letter of May 25th, 1894, transmitting a petition of Matthew Kennedy and others, of Hudson, N.Y., and several affidavits avering [sic] neglects of duty, for the removal of Frank M. Best, Keeper of Hudson City Light, charging that Mr. Best is a questionable character and was at one time arrested for stealing and destroying a boat, that he is generally untrustworthy, I would say that I sent Lieutenant-Commander C. H. West, Assistant Inspector, to Hudson on May 31st to investigate these charges as directed by the Board.

Preliminary to this investigation I informed all parties of these charges that Mr. West would be in Hudson on the 31st day of May, just past, and requested them to be present with their testimony on that occasion.

The investigation revealed the fact that Matthew Kennedy and Frank M. Best were fishermen some fourteen years ago on the Hudson river, and had quarreled about the methods and places where their respective seines should be hauled. Since that date they appear to have continued enemies, although Best left the business of fisherman and went into the employ of the Hudson River Railroad Company not long afterwards.

While in such employ, a boat, or old rotten float used to secure a fish pound, was washed ashore on the bank of the river near the Hudson River Railroad Company’s tracks. Best finding this wreck at this point, regarded it as a flostaam [sic] thrown up by the river, and therefore broke it up and gave it to various railroad employees. It proved subsequently to have been the property of Matthew Kennedy, who had Best arrested and brought before a Justice who adjudged him guilty of destroying Kennedy’s property, and sentenced him (Best) to the limits of the town for a certain period. This action was a mere civil procedure, involving nothing whatever criminal against the said Best.

Subsequently Best was Inspector of Elections, and also ran for Supervisor. In politics the two men differed, possibly, and the bad blood between them is the outcome of village quarrels which ought not to have been brought to the Board’s attention at all.
​
Andrew Clow, who forwarded these charges to the Secretary of the Treasury, appears in the matter only as a shelter for Matthew Kennedy, who is the principal complainant and was chiefly instrumental in having the petition and other papers signed. Clow’s only desire was to get Best’s position when he gave it up voluntarily, but he did not wish to injure Best’s character.

Best’s character is spoken of highly by the Hudson River Railroad officials as intelligent, honest and trustworthy, having risen in their employ from the lower grades of switchman and baggage master, to a confidential clerk’s position in one of the departments of the road where he collected ground rents and other monies for the company.

His good standing, his general integrity of character and his entire trustworthiness in Hudson, where he lives, is testified by Rev. Mr. Yeisley, Treasurer Rainey, Cashier Boatwick, and Editor Bryan.

Mr. Dennis Kennedy, brother of Matthew Kennedy, who seems to have been instrumental in all this matter, testifies to Best’s good character and to his general trustworthiness.

The charge that his light was not lighted on the 15th and 20th of November, 1893, for a few minutes after sundown, appears to be a cumulative charge, and of little consequence. If these affidavits are true, the parties to this report ought not to have waited some seven or eight months to connect them with some other offense, before bringing them to the notice of the proper authorities, and in these matters, I would state, there is very little ignorance along the Hudson river.

Notably in contrast, however, is the testimony of pilot McKnight, who made the affidavit of the light being out on the occasion mentioned. His present testimony is that the light is generally kept in a most creditable manner and is always bright and in good order, and that such is its reputation on the river.

Mayor Miller and D. Doland admitted that they had signed the petition for Best’s removal without ever having read it, and that they knew nothing of the character of the paper, except that it purported to be a petition to get a light-house for a friend of Matthew Kennedy. Mayor Miller knew nothing of Best except form hearsay, and had signed the paper as a favor to Kennedy who was a friend.

In view of such trifling, as these charges indicate, with the character of a worthy man, I attach no importance to the papers submitted, except to state that they are without reliability or support, and are malicious in intent. They indicate a small village quarrel that is thus sought to be interjected upon the Board for settlement by one set of parties exaggerating trifles almost to the point of lying, in order to secure the removal of a worthy man who is not without credit and trustworthiness in his home, and who, since his appointment, has been a uniformly good light-keeper.
​
Very respectfully,
(Signed) W. S. Schley,
Captain U.S. N., Inspector.
The Light-house Board, Washington, D. C. 

What do you think of Captain Schley's assessment? 

Frank M. Best remained keeper until his death in 1918. His wife Nellie stayed on as keeper for a few months, but found it was not to her taste. William J. Murray was brought on as replacement keeper at the end of 1918. 

Did you know that the Statue of Liberty was an official lighthouse from its opening in 1886 until 1901, when it was transferred to the War Department. The Statue of Liberty was also the first electrically lit lighthouse in the country. 

To learn more about the history of the Statue of Liberty and her days as a lighthouse, check out the museum's RiverWise film, "When the Lady Was a Lighthouse." 

To learn even more about the Statue of Liberty's time as a lighthouse, including a list of keepers, you can visit her page on the Hudson River Lighthouses website.