Follow the River Lecture and Film Series
The Follow the River Lecture series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank.
Each year the Hudson River Maritime Museum schedules an array of lectures and films on local and regional history topics. Lectures occur once a month on Saturdays during the winter months or for special lectures and twice a month on Wednesdays during the fall and spring.
For more information about upcoming lectures, please visit our events calendar or see the list below.
If you would like to give a lecture as a visiting speaker, please contact Sarah Wassberg Johnson at education@hrmm.org or call 845-338-0071 ext. 16.
The Follow the River Lecture Series is now virtual!
For more information about upcoming lectures, please visit our events calendar or see the list below.
If you would like to give a lecture as a visiting speaker, please contact Sarah Wassberg Johnson at education@hrmm.org or call 845-338-0071 ext. 16.
The Follow the River Lecture Series is now virtual!
Upcoming Lectures, 2021
All lectures are $5 for the general public, and FREE for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. Join today!
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 - “Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River”
Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Director of Exhibits & Outreach, HRMM
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
In honor of Women's History Month, Director of Exhibits and Outreach Sarah Wassberg Johnson will present on the women lighthouse keepers of the Hudson River, tracing their lives and the lighthouses they kept. From the earliest lighthouses of the Hudson River in the 1820s and '30s to restoration efforts of the 1980s and '90s, women have played an instrumental role in maintaining Hudson River Lighthouses and keeping the lights burning. Includes information on Catherine Murdock, keeper of the Rondout Lighthouse for 50 years, Nancy Rose, keeper of the Stony Point Lighthouse for 47 years, the daring Kate and Ellen Crowley of the Saugerties Lighthouse, and many other women, including some who kept their lights for only a few months. Learn of how they weathered ice dams, storms, accidents, and political changes.
Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Director of Exhibits & Outreach, HRMM
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
In honor of Women's History Month, Director of Exhibits and Outreach Sarah Wassberg Johnson will present on the women lighthouse keepers of the Hudson River, tracing their lives and the lighthouses they kept. From the earliest lighthouses of the Hudson River in the 1820s and '30s to restoration efforts of the 1980s and '90s, women have played an instrumental role in maintaining Hudson River Lighthouses and keeping the lights burning. Includes information on Catherine Murdock, keeper of the Rondout Lighthouse for 50 years, Nancy Rose, keeper of the Stony Point Lighthouse for 47 years, the daring Kate and Ellen Crowley of the Saugerties Lighthouse, and many other women, including some who kept their lights for only a few months. Learn of how they weathered ice dams, storms, accidents, and political changes.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021 - “Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb: The Monument on the Hudson"
Louis L. Picone, award-winning author of Grant's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
The story of Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb on the banks of the Hudson River is fascinating from the beginning. It took twelve years to build in Riverside Park, New York amid protests that the great general’s body should be moved elsewhere. When it was completed in 1897 during the Gilded Age it was largest tomb in American history, and it remains so to this day. After it was dedicated it was the most popular attraction in New York City (only rivaled by the Statue of Liberty), but is now widely forgotten from public memory except for the Groucho Marx gag, “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Its popularity began to fade as the Civil War generation passed away but by the mid-1960s it hit rock bottom. It became one of the most dangerous tourist locations in New York City –besieged by graffiti and vandalism and more popular with drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members than tourists. The extraordinary, and little known, story also weaves in the history of New York City during the period of 1885 to today as well as the period of reconciliation after the Civil War.
Louis L. Picone, award-winning author of Grant's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
The story of Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb on the banks of the Hudson River is fascinating from the beginning. It took twelve years to build in Riverside Park, New York amid protests that the great general’s body should be moved elsewhere. When it was completed in 1897 during the Gilded Age it was largest tomb in American history, and it remains so to this day. After it was dedicated it was the most popular attraction in New York City (only rivaled by the Statue of Liberty), but is now widely forgotten from public memory except for the Groucho Marx gag, “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” Its popularity began to fade as the Civil War generation passed away but by the mid-1960s it hit rock bottom. It became one of the most dangerous tourist locations in New York City –besieged by graffiti and vandalism and more popular with drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members than tourists. The extraordinary, and little known, story also weaves in the history of New York City during the period of 1885 to today as well as the period of reconciliation after the Civil War.
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - “The New York Kidnapping Club”
Dr. Jonathan Daniel Wells, University of Michigan, author of The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War (2020).
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
We often think of slavery as a southern phenomenon, far removed from the booming cities of the North. But even though slavery had been outlawed in Gotham by the 1830s, Black New Yorkers were not safe. Not only was the city built on the backs of slaves; it was essential in keeping slavery and the slave trade alive. In The Kidnapping Club, historian Jonathan Daniel Wells tells the story of the powerful network of judges, lawyers, and police officers who circumvented anti-slavery laws by sanctioning the kidnapping of free and fugitive African Americans. Nicknamed "The New York Kidnapping Club," the group had the tacit support of institutions from Wall Street to Tammany Hall whose wealth depended on the Southern slave and cotton trade. But a small cohort of abolitionists, including Black journalist David Ruggles, organized tirelessly for the rights of Black New Yorkers, often risking their lives in the process. Taking readers into the bustling streets and ports of America's great Northern metropolis, The Kidnapping Club is a dramatic account of the ties between slavery and capitalism, the deeply corrupt roots of policing, and the strength of Black activism.
Dr. Jonathan Daniel Wells, University of Michigan, author of The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War (2020).
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
We often think of slavery as a southern phenomenon, far removed from the booming cities of the North. But even though slavery had been outlawed in Gotham by the 1830s, Black New Yorkers were not safe. Not only was the city built on the backs of slaves; it was essential in keeping slavery and the slave trade alive. In The Kidnapping Club, historian Jonathan Daniel Wells tells the story of the powerful network of judges, lawyers, and police officers who circumvented anti-slavery laws by sanctioning the kidnapping of free and fugitive African Americans. Nicknamed "The New York Kidnapping Club," the group had the tacit support of institutions from Wall Street to Tammany Hall whose wealth depended on the Southern slave and cotton trade. But a small cohort of abolitionists, including Black journalist David Ruggles, organized tirelessly for the rights of Black New Yorkers, often risking their lives in the process. Taking readers into the bustling streets and ports of America's great Northern metropolis, The Kidnapping Club is a dramatic account of the ties between slavery and capitalism, the deeply corrupt roots of policing, and the strength of Black activism.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - "The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age"
Robert and Johanna Titus, retired professors of geology and biology, authors of The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age.
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
Starting about 25,000 years ago, an immense sheet of ice advanced out of Labrador and swept southward across much of North America. A good deal of that ice entered the Hudson Valley and continued all the way to today’s Long Island. During this advance, the ice scoured all of our Hudson Valley and created much of its landscape, especially the Wall of Manitou - the Catskill Front. Later the climate warmed and the ice melted back to the north. Vast quantities of meltwater poured out of the retreating ice and sculpted by erosion a great deal more of our valley’s landscape. Several cycles of glacial advance and retreat occurred, and their combined erosive processes shaped our picturesque scenery. Much of our region’s rich culture was generated from this ice age history. The Hudson River School artists painted these ice age terrains. Pioneering landscape architects worked with what the glaciers left. In this lecture Robert and Johanna Titus will describe both the science and the arts of our valley’s landscapes.
Robert and Johanna Titus, retired professors of geology and biology, authors of The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age.
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
Starting about 25,000 years ago, an immense sheet of ice advanced out of Labrador and swept southward across much of North America. A good deal of that ice entered the Hudson Valley and continued all the way to today’s Long Island. During this advance, the ice scoured all of our Hudson Valley and created much of its landscape, especially the Wall of Manitou - the Catskill Front. Later the climate warmed and the ice melted back to the north. Vast quantities of meltwater poured out of the retreating ice and sculpted by erosion a great deal more of our valley’s landscape. Several cycles of glacial advance and retreat occurred, and their combined erosive processes shaped our picturesque scenery. Much of our region’s rich culture was generated from this ice age history. The Hudson River School artists painted these ice age terrains. Pioneering landscape architects worked with what the glaciers left. In this lecture Robert and Johanna Titus will describe both the science and the arts of our valley’s landscapes.
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - "Picturing Rondout and other Hudson River Stories"
Len Tantillo, artist
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
The program will focus on the extensive research and the story behind Len Tantillo’s detailed painting depicting a vital and dynamic river port at the height of its golden age. Using maps, and period photographs, Len will take us through the step-by-step process of creating a complex painting. He will also provide insights into his techniques for recreating the past. Tantillo's 2019 painting of the Mary Powell and the Port of Rondout is currently on display in "Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson," a new exhibit at the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
Len Tantillo, artist
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
The program will focus on the extensive research and the story behind Len Tantillo’s detailed painting depicting a vital and dynamic river port at the height of its golden age. Using maps, and period photographs, Len will take us through the step-by-step process of creating a complex painting. He will also provide insights into his techniques for recreating the past. Tantillo's 2019 painting of the Mary Powell and the Port of Rondout is currently on display in "Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson," a new exhibit at the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - "New York and the Illegal Slave Trade During the Civil War Era"
Dr. John Harris, author of The Last Slave Ships: New York and the End of the Middle Passage
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
New York was the last slaving port in the Americas. Long after Congress banned the trade, hundreds of ships were leaving the wharfs of Manhattan bound for the African coast. This talk, drawn from the author’s new book, The Last Slave Ships (Yale University Press), describes who ran the trade and how, why law enforcement was complicit, and the reasons why Abraham Lincoln’s Republic Party squashed the trade during the Civil War.
Dr. John Harris, author of The Last Slave Ships: New York and the End of the Middle Passage
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
New York was the last slaving port in the Americas. Long after Congress banned the trade, hundreds of ships were leaving the wharfs of Manhattan bound for the African coast. This talk, drawn from the author’s new book, The Last Slave Ships (Yale University Press), describes who ran the trade and how, why law enforcement was complicit, and the reasons why Abraham Lincoln’s Republic Party squashed the trade during the Civil War.
Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - Ghost Fleet Awakened—Lake George’s Sunken Bateaux of 1758"
Joseph W. Zarzynski, maritime archaeologist
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
Maritime archaeologist and author Joseph W. Zarzynski will present a PowerPoint talk on a sunken fleet of historic warships at Lake George, New York that date to the French & Indian War (1755-1763). In the autumn of 1758, the British deliberately sank 260 bateaux, 25-35 ft. long wooden vessels. This “wet storage” of their wooden battlecraft protected them from French marauders over the winter of 1758-1759. Many of these flat-bottomed boats were not recovered by the British in 1759. Then two-centuries later, in 1960, two scuba divers rediscovered about a dozen submerged bateaux, vessels newspapers dubbed the “ghost fleet.” The ancient shipwrecks were first studied by the Adirondack Museum in the early 1960s, when three bateaux were raised and conserved. From 1987-2011, Zarzynski directed a team of volunteer archaeological divers, known as Bateaux Below, that studied many of these rare boats.
Joseph W. Zarzynski, maritime archaeologist
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
Maritime archaeologist and author Joseph W. Zarzynski will present a PowerPoint talk on a sunken fleet of historic warships at Lake George, New York that date to the French & Indian War (1755-1763). In the autumn of 1758, the British deliberately sank 260 bateaux, 25-35 ft. long wooden vessels. This “wet storage” of their wooden battlecraft protected them from French marauders over the winter of 1758-1759. Many of these flat-bottomed boats were not recovered by the British in 1759. Then two-centuries later, in 1960, two scuba divers rediscovered about a dozen submerged bateaux, vessels newspapers dubbed the “ghost fleet.” The ancient shipwrecks were first studied by the Adirondack Museum in the early 1960s, when three bateaux were raised and conserved. From 1987-2011, Zarzynski directed a team of volunteer archaeological divers, known as Bateaux Below, that studied many of these rare boats.
Wednesday, Jun 16, 2021 - ""Hell Gate - Imaginative Qualities of An Actual Place"
Michael Nichols, author
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
Part history and part memoir, Hell Gate tells of a man’s excursions along and through Hell Gate, a narrow stretch of water in New York City’s East River, notorious for dangerous currents, shipwrecks, and its melancholic islands and rocks. Drawn to the area by his fascination with its name—from the Dutch Hellegat, translated into English as both “bright passage” and “hellhole”—what began as a set of casual walks for Michael Nichols became an exploration of landscape and history as he traces these idyllic and hellish images in an attempt to discover Hell Gate’s hidden character and the meaning of its elusive name.
Michael Nichols, author
7:00 PM | Virtual via Zoom
Part history and part memoir, Hell Gate tells of a man’s excursions along and through Hell Gate, a narrow stretch of water in New York City’s East River, notorious for dangerous currents, shipwrecks, and its melancholic islands and rocks. Drawn to the area by his fascination with its name—from the Dutch Hellegat, translated into English as both “bright passage” and “hellhole”—what began as a set of casual walks for Michael Nichols became an exploration of landscape and history as he traces these idyllic and hellish images in an attempt to discover Hell Gate’s hidden character and the meaning of its elusive name.
More lecture dates to be announced soon!
Did You Miss A Lecture?
With permission from our speakers we are now able to film some of our lectures, so you can catch up on ones you missed! Due to restrictions, not all lectures may be available on video or in full. Click on the blue links to watch the videos on YouTube.
Saturday, February 4, 2017 - "Black Maritime Workers in Early America" with Dr. Craig Marin.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017 - "The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times" with Vernon Benjamin.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017 - "So Many Models, So Little Time" with Charlie Potter.
Saturday, August 12, 2017 - "Fish Tales: An Afternoon with John Mylod, Thomas Lake, and Christopher Letts".
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - "Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape" with Thomas Rinaldi and Robert J. Yasinsac.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - "The Ships of the Newburgh Shipyards" with New Windsor Town Historian Glenn Marshall.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - "Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River" with Sarah Wassberg Johnson.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - "My House is Your House - 'Mi Casa es Su Casa' Sharing Food and Cultural Memories of Immigrant Kingston". Roundtable discussion led by Geoffrey Miller.
Saturday, January 27, 2018 - "When Freedom Calls: The Alsdorf Family and the Underground Railroad" with Tashae Smith.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - "Lighting the Lighthouse" with Frank Almquist.
Saturday, February 4, 2017 - "Black Maritime Workers in Early America" with Dr. Craig Marin.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017 - "The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times" with Vernon Benjamin.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017 - "So Many Models, So Little Time" with Charlie Potter.
Saturday, August 12, 2017 - "Fish Tales: An Afternoon with John Mylod, Thomas Lake, and Christopher Letts".
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - "Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape" with Thomas Rinaldi and Robert J. Yasinsac.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - "The Ships of the Newburgh Shipyards" with New Windsor Town Historian Glenn Marshall.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - "Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River" with Sarah Wassberg Johnson.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - "My House is Your House - 'Mi Casa es Su Casa' Sharing Food and Cultural Memories of Immigrant Kingston". Roundtable discussion led by Geoffrey Miller.
Saturday, January 27, 2018 - "When Freedom Calls: The Alsdorf Family and the Underground Railroad" with Tashae Smith.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - "Lighting the Lighthouse" with Frank Almquist.