HRMM Follow the River Lecture Series

The Follow the River Lecture Series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank - Thank You!

Location: Lectures are hosted in the Hudson River Maritime Museum's East Gallery during the winter months or the Homeport Barn during the summer. Check individual event details for location.

If you are interested in participating in our lecture series as a guest speaker, please contact the Museum's Education Department
or call 845-338-0071 ext. 16.

An Apple a Day: The Apples of the Hudson Valley
Wednesday, October 21st 2026

7:00PM
$10 General Admission / $5 HRMM Members

Join Kevin Clark from Rose Hill Farm as he discusses the importance and uniqueness of the apple, the genetic diversity which apples hold, as well as the importance of preserving that diversity. You will learn how apples have traveled around the world and the importance of apples in the Hudson Valley. Each variety of apple has a story, rich in humanity and culture. A collection of over 100 types of apples will also be on display during the lecture.

The Keeper Screening with Jon Bowermaster
Wednesday, October 28th 2026

6:00PM
$15 General Admission / $10 HRMM Members

Come to the Homeport Barn for this special screening of The Keeper by Jon Bowermaster! Like many rivers around the world – the Hudson, America's First River and the Birthplace of the American Environmental Movement – boomed as a growing human population used it for transportation, sustenance and, for many years, a dumping ground. The river paid a price for all this use and abuse, struggling against its share of contamination. For the past nearly three decades the river's poet laureate and literal "eyes on the river," Captain John, has been at the forefront of each of those fights, taking on industrial and human pollution, suffering the losses and celebrating victories.

While he has had successes on the Hudson, committing a life to protecting a river is a never-ending fight. Today, John Lipscomb is one of more than 300 “Keepers” around the globe, looking out for their respective rivers. This screening will feature a talk with Jon Bowermaster and special guest John Lipscomb.

Fireboats of the FDNY with David Rocco
Wednesday, November 18th 2026

7:00PM
$10 General Admission / $5 HRMM Members

Fireboats are specialized watercraft designed for firefighting on shorelines and shipboard fires. With over 500 miles of shoreline, the FDNY first utilized the New York Police Department’s steam-powered vessel Seneca in 1862. By the beginning of the 20th century, the FDNY averaged about 10 fireboats in its fleet. Used for rescue and recovery operations, transportation for first responders, and even as ice breakers, the fireboats of the FDNY have responded to countless emergencies over the centuries. Come hear David Rocco speak on these unique vessels, and their importance in keeping New York safe.

Crime on the Hudson: Gilded Age Pirates and River ThievesFriday, November 27th 2026

7:30PM
$28 General Admission

Crime on the Hudson: Gilded Age Pirates and River ThievesWednesday, November 27th 2026

This special event weaves scholarship and storytelling, presented by HRMM’s Education Department in collaboration with Siren Theatre Company.

Do you ever wonder if there were actual pirates on the Hudson River? Come and learn about a wild chapter in Hudson River history when mercenary sloops prowled the waterway, raiding mansions and plundering merchant ships. Who were these river outlaws stirring up chaos…and how did local communities and the law fight back?

The evening will begin with a brief lecture by an HRMM Educator on the real and sometimes legendary criminal activity along the Hudson in the 1860s and 1870s, followed by an immersive performance written and performed by Siren Theatre Company. The performance stars the era’s most infamous characters in the flesh, including the mysterious young woman rumored to have led a notorious Lower Manhattan gang. Watch as she is put on trial for her alleged crimes. Is she guilty? How does her story end? Who decides her fate?

Past Events

For more than a decade the Hudson River Maritime Museum's "Follow the River Lecture Series" has hosted historians, authors, and maritime experts covering a variety of subjects ranging from regional and maritime history to ecology and art inspired by the river.

Past lectures that were able to be recorded are available to view on the museum's YouTube channel. Due to restrictions, not all lectures may be available on video or in full. Watch via our Lecture Series playlist on YouTube or simply click on the graphics below to be taken to recordings of recent lectures.

A Year in the Life of an Orchard
Kevin Clark, lead orchardist at Rose Hill Farm

Finding Joy in Color and Peace in Nature: Becoming a Coast Guard Artist with Fred Feiler

Geology and History of the Rosendale Natural Cement Industry

Ladies of the Valley

Brick & Brick Ruins of Hudson Valley

Author Mary Mistler leads a talk on her novel 'Ladies of the Valley" Women of the Hudson Valley's Great Estates' highlighting several of these women and and offering insights and anecdotes from their lives, which largely reflect women’s changing roles over centuries.

Thomas Rinaldi and Robert Yasinsac’s talk about brickyard ruins as well as notable ruins constructed from local bricks.

The Land Doesn't Forget

Manhattan Phoenix

All the land that makes up the United States was in its entirety Indigenous land. Learn about the policies used to remove Indigenous Nations from their homes and pushed them onto reservations. Heather Bruegl explains why the fight to regain this land is important.

Based on his book, "Manhattan Phoenix: The Great Fire of 1835 and the Emergence of Modern New York", author Daniel S. Levy describes in detail the Great Fire of 1835 —which destroyed nearly 700 buildings in lower Manhattan—and the forces that transformed New York from a large unruly metropolis during the early years of the 19th century.

Seasons of Life

Marginalized Workers on the D&H Canal

Frank Beres, an aquatic ecologist and naturalist based out of Port Ewen, New York, examines the phenology of biodiversity as he travels through a year in our local area of the Hudson River watershed.

The construction of the 108-mile-long Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal required about 5000 laborers working in hard and dangerous conditions. D&H Historian and Bill Merchant gives a presentation about the lives and experiences of the diverse group of people who worked on the Canal.