FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Emma Foster / Museum Educator / [email protected]

Program Title: Batter Up! The History of Baseball in Kingston and Ulster County
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Date & Time: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 7:00pm
Location: Hudson River Maritime Museum - 50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY
Pricing: $10/non member - $5/ HRMM members

Presentation Topic: This lecture explores the early history of baseball in Ulster County and the role the region played in the sport’s development during the mid-19th century. Long before professional leagues, baseball took root in river towns like Kingston and Rondout, where dockworkers, tradesmen, and clerks organized clubs and played on open fields. Drawing on newspaper accounts, box scores, and local records, the talk highlights how baseball functioned as both recreation and community life in the Hudson Valley. Special attention is given to local clubs, early rivalries, and games that drew regional and even national attention. This lecture also examines how Ulster County fits into larger stories about amateur baseball, race, and the transition toward organized leagues. By focusing on specific people and places, it shows how national baseball history was shaped by very local experiences. The result is a grounded look at how a global game grew out of small communities along the Hudson River.

Find more information and registration details at hrmm.org or here.

Speaker Bios: Dan Torres is the President of the Ulster County Vintage Base Ball Association and co-founder of the Kingston Guards Vintage Base Ball Club, a team that plays by 19th-century rules. Additionally, he has done extensive research on Ulster County’s 19th-century baseball history.

Taylor Bruck is the Ulster County Clerk and the City of Kingston Historian. In these roles, he works to preserve, interpret, and make accessible the region’s historical records, with a particular focus on local civic and community history. His work bridges public service and historical scholarship, helping connect Ulster County’s past to its present.

About HRMM: Located along the historic Rondout Creek waterfront in downtown Kingston, NY, the Hudson River Maritime Museum is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and related industries. Learn more at hrmm.org.​

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Sara Russell / Museum Educator / [email protected]

Program Title: Crime on the Hudson: Gilded Age Pirates and River Thieves - Lecture and Performance
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Date & Time: Thursday, February 12, 2026 6:30pm
Location: Hudson River Maritime Museum - 50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY
Pricing: $20/non member - $10/ HRMM members / Sliding scale ticket option available. Please email [email protected] for more information and to secure a discounted ticket.

Presentation Topic: 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 on the real and sometimes legendary criminal activity along the Hudson in the 1860s and 1870s, followed by an immersive performance starring 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?

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

Find more information and registration details at hrmm.org or here.

Siren Theatre Company is a small group of performing artists local to the Hudson Valley founded by Caitlin Connelly, Tricia Anderson, and Maclain Maier. They specialize in writing original, immersive productions that bring history to life. The company’s mission is to produce fearless and inspiring work that can create dialogue, play with perspective, and inspire introspection. Visit them on Facebook.

About HRMM: Located along the historic Rondout Creek waterfront in downtown Kingston, NY, the Hudson River Maritime Museum is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and related industries. Learn more at hrmm.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Jody Sterling / HRMM Sailing School Director / [email protected]

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Sailing School at the Hudson River Maritime Museum and the
Kingston Sailing Club are pleased to announce that registration for the ninth annual Riverport Women’s Sailing Conference, March 27 - 28, is now open.

The 2026 Riverport Women’s Sailing Conference (RWSC) is co-sponsored by the Hudson River Maritime Museum and the Kingston Sailing Club and will be held in person, on land, at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, New York. All workshops will be taught by expert women mariners. People of all genders are welcome to register. Discounted registration is available to young people ages 14 - 20.

Join us on Friday, March 27, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm for the Keynote events at Frank Guido’s Little Italy, Thomas Street, Kingston, New York. From 5:00 to 6:00 pm, we will welcome all
interested people to network with local and regional sailors and many of our conference
presenters at a free social hour with a cash bar. From 6:00 to 6:30, Nancy DeVries will deliver her Keynote presentation “Not Just a Hudson River Sailor” for free to all who would like to participate. Nancy’s naysayers suggested that a river was a poor way to begin an extraordinary sailing life. Now almost 70,000 bluewater miles later, Nancy contradicts that, shares how it all began, and inspires us as she sails into her ninth decade. The Keynote dinner with Nancy and other conference presenters begins at 6:30 pm. Enjoy more networking opportunities and a delicious three-course dinner.

On March 28, conference registrants will enjoy a full Saturday of workshops, networking, coffee/light breakfast, and lunch. Participants will select up to five workshops on topics including Becoming a Boat Owner; Introduction to Racing; Diesel Engine Maintenance, You Are Strong Enough!; Maritime Licensing; Basic Navigation; Knots & Line Management; Ms. Race Regatta; Guided Museum Tour; Keepers of the Light; Outboard Engine Troubleshooting; and Rig Tuning. The day will conclude with a lively panel discussion on Working in the Maritime Professions.

Early registration for the Keynote Events and Conference Workshops is recommended to assure a spot and to reserve spaces in workshops you’d like to attend. The Keynote Dinner cost is $60 per person which includes taxes and gratuities. Conference workshop tuition is $125 for the public and $110 for HRMM members. Youth registration is available at a 20% discount. For details about the conference and online registration visit hrmm.org/riverport-womens-conference or call (845) 338-0071.

The Hudson River Maritime Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which relies upon donations and memberships for daily operations. The museum does not receive any municipal, state, or federal funding, except through competitive, project-based grants.

For more information about the Hudson River Maritime Museum, please visit hrmm.org, find HRMM on Facebook, or call 845.338.0071.