KINGSTON, N.Y. – Adventure awaits! Kalmar Nyckel, the Tall Ship of Delaware, returns to the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston from Saturday, August 21 through Saturday, August 28 offering sailing adventures and deck tours for all ages on this magnificent square-rigged ship.

Bring your friends or family on a 2.5-hour day sail on August 21 and 22 or a weekday sail on the high tide on Tuesday, August 24 through Saturday, August 28. Passengers are invited to haul lines, set sails, or just relax and enjoy time on an authentic re-creation of a 17th-Century Dutch Pinnace. 

Sailing tickets are $60 for adults and $40 for youth 17 and under. Advance ticket purchases are strongly recommended. The latest COVID restrictions apply. All passengers should bring a mask if they want to participate in ship activities like hauling lines, in brief but close quarters. For a complete schedule of the ship's visit to Kingston, visit: https://booking.kalmarnyckel.org/BookASail-new.asp?mode=&id=&DateF=-1&LocationF=Kingston%2C+NY&SailTypeF=-1

Ship tours will be offered at the Museum dock on Saturday and Sunday, August 21 and 22 as well as Saturday, August 28 from 9:00am to 11:00am for $10 for adults, $5 for children age 6-17, and free for age 5 and under. First come, first served; advance purchase is not available.

Kalmar Nyckel is a full-scale replica of the Dutch-built merchant ship that brought Swedish settlers to North America in 1638, to establish the colony of New Sweden (now Delaware). Launched in 1997, today’s Kalmar Nyckel has a crew of 200 volunteers trained by a professional staff who help maintain, sail, and teach its programs. The ship offers a variety of sea- and land-based recreational and educational experiences that reach more than 30,000 people in a typical year.

“Voyaging up the Hudson River is a thrill for our Captain and crew! It’s also the first major trip the ship has made this year due to COVID guidelines,” says Cathy Parsells, Executive Director of the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation. The summer schedule includes visits to Historic New Castle, DE and Bristol, PA before returning to its home berth in Wilmington, DE.

The Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is a non-profit, volunteer-based educational organization, that built, owns, and operates Kalmar Nyckel. The foundation invites visitors and passengers to explore the cultural and maritime heritage of Delaware, North America, and its enduring ties to Sweden and Finland. The ship serves as a catalyst for social and economic development and outreach in and beyond the state of Delaware.

For details on Kalmar Nyckel sails, tours, charters, educational programs, volunteer opportunities and the Tatiana and Gerret Copeland Maritime Center visit www.KalmarNyckel.org, call 302.429.7447, and follow Kalmar Nyckel on Facebook and Instagram.

Hudson River Schedule
Saturday, August 21    

• 9:00 - 11:00am     Ship Tour   
• 1:00pm - 3:30pm    Day Sail

Sunday, August 22

• 9:00am - 11:00am    Ship Tour
• 2:00pm - 4:30pm      Day Sail

Tuesday, August 24

• 9:30am - 12:00pm Day Sail
• 3:00pm - 5:30pm    Day Sail  

Wednesday, August 25

• 9:30am - 12:00pm    Day Sail
• 3:30 - 6:00pm             Afternoon Sail

Thursday August 26

• 10:00am -12:30pm   Day Sail
• 4:30pm - 7:00pm      Evening Sail

Friday, August 27

• 11:00am - 1:30pm Day Sail
• 5:00pm - 7:30pm Evening Sail

Saturday, August 28

• 9:00am - 11:00am Ship Tour
• 12:30pm - 3:00pm Day Sail

Fees

• Deck tours:  $10 adults, $5 children 6-17, and free for age 5 and under
• Sails:  $60 adults / $40 children  

Visit “Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson” in person or online

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to announce that the new exhibit “Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson” is now complete. The physical exhibit opened in the fall of 2020, and now the companion online exhibit, complete with interactive timeline, is available to all. 
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For the first time in nearly 100 years, the gang is back together. “The gang” being artifacts from the Mary Powell. Although the museum has many Mary Powell artifacts in its collection, including one of famous steamboat’s lunettes – a decoration from her paddlewheel boxes – new artifact donations and those on loan from other institutions and private collectors are now on display for the first time. Her pilot wheel had long been held at the Senate House State Historic Site, but with assistance from the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, the Hudson River Maritime Museum is proud to host the pilot wheel as the centerpiece of this new exhibit. The exhibit also showcases items related to the Anderson family, on loan from the Klyne Esopus Museum. Featuring previously un-exhibited items from the Mary Powell, including an electric lantern from the turn of the 20th century and a newly-donated enamel stove from the captain’s quarters, the new exhibit showcases both the history and nostalgia surrounding the Queen of the Hudson. 

Operating from 1861 until her last season in 1917, the Mary Powell was called “Queen of the Hudson” from the beginning, thanks to her rarely-matched speed, beautiful lines, and the tightly run operation of the Anderson family. Famous in part due to her extraordinarily long career, the Mary Powell was removed from service in 1918 in large part due to coal shortages during World War I. Sold in 1919 and scrapped between 1920 and 1926, the remains of her wooden hull still lay in the mud of Rondout Creek. Even long after she was gone, the “Queen of the Hudson” still loomed large in the memories and imagination of Hudson Valley residents.

Visitors to the Hudson River Maritime Museum can peruse dozens of historic artifacts and images from the Mary Powell. The exhibit also features a large giclee print of Len Tantillo’s new painting of the Port of Rondout, featuring the Mary Powell prominently. Visitors to the museum and online can learn more in-depth stories about the Anderson family, the crew of the Mary Powell, including African Americans, her famous passengers, famous challengers who wanted to race the Mary Powell, enjoy an interactive timeline placing the Mary Powell in historical context, and much more with the museum’s companion online exhibit, available at www.hrmm.org/mary-powell.

“Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson” is supported in part by the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
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The Hudson River Maritime Museum is now open Thursdays through Sundays, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the door. 

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to host two programs with the 1903 Raceabout Sloop Eleanor this summer. On Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 7:00 p.m., Hudson River Historic Boat Restoration & Sailing Society president Chris Hoppe will give a virtual lecture, “A History and the Restoration of the Raceabout Sloop Eleanor,” as part of the Follow the River Lecture Series, sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank. 

This virtual lecture will cover the story of Eleanor’s construction, life afloat, and restoration. Built in 1903 at City Island, New York for racing on the Long Island Sound, the historic raceabout sloop Eleanor was designed by naval architect Clinton H. Crane. Her sleek and low-riding hull design allows her to come about in less than her own length. After nearly a decade of painstaking restoration work, Eleanor was launched from her warehouse in Hudson, NY back into the Hudson River in June of 2020. Owned, restored, and operated by the Hudson River Historic Boat Restoration and Sailing Society Inc., Eleanor is sailing again. 

Tickets for this virtual lecture, held via Zoom, are $5 for the general public and free for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. Those interested in attending can view upcoming lectures and register at www.hrmm.org/lecture-series. 

Then, on Saturday and Sunday, July 10-11, 2021, the sloop Eleanor will be at the Hudson River Maritime Museum docks. Members of the general public are invited to visit the sloop and learn more about the Hudson River Historic Boat Restoration & Sailing Society. This program is free and open to the public, but donations to support the ongoing maintenance of the Eleanor are encouraged. Eleanor can be visited by the public on Saturday, July 10, 10:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and on Sunday, July 11, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

​KINGSTON, N.Y. – This month the Hudson River Maritime Museum recognized long-time volunteer Mike Sadowy, 89. Mike is a member of the team at the museum’s Wooden Boat School, as well as a founding member of the site when it began offering classes in 2015. Mike was also an integral part of launching the museum’s traditional rowing classes, offering people an opportunity to experience this sport which plays an important part in the history of our region’s working waterfronts. 

Mike's affiliation with the museum began in the early 1990s. He was in care of the John Magnus, a wooden Whitehall replica rowboat, which was stored on a dolly at a nearby property. He would walk the boat over to the museum whenever the museum had an outdoor event. He would try to rally enthusiasm in open-boat "gig" rowing, and on occasion, he would gather enough people to go rowing. It wasn't until formation of the museum’s Wooden Boat School that Mike could see his efforts come to fruition.

On Thursday, June 3, 2021 staff and fellow volunteers celebrated with Mike during a potluck lunch at the Wooden Boat School. Many volunteers had not seen each other in over a year due to COVID. After lunch Mike and the team were able to re-launch the John Magnus into the Rondout Creek for an afternoon row. At the volunteer party, Mike recounted the story of building the John Magnus in the early 1990s. The project came to life thanks to NYC-based nonprofit Floating the Apple which promotes open water rowing and racing throughout the Northeast. The Whitehall boat style is known for balance and speed, its design being perfected since its origins in 1600s England. The boat was constructed within a storefront in Times Square. After removing a window in order to extricate the newly-built vessel from the building, the team paraded the boat down 42nd Street to celebrate its completion and draw attention to the art of traditional boat building. In the 1990s, Mike was a member of the Magnus crew that sailed and rowed the boat upriver from New York City to Albany. The boat has lived at the museum for a number of years and received a fresh coat of paint by volunteers during a fleet maintenance session in April.

Mike brought many life experiences to his work at the museum. He lived in New York City where he worked as a civil engineer on Port Authority projects like airports, Hudson River tunnels, and the George Washington Bridge. He served in the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, known commonly as the Ski Troops, during the Korean War. In the early 1950s Mike came north to Ulster County’s Shawangunk Mountains where he was part of the early mountain climbing movement, as well as a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club which is dedicated to the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the outdoors. Mike lives in Poughkeepsie and High Falls.

​Mike was part of the launch of the museum’s YouthBoat program which connects youth students with skilled shipwrights and craftspeople to learn the traditional boatbuilding process. YouthBoat offers a daytime program for Ulster BOCES students, as well as after-school sessions for students at Hudson Valley high schools. Participants put STEM skills to work as they follow vessel building plans and familiarize themselves with industry tools and materials. Once a boat is completed, students move their vessel to the Rondout Creek for a row. Observers have found the program to be a model for experiential learning. 

Youth woodworking sessions continue at the museum this year and will include a program for young adults in which groups of six students will learn joinery and teamwork as they construct a wooden tool box. Also happening is a combination woodworking/sailing class that begins with a boat building introduction followed by sailing lessons. 

In the past year, Mike has turned his attention to cataloguing the school’s library which offers a wealth of knowledge that few have seen. The collection can be found online at www.librarything.com/catalog/RWBS . Mike’s dedication to the project helps readers reach hundreds of hard-to-find and out-of-print publications on a wide range of maritime and boat-building topics including boat construction, tool making, and canvas working.

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to host author Michael Nichols for “Hell Gate - Imaginative Qualities of An Actual Place” on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the Follow the River Lecture Series, sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank. This will be the last lecture until September.

This talk is drawn from Nichols’ 2018 book Hell Gate: A Nexus of New York's East River. 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.

Tickets for this virtual lecture, held via Zoom, are $5 for the general public and free for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. Those interested in attending can view upcoming lectures and register at www.hrmm.org/lecture-series.