Workships, Panels, and Planning for the Maiden Visit in 2022! 

On November 13, 2021, the Sailing School at the Hudson River Maritime Museum and the Kingston Sailing Club co-hosted its fifth annual women’s sailing conference. This was a virtual event, from 10 am to 4 pm. 

Keynote Speaker Tracy Edwards, MBE, of Maiden fame, enthralled and inspired her audience with stories from the famous all-women’s 1989-90 Whitbread Around the World Race campaign which she led.  She explored the resilience she developed as a young sailor and explained this quality is just what is needed as we navigate the depths and shoals of our current times. Tracy discussed how she and others are bringing that flexibility and energy to The Maiden Factor Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting education for girls around the world. 

Most exciting, Tracy announced the vessel Maiden will be restarting its around-the-world sailing trip in early 2022, and the fact that the vessel and its crew will be visiting us at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, New York in June, 2022!

​In addition to the keynote, the conference presented 12 workshops on topics including weather for the mariner, sailing as therapy, navigation, rules of the road, safety, buying a boat,  sustainability, and more. There were four racing workshops including How to Develop as a Racing Sailor with Dawn Riley, Executive Director of Oakcliff Sailing in Oyster Bay, New York, who was recently inducted into the US National Sailing Hall of Fame.

Finally, the conference concluded with a panel of sailors, representing seven local sailing organizations, who presented a variety of ways people can get out on the water. It was a wonderful day bringing men, women and youth together to learn and grow as sailors. 

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to announce the launch of the trailer and a crowdfunding campaign to complete the new documentary film “Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River.”

Of the dozens of lighthouses and lights that once dotted the Hudson River, only seven remain. This iconic American river, at the heart of the rise of New York City and westward expansion into the interior of the continent, was also a transportation super highway long before automobiles were invented. Throughout it all, the lighthouses kept watch, guarding the safety of the Hudson’s waterborne traffic.
But no comprehensive history of these lighthouses exists. Until now.

The idea for this film has grown out of decades of Hudson River lighthouse interpretation, including research, exhibits, articles, short films, presentations, and the book.

Together with filmmaker Jeff Mertz of Moonbow Imaging, the Hudson River Maritime Museum is creating a feature-length documentary film: “Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River.” This beautifully shot film will place the lighthouses in historic context, tell the fascinating stories of the buildings themselves and their keepers, and outline how these seven have survived to the present day, and how to preserve them for generations to come.

The museum and Mertz spent part of 2020 and most of 2021 partnering with lighthouse organizations, historians, and historic preservationists to record interviews and get footage of the interior and exterior of all seven of the Hudson River Lighthouses: Hudson-Athens, Saugerties, Rondout, Esopus Meadows, Stony Point, Sleepy Hollow, and Jeffrey’s Hook (a.k.a. the “Little Red Lighthouse”). 

Those interested in learning more about the film, each of the lighthouse organizations, and how to donate can visit www.hudsonriverlighthouses.org. Supporters through Indiegogo can receive perks like DVDs, signed Hudson River Lighthouses books, lighthouse tours, supporters-only film screenings, credits, and more.

The museum has already received partial support from Ulster Savings Bank, Rondout Savings Bank, and the County of Ulster’s Ulster County Cultural Services & Promotion Fund administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.

​Learn more about the steamboat “Mary Powell,” Queen of the Hudson

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming lecture “Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson,” held on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:00 PM. 
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Have you ever wondered how the Mary Powell got so famous? Director of Exhibits and Outreach Sarah Wassberg Johnson will discuss the history of the steamboat Mary Powell in this illustrated virtual lecture. 

Learn about the economic and social conditions that led to her construction, the lives of her owners and captains, and why she was “Queen” from the beginning. From the beginning of the Civil War to the U.S. entrance into World War I, the Mary Powell oversaw it all. Hosting famous passengers like President Ulysses S. Grant and Walt Whitman, leading national events like the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty in 1886, and fending off multiple challenges to her throne. Beloved until the end, the post-WWI “death” of the Mary Powell inspired eulogies and poems from fans locally and around the world, and she continued to represent the golden age of steamboating on the Hudson River long after she was gone. 

Sarah Wassberg Johnson is the Director of Exhibits & Outreach at the Hudson River Maritime Museum and researched and wrote much of the text for the museum’s exhibit, “Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson.” She is the editor and co-author of Hudson River Lighthouses (2019) and editor of the museum’s Pilot Log and History Blog. She has an MA in Public History from the University at Albany.

Tickets are $5 for the general public and free for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. To register, visit www.hrmm.org/lecture-series.

For more than a decade the Hudson River Maritime Museum's "Follow the River Lecture Series" has hosted historians, authors, and maritime experts for engaging illustrated talks on a variety of regional history and maritime subjects. In recent years, many of the lectures have also been recorded and are available on YouTube. For more information about upcoming lectures and to access recordings of past lectures, visit www.hrmm.org/lecture-series. The series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank.

​Sessions for beginners include knife rack and nautical rope wreath

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Wooden Boat School at the Hudson River Maritime Museum will offer a number of holiday-themed woodworking classes throughout December. Fun and creative sessions enable students of all experience levels to create thoughtful and personalized gifts for family and friends, as well as locally made home decor. 

Students will create a matching live edge cutting board and knife rack during a 1-day class on Saturday, December 4. Each student will pick a flitch of locally harvested and kiln dried hardwood, then use draw knives, sanders, and other tools to plan dimensions, smooth their material, and embed magnets to custom make these common kitchen tools.

People can register for an intro to leatherworking session on Sunday, December 5, during which students will choose leather varieties and colors to make a handcrafted leather wallet. On Saturday, December 11, staff will offer a fun introductory class to create scroll saw holiday ornaments. Students will select designs, learn to read patterns, and use basic cutting techniques using a scroll saw. Other classes throughout December include a parent/child cardboard dulcimer build on Saturday, December 11, nautical wreath construction on Sunday, December 12, and a wooden block plane class on Saturday, December 18. A calendar and registration details can be found at www.hrmm.org/woodworking. 

Introductory woodworking classes at the HRMM Wooden Boat School are designed for beginner woodworkers. Curriculum includes an overview of materials, tool use, and shop safety. Instructors work with small class sizes which allow students to learn at their own pace and customize their creations. Also offered at the school are after-school youth sessions and an extensive foundations of woodworking series, as well as more advanced woodworking courses on timber framing, boat building, and vessel restoration.

The Wooden Boat School was founded by the Hudson River Maritime Museum in 2015 to preserve the maritime craft traditions of the Hudson Valley and to teach a hands-on interpretation of the living history of the Hudson River. The school offers diverse curriculum and opportunities which inspire skills in woodworking, boat building, and maritime craft. Also available are restoration services for wooden boats. A class calendar and details can be found at www.hrmm.org/woodworking.