Sailing with the "Hudson River Day Line" in 1904

the hudson river valley has been called one of the most picturesque parts of the eastern united states i've hiked through it and admired its beauty in history but one of the things that always drew my attention was the romance of the old steamboat lines that paddled their way up from manhattan to the uppermost reaches of the river this video is going to be a little different than my others i'm not talking about some wreck or a special event instead i'm painting a picture of a generic fall voyage on one of the lost steamboat lines of america's many rivers for a european visiting new york city no trip was complete without an overnight excursion up the hudson river for locals all along the river from the city to the small towns the riverboats were the main transportation for school groups and churches going on picnics upriver let's go with the former scenario however let's say you're visiting from england and you're on a sightseeing tour up the hudson river while on a visit from overseas the year is 1904 and you've just sailed second class aboard the rms teutonic out of liverpool england and then stopped over in queenstown ireland before making your way across the wide open atlantic the bustling harbor of new york city is packed with steamers as the teutonic navigates to the white star pier on the west side of manhattan here after several days at sea is where you disembark word is they'll be rebuilding this whole waterfront very soon so you take in the scenery knowing that on your next visit to the united states this whole part of the city may be very different whistles blow and slamming of wood is heard as cranes offload the cargo from your voyage the hudson river dayline is going to take you from manhattan 150 miles up the river to albany the state capital but this is going to have to wait until tomorrow the hudson river boat left this morning and your steamer arrived late this gives you the opportunity to explore the city for a night a show called little johnny jones is playing at the liberty theater and why don't you take the brand new new york subway opened less than two weeks ago and while you're in the area be sure to take in the times building which opened just this year prompting the city to rename the old long acre square to times square after a long night out on the town you make your way down to pier 30 at the end of dubros street to the hudson river dayline beer where the steamer albany awaits your boarding the five-minute warning blasts as you hurry up the gangplank showing your ticket and coming onto the main deck we're able to take this journey back in time up the hudson river thanks to two unique sources provided to us by the turn of the century hudson river dayline one is this promotional book circa 1908 which is full of beautiful photographs all along the river featuring their steamboats and the second is this very unique book from 1904 in which one mad photographer stood on the deck of a hudson river dayline steamer and photographed both sides continuously all the way from manhattan to albany new york leaning heavily on these materials as well as a few brochures and postcards from my collection and materials from the amazing hudson river maritime museum website were able to vividly imagine what a 1904 voyage would have been like the backdrop for our journey is the steamboat albany built in wilmington delaware in 1880 and now in 1904 plying its daily route between albany and new york she's almost an antique now but she's still running strong the time is now 8 40 a.m and with the blast of the whistle among the already lively manhattan harbor the albany backs away from the wharf heading north we pass several ocean liners at their peers readying themselves for their own departures at the american lines pier we see the ss new york already taking on passengers for her departure later today we stop over at 42nd street at 9am and then once more at 1 29th 20 minutes later just at the foot of grant's tomb towering over the small pier at the end of the road almost an hour after our initial departure we put manhattan behind us and sail into the shadows of the palisades of new jersey the rock cliffs loom over 500 feet above the decks of the ss albany and were marked on the very first maps of the region made by europeans in the 17 and 1800s this was the site of several duels including the one between alexander hamilton and william burr one more stop over in yonkers at 9 45 as we ascend beyond the northernmost reaches of new jersey the autumn winds whip the smoke to our starboard and the river widens into the tappan zee as we pass by irvington the home of classic folk writer washington irving and shortly thereafter we come upon tarrytown and then sleepy hollow home of ichabod crane and irving's legendary headless horseman the old sleepy hollow cemetery still contains the headstones irving borrowed names from most notably ichabod's love interest katrina van tassel our boat won't be hailing at sleepy hollow though our first port of call is bear mountain our picnicking passengers are likely to disembark here as we arrive just after 10 am there's quite the excitement as these families disembark in this fall weather to the special picnic resort owned by the hudson river dayline where they can enjoy a small lake a restaurant and other amenities the steamer new york will pick them up on its southbound voyage later today leaving behind bear mountain we enter a pocket of the river rich in military history shortly before bear mountain we passed the new york national guard base and the revolutionary war battlefield of stony point and now we come upon the fortress that is the west point military academy perhaps we'll be greeted by a cannon salute as we round the point steaming north at about 17 knots had we made this journey in 1778 a massive chain would stop us in our tracks right here this chain was placed here by the continental army to prevent the british from capturing the hudson river during the revolution after a brief stop at west point where a batch of cadets disembarked we passed the cold spring foundry on the starboard side started just after the war of 1812 to help produce artillery this once major weapons manufacturer is in serious decline now having never been able to switch from iron to steel production and will probably file for bankruptcy about a decade after our voyage it does it does it does yeah if you look out over the starboard railing about a mile north of cold spring you'll see another imposing site of military interest you can't really miss this place it's a massive castle ruined standing on a lone island three years ago in 1901 a military outfitter named francis bannerman bought the island and began building this castle to use as his arsenal bannermen outfitted soldiers for the spanish-american war and you know that little war between russia and japan being covered on the second page of our newspapers these days bannermen is a major dealer to both sides of the fray and now long after our voyage and back in our real present day we can see that the castle still stands in part bannerman went on to supply artillery during the first world war but the arsenal exploded in 1920 was partially rebuilt and then burnt down in the 1960s it sat abandoned ever since all right now jumping back to 1904 if you're looking for more american military history you'll definitely want to disembark at our next stop the town of newburgh where george washington had his headquarters for the final year of the american revolution the longest time he stayed in a single place even in 1904 this was a popular destination for history buffs along the hudson leaving newburgh behind you'll want to keep an eye out on the ridge to the ship's starboard side perhaps you can spot locust grove estates the home of samuel morse the inventor of morse code it's now a quarter past one and our next port of call is a town you can really pick your feet in as we pull up to the pier at poughkeepsie we see a group of young college women dressed in their uniforms prepared to disembark these are students of vassar college returning to their campus after a weekend in the big city founded in 1861 vassar college was the second school in the u.s for women who wish to pursue a degree as we leave them behind backing out from the pier we pass underneath the poughkeepsie railroad bridge a very imposing steel structure that carries two railroad tracks a full mile across the river with clearance enough for our somewhat tall steamer to pass clear under look off to the starboard side of the vessel and you'll see hyde park in 1904 it's the stomping ground of future u.s president franklin delano roosevelt as well as some of the famous vanderbilt family now come 2 10 in the afternoon we stop at kingston point now if you are looking to visit some of the famous catskill mountain hotels this is where you'll want to disembark the overlooked mountain house sits perched in the mountains looking down on the kingston landing in present time in the 2020s the hotel sits in ruin but can still be visited if you hike the right trails or if you watch our video on it with kingston now behind us we'll be passing the saugerties lighthouse one of many of a similar design along the way reminding us how this peaceful and serene river can sometimes be quite the challenge to navigate now take another look to the starboard side and you'll see the claremont estate this was the summer home of robert livingston financier and friend of robert fulton and partner in the ss north river venture the very first successful steamboat which sailed the exact same route that we're on only 100 years prior oh and look down at the riverbank it appears that we have a freight train racing against us up the river with the claremont estate in our wake we've now traversed 100 miles since departing manhattan this morning we've got quite some time before we arrive at the next pier so let's stroll the ship a bit shall we on a large riverboat like this you have all of the same conveniences as you would on an ocean liner we have observation lounges in the forward and aft a large saloon restaurant serving meals and a la carte a grand stairwell with oil paintings decorating the walls for the more private passengers staterooms can be booked at an additional fare some with their own sitting and entertaining spaces just like all most steam ships the barber shop doubled as a souvenir shop where passengers could buy postcards souvenir spoons or even handkerchiefs like this one of the dayline steamer hendrick hudson from 1906. they could also buy postage to mail letters from onboard the ship and books like the panorama of the hudson would have been available at a discounted price some of the dayline steamers even boasted a dark room while we went and got a shave in the barber shop the albany hailed in the town of catskill at 3 25 pm freshly shaven we came up on deck at 3 40 as the ship calls on the town of hudson now while the dayline discourages its mention this stretch of river is a sobering reminder to the crew of how this tame stretch of water can at times be treacherous beneath our baffles are the waterlogged timbers of the steamboat swallow wrecked here in 1845 with the loss of around 15 souls if you'd like to know more about that story you'll find a video about it on this channel with the town of hudson and the wreck of the swallow behind us the sun is starting to wane as late afternoon falls the air begins to nip so most of the passengers have come inside we have two and a half hours before we reach albany and no more stops along the way this long stretch is quite the convenient time for the ship to serve its dinner for a dollar we can dine in the ship's grand saloon which boasts a seven course fixed menu comparable to the great liners of the atlantic first we start with the soups leading up to either ribs or lamb vegetables and salad and a wide selection of dessert options to cap the meal off from the saloon we have a wide panoramic view through the windows of the setting autumn sun silhouetting the city of new baltimore on the port side as we steam past at last as dusk falls the ss albany is brought up along the steamboat landing in the city of albany right on time at 6 10 pm we made the 150 mile journey in nine and a half hours and that's quite an improvement over the 32 hours it took robert fulton's steamboat to do the same journey this is the terminus we must all disembark here some of our passengers will make connections for train lines either heading to new england or canada or west into new york state for us visitors from england however will be spending tomorrow in albany touring the many museums and admiring the architecture before returning on the hudson river dayline again the following morning back to manhattan we've had quite the journey taking in the rich heritage and unique vistas of the hudson river life was slower back then and a little bit more deliberate a steamboat voyage gave their passengers the opportunity to really take in their surroundings and process the transition from one place to another the hudson river dayline went under in 1971 and the train that took over its route will get you from manhattan to albany in four hours today if you enjoyed this video and want to know more about lesser-known maritime tales then be sure to like and subscribe and share this video with your friends i've also done a video similar to this about what a voyage on board the oceanic class of the white star line in the 1870s would have been like thank you very much for watching [Music] you

Channel: Part-Time Explorer

Views: 55,879

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Id: 7hV7YGbk_mY

Length: 15min 17sec (917 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 20 2021