by Alan Mapes
Published: August 2009
We had an oil painting of Portland Head Lighthouse on the living room wall when I was a kid, so I grew up thinking of lighthouses as a fixture of the Maine sea coast. Then I started paddling the Hudson River estuary, and to my surprise found that we have seven charming old lighthouses along its course between Albany and New York City.
For many years, these lighthouses guided sailors traveling the river, carrying passengers and cargo. They fell into disrepair when the modern light and buoy system came into use. Some were destroyed by the river or were torn down. But the remaining seven lighthouses make great destinations for paddle trips. What better way to see an old lighthouse than from the water?
Let’s look at the four northernmost lighthouses, all located within an hour-and-a- half drive of the Capital District. They are listed from north to south, with information on launch sites and on kayaking and canoeing opportunities nearby.
Hudson-Athens Lighthouse
This handsome brick and stone structure guides navigators around the Middle Ground Flats, lying between the villages of Hudson and Athens. Restored and maintained by the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, it is open to the public for tours several times a season. Dating to 1874, the lighthouse has an active light and a working fog bell mechanism that is one of just a few remaining in the country.
From the west shore of the Hudson, you can paddle to this lighthouse from the Athens State Boat Launch on NY Route 385, just north of Athens village. On the east side of the river, the city of Hudson provides a nice launch on Ferry Street. The paddling distance from Hudson is just over a half-mile. From Athens, you paddle south past the village and cross to the lighthouse, about 1.5 miles.
For a nice paddle route, visit the lighthouse and continue on around Middle Ground Flats Island, a loop of about five miles. Try to plan the tides, as we found the current on the west side of the island quite strong. It pays, of course, to be going the same direction as the current as much as possible. Tide information can be found at http://xtide.ldeo.columbia.edu/hudson/tides/predictions.html. With a rising tide, current will move north; a falling tide gives a current moving south. Remember that the current does not switch at exactly the same time the tide changes. I find the current switch often comes later than the tide change by 30 to 60 minutes.
Stop for lunch along the way at the restaurant at the Athens-on-the-Hudson Marina, a little north of Athens village. A small boat ramp right next to the restaurant provides a landing spot and you can leave kayaks or canoes on the grass nearby. Enjoy lunch on their nice outdoor deck or take advantage of the air conditioning inside. Both offer a great view of the river.
Saugerties Lighthouse
Built in 1869, this large lighthouse now functions as a bed and breakfast, and is owned by the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy. An overnight stay will give you a taste of the life of the old-time lighthouse keepers and their families. Be sure to book well ahead – I checked their website and found the two bedrooms almost fully booked well into next year.
To visit the lighthouse, we first took a hike from a parking area off Lighthouse Drive in Saugerties. A walk of about half-mile takes you through a wetland, over boardwalks and bridges, and right to the lighthouse. This walk can be wet at high tide, so check the tide table. After a great lunch at Lucy’s Kitchen on Partition Street in the village, we did the visit the proper way, launching kayaks from Tina Chorvas Memorial Park on the south bank of the Esopus Creek. Take NY Route 9W south through the village, cross the bridge over the Esopus, and go left on East Bridge Street. Turn left into the park just past a large brick factory-like building on the left that houses apartments. Carry boats downhill across the lawn to the water’s edge. Paddling upstream will bring you to a waterfall and dam. Downstream leads to the light at the mouth of the creek.
For more paddling, we left the lighthouse, crossed the river, and went south to Tivoli North Bay. With the tide ebbing, we fought our way against a strong current under the railroad bridge and into the bay. Take time to explore the wetland channels here. Just outside the bay, two islands are found along this eastern shore. We landed on the northernmost, state-owned Magdeline Island. A small beach on the west shore of the island provided a nice spot for a stretch. The distance covered on our paddle was about 6.5 miles.
Rondout Lighthouse
Owned by the city of Kingston and managed by the Hudson River Maritime Museum, this handsome lighthouse sits at the mouth of the Rondout Creek. Many milestones in the work of preserving the remaining Hudson River lighthouses are pretty recent – ownership of this lighthouse was transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2002. The current brick and stone structure is actually the third lighthouse built in this location. A wooden structure from the early 1800s was damaged by ice and a second structure of brick and stone was replaced by the current one in 1915.
Launching places abound in the Kingston area. Try Kingston Point Park – from Route 9W, follow Delaware Avenue east to the end, and the park is on the right. You can also launch at the docks at the Maritime Museum, or you can just land at their low dock to pay the museum a visit. Access is also available at Rhinecliff boat ramp on the eastern shore. You can easily combine visits to the Rondout and the Esopus Meadows Lighthouses into one trip.
Esopus Meadows Lighthouse
Called “The Maid of the Meadows,” this is the only wood structure lighthouse on the Hudson River. As with all seven of the Hudson River lighthouses, this one is cared for by a non-profit organization, in this case the Save Esopus Lighthouse Commission. Each Sunday, as I open the doors at the Norrie Point Paddlesport Center in Staatsburg, folks from that organization are boarding a small barge to spend the day working on restoration of the lighthouse.
The Maid is located right in the middle of the river, on a bend where the Hudson is about a mile wide. Half of that width is very shallow water, an area called Esopus Meadows. Thick beds of water “celery” on these shallow flats provide a nursery for young striped bass and other fish. To boaters, though, these flats present the danger of running aground, so the lighthouse has served well to mark the safe course around this hazard.
To visit this gem of the Hudson, you have a number of launch choices. It is about a two-mile paddle from the Norrie Point State Park marina – free launching for paddle craft. From Kingston Point Park, the distance is around three miles, and from Rhinecliff around 2.5 miles. Some features to explore in this area are the Rondout Creek, Vanderburg Cove (on the east shore opposite the lighthouse), and Esopus Island – part of the state park and just south of the Norrie Point marina. Black Creek, along the west shore opposite Esopus Island, can be explored at higher tide levels and its preserve lands are open to the public.
The Scenic Hudson organization has done a marvelous job of preserving open space along the Hudson River shores in this area. Their Esopus Meadows Preserve on the western shore, opposite the lighthouse, provides a launching place, picnic shelter, and information about the river.
For more information: Hudson-Athens Lighthouse – hudsonathenslighthouse.org;
Saugerties Lighthouse – saugertieslighthouse.com; Rondout Lighthouse – hrmm.org; Esopus Meadows Lighthouse – esopuslighthouse.org; and Scenic Hudson – scenichudson.org.
