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RIVERWISE
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Sail Freight

Sail Freight on the Hudson River

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The Hudson River Valley has a very long history of transporting goods by sailboat and sailing ship. The Hudson River Sloop was based on Dutch sloop designs, but adapted to sailing on the Hudson River. With a single mast and a large mainsail, echoes of the Hudson River Sloop can be seen today in the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is a 90% scale replica of an original sloop. 

With two-masted schooners and sailing canal barges like the Champlain Canal schooner Lois McClure, sailing ships were once common throughout the Hudson Valley. In the days before steam power, sailboats were the easiest way to transport people and goods in the mountainous Hudson Valley and in an era where roads were bad and slow. 

Today, the Schooner Apollonia, our partner on the North Hudson Voyage, is reviving sail freight on the Hudson River as a carbon-neutral, sustainable way to transport goods. 

​As part of the RiverWise project, the Hudson River Maritime Museum will be creating a series of documentary films about sail freight on the Hudson River, past, present, and future. We are fundraising to support these documentary films. Any amount you can give is greatly appreciated.
Donate Now
Sponsor a Film or Film Series

Articles

"The Hudson River in the Age of Sail" by Len Tantillo. Pilot Log, 2000.

"Schooner Manchester and Hudson" by Allynne Lange. Pilot Log, 2007.

"The Port of Rondout in the Days of Sloops" by Ted Dietz. Pilot Log, 2007.

"Memories of Sloop Travel" April 16, 1850, North American and United States Gazette.


"Hudson River Schooner Wreck" by Mark Peckham, History Blog. April 2, 2020


Books

Sloops of the Hudson by Verplanck and Collier (1908). This classic is said to have inspired Pete Seeger to build the Clearwater and is in the public domain. You can read it for free online by following the title link or you can read below!
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The Sloops of the Hudson River: A Historical and Design Survey ​by Paul E. Fontenoy

For more of than 200 years, sloop-rigged sailing craft carried the bulk of the commerce on the Hudson River, helping to make New York America's premier seaport. Historian and model-maker Fountenoy looks the origins of Hudson River sloops among 17th-century Dutch vessels, then traces the changes through the 18th and early 19th centuries that resulted in the classic Hudson River sloop of the 1830s-50s. He also considers the revival of the type with the 1969 sloop Clearwater. 

The Hudson River Maritime Museum partnered with Mystic Seaport and Paul to produce this book and we encourage you to purchase it from Mystic Seaport. 

​Hudson River Maritime Museum
50 Rondout Landing
Kingston, NY 12401

​845-338-0071
fax: 845-338-0583

​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. 
Header image "Breakneck Ridge" courtesy Jeffrey Pang.
Support the RiverWise project and documentary films! Your donations helps us bring the Hudson River closer to everyone.
Donate Now

RiverWise is sponsored in part by: 

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This event was made possible by a sponsorship from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

Solaris is sponsored by:

  • SunCommon
  • Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union
  • The Ellen and Sam Phelan Family Foundation 
  • Sustainable Energy Systems / Solar Sal Boats ​
  • Ann Loeding
  • David Eaton

Apollonia is sponsored in part by:

  • Daley Family Foundation
  • Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union
  • Ann Loeding
  • Home
  • About
    • Media
  • The Voyages
    • Map
    • North Hudson Voyage
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  • Log
  • Themes
    • Lighthouses
    • Native American History
    • Shipbuilding
    • Towing
    • Sail Freight
  • Films
    • Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River
    • Finding Lenapehoking
    • Naming Storm King Mountain
    • When the Lady Was a Lighthouse
    • The Little Red Lighthouse
    • History of Indian Point
    • RiverWise: The Journey Begins
  • Support
    • Sponsors
  • Contact