THE HUDSON RIVER HIGHLANDS

THE HUDSON RIVER HIGHLANDS

We are in the 38' Bayliner headed to Rondout Creek to dock for a few days.  We christened the new boat Renaissance.  Get it?  Rebirth.  Out of the ashes.  We almost named her Phoenix.  A professional artist painted her name on the transom.

Phoenix seemed too much a reminder of the burned out hulk of l'Entre Acte dragged up on shore.  We first saw the wreck in a driving rain squall.  Little Michael holding his red umbrella which the wind blows inside out; he's sobbing.  Why did this happen to US?! Truly the veil was thin to tatters in that moment.  My mind swirling.  What to tell a nine year old about the evil that invades the earth?  Bad people do bad things.  All is well, and all manner of thing will be well.  We speak the comfort we aren't sure of.

And so, this boat had to be Renaissance. 

That's my mother sitting in the cockpit as the boat is docked on Blue Dock in Haverstraw Marina, ready to cruise up the river.  It's the one time my parents condescended to come aboard for a cruise.  Mom was born on a farm in Pennsylvania.  She never learned how to swim.   Hated boats.  She died this year on January 17, a saint. God bless her!

This is the boat we always dreamed of.  Twin Hino diesels down in the hold behind my mother ready to run all day. Fully equipped head with tub, European shower, sink, linen closets and head.  Another half bath off the master stateroom, another stateroom with another queen size bed, full galley, stove, oven, microwave, fridge, two steps up to the Salon with an L shape banquette, dining table, lower Captain's station and captain's chair.  Icem  Aqua blue carpeting throughout, and an icemaker. On the bridge a full Captain's station, Captain's chair,  bench seating along each side lockers beneath.  We had a full enclosure made for the bridge. Radar added later mostly for ocean cruising.

So, off to Rondout Creek. Head north.

Some say that beyond West Point is the most beautiful stretch of river scenery in the United States.  We don't disagree.  One German friend who cruised here with us said it reminded her of the Rhine River valleys.  OK. But much less polluted here!

On both banks of the river Tors and hills steeply rise to almost diminish the river.  The scenery is breathtaking in any boating season- leaves just budding out, every shade of green in summer, autumn a spectacular artist's pallet.  The Hudson River School artists knew what they were doing when they came to paint these scenes.

But best stop gawking at the fabulous scenery and start paying attention to the channel markers.  Drift out and you'll find out the hard way how shoal this river can be.  We actually did run aground our first trip north in the 24.  I was trying to read the chart, which I didn't have a clue how to do yet.  We fetched up just before the Bear Mountain Bridge.  A quick reverse got us off.  Lucky first heads-up.  We heard stories of people waiting the 6 hours for the tide to lift them off.  Good, if you happen to be where there is tide. 

The Race is the stretch of river to the Bear Mountain Bridge. The Race has been named the Horse Race, and the Devil's Horse as the current here is the fastest on the river.  The river is only 3/8 mile wide, with depths up to 165 feet.  Watch those channel markers.

In the early 1900s ferry companies ran a passenger service to the Highlands.  And when the Bear Mountain Park opened thousands of New Yorkers took the ferries up to the park.  Getting there made for delays of four hours or more, or not getting across at all.  A story goes that Mrs. Vanderbuilt had had enough of that and had the Bear Mountain Bridge built in the 1920s.  The Bear Mountain Inn is lovely.  Worth building a bridge to get to, I'd say.

The area was the site of costly battles during the Revolutionary War as the British badly wanted control of the river.  There were two chains created and strung across the Hudson River in an effort to prevent the British from taking control of the Hudson thereby splitting the American colonies. The first chain, which weighed 35 tons and was 1650 yards long stretched between the base of Fort Montgomery and the rock at Anthony's Nose.

That chain failed to stop the British forces when they attacked Forts Montgomery and Clinton. That chain was dismantled by the British. The second chain was laid across the Hudson between Constitution Island and West Point. Each link was two feet long and weighed 180 pounds. This chain was never tested in its effectiveness against British ships. The focus of the war shifted to other battle grounds and they never again tried to bring their ships this far up the Hudson.

One of the promontories on which the Great Chain was fixed is called Anthony's Nose. That chain failed to stop the British forces when they attacked Forts Montgomery and Clinton. That chain was dismantled by the British. The second chain was laid across the Hudson between Constitution Island and West Point. Each link was two feet long and weighed 180 pounds. This chain was never tested in its effectiveness against British ships. The focus of the war shifted to other battle grounds and they never again tried to bring their ships this far up the Hudson.

The following is from Hunt's Letters About the Hudson and Its Vicinity: Before the revolution, a vessel was passing up the river, under the command of a Capt. Hogans, when immediately opposite the mountain, the mate looked rather quizzically at the mountain and then at the captain's nose. The captain, by the way, had an enormous nose, which was not infrequently the subject of good-natured remark; and he at once understood the mate's allusion. ’What,’ says the captain, ‘does that look like my nose? Call it then if you please Antony's Nose.’"

The story was repeated on shore, and the mountain  assumed the name and became a monument to  Capt. Antony Hogans and his nose.

 Now we're cruising from buoy to buoy.  No inventive boating here with the 38.  The river winds as it will. 

Rondout Lighthouse - Rondout Creek