Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Hudson Lighthouse
Hudson Lighthouse
WELCOME
TO THE TIUDSON.ATHENS LIGHTHOUSE
I
would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our lighthouse. The
Hudson-Athens Lighthouse is bne of seven remaining lighthouses on the Hudson River.
Once there were thirteen, but six have been demolished and are gone forever. Our
lighthouse is the northem most on the river. With its ied brick and stone construction it is
also the most stately and truly the "gem" of the Hudson River. It was built in 1874 and is
still an active aid to navigation, having been automatednlg4g.
We hope that you enjoy your visit to the lighthouse, taking a step back into time
and hopefully getting an understanding of what it was like to have been a lighthouse
keeper and living in a lighthouse. We will do our best to answer your questions and make
your visit a memorable one.
As you tour the lighthouse, I would ask you to seriously consider becoming a
volunteer in our orgarization so that we can continue to open up the lighthouse for others
to enjoy as you have today. Financial support through yearly dues and contributions are
only a part of what makes this a successfirl endeavor and is greatly appreciated. However,
our most important and greatest asset is our members and the volunteer time that they
give. It is my hope that you will become an active member in our organization. Again
thank you for visiting the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse.
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Emil Brunner
The Last Civilian Lightkeeper
1932-1949
THE
LIGHTHOUSE
In the late 1880's, hazards created by the Middle Ground Flats opposite the City
of Hudson made navigation of the Hudson River at that point extremely risky for the
busy shipping route that went from New York City to Troy. After much petitioning to the
Congress of the United States, a survey was completed and an appropriation. of
$35,b00.00 was approvednlST2to build the Hudson City Lighthouse.
Construction began in early 1873. Pilings were driven some fifty feet into the
riverbed and then surrounded by a granite pier. The keeper's dwelling was then
constructed on top of the man-made pier. The north end of the lighthouse base was
designed like the bow of a ship. This was done to protect the lighthouse from the frequent
ice flows in winter and spring. Built in the Second Empire architectural style, the two
story brick and granite structure sits majestically in the middle of the river between
Hudson and Athens. The lighthouse was put into operation on November 14,1874 with
Henry D. Best as its first keeper and automated on November 10,1949 almost seventyfive years to the date on which it was first lighted.
Today the lighthouse still serves as an aid to navigation guiding ships safely
around the Middle Ground Flats. In July of 2000, the U.S. Coast Guard officially
transferred the title of the lighthouse over to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation
Society. As the new owners of the lighthouse, it is now our responsibility to preserve this
historic building for future generations to enjoy. We are now the present day "keepers of
the lighthouse."
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The Basement
The basement was used as a storage area, mostly for coal and oil and the various
tools that a lightkeeper needed to perform his duties and also as a workshop for the
lightkeeper. The coal furnace for the central heating system and a 6500-gallon cistern,
which held their water supply are also located in the basement.
The kitchen was the heart of the lighthouse. I would imagine that something was
going on here a good part of the day with the preparation of meals, baking, and of course
coffee. As was every.thing in the lighthouse, cooking methods were rather primitive. The
stove was fueled by coal which meant that one had to get coal from the basement and I
am sure there was always cleaning to do. The coal stove meant that it was nice and warm
in the winter but a bit on the toasty side during the summer months. Water was collected
from the roof into a cistern located under the kitchen. It was then pumped by hand when
needed, using the old fashioned hand pump on the sink.
There was no indoor plumbing until 1938 when a bathroom was installed inside
the lighthouse as well as a central heating system that was run by a coal furnace. Up until
then there was an outhouse that hung out over the river just to the right of the flagpole. A
fun experience in the winter I am sure. Laundry was done by hand in the old days, but I
believe that the Brunners had an old gas engine washing machine. Ironing was done with
a cast iron flat iron that was heated on the kitchen stove.
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I
Murray
William Nestlen
No, brasswork
The Bedrooms
The second floor has four rooms that were used as bedrooms. The Brunners had
five children, four of which lived at the lighthouse until the family moved into the Town
of Athens in 1938. They were Emily, Richard, John, Robert (who was actually born in
the lighthouse), and Norman who was born after the family had moved into town. MrBrunner of course remained at the lighthouse, while the rest of his family lived in town.
Now I can imagine that raising four children in such a confined space must have
to walk down
been no small challengi. It is hard to imagine not having a yard or streets
or other children to PlaY with.
We are going to use these rooms on the second floor to interpret river life around
the lighthoor" itd the waterfront industries of both Hudson and Athens. You will find
,o*r"pi.t*es of the children who lived here as well ry some enlarged copies of old
postcards from the Hudson and Athens area. The larger bedroom has some displays and
pi"t*.r of boats that operated on the river. Also in the small room you will frnd a display
of ull th" lighthouses, which were on the Hudson River, past, and present'
THE FOGBELL
The above is a picture of the original fog bell appaiatus, which is still operational.
The first fog bells were rung by hand, but around 1860, the Lighthouse Board
installed mechanisms to ring them mechanically. Engines were used at first, but the
"clock work'r system as we have here (where the falling weight is the source of power)
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was soon adopted, as it was both more practical and reliable.
The fog bell chores of the light keepers improved with the installation of semiautomatic ringing mechanisms. The system here in the lighthouse is a weight and pulley
escapement* system that used weights that could be "wound" to start a timed session. Not
unlike a grandfather clock, the system needed to be periodically rewound to insure that
the fog bell continued to sound throughout the duration of fog conditions.
Should the escapement mechanism fail, the keepers then had to sound the bell
manually, and at timed intervals and for the duration of the storm or fog. Consider the
conditions of this effort between the hard and seemingly endless labor and the close-by
clang of the bell. This dedication to duty and to the safety of others is a landmark of the
U.S. Lighthouse Service and its successor, the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Hudson-Athens fog bell with the "clock work apparatus" is one of the few
remaining in the United States. It rang once every fifteen seconds when it was foggy.
By the 1920's the Lighthouse Service had developed electrically operated bells.
The bell by the front door of the lighthouse is an example of this type of fog bell. The
United States Coast Guard installed it in the 1940's.
Today, sirens along with diaphones and diaphragm horns are the principle soundtype fog signals used in the United States. The last thirty or forty years has seen the
development of the soundless fog signal: the radiobeacon and GPS (Global Positioning
System), which uses satellites orbiting the earth to pinpoint your position.
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The lens, which was in this lighthouse, is now at the South Street Seaport
Museum in New York City. It was a frfth order lens, being one of the smallest, but could
still be seen some eight to ten miles away. The lights on the river did not have to be seen
as far away as those on the Great Lakes or on the ocean. The original light of this
lighthouse was a fixed light, which was changed to a flashing light in 1926.. Ttre light is
54 feet above sea level. Today the light is automated and is turned on at night by means
of a light sensor. It is solar powered and maintained by the U. S. Coast Guard. The
Hudson'Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society maintains the rest of the lighthouse.
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