Thank for the video! This brings back fond memories for me. We were kids in the 1960s, and when our parents wanted to get rid of us for an afternoon, they would give us a little money and we'd go ride the Alexander Hamilton from West Point's south dock up to Poughkeepsie and back. I think it was 75 cents back then, and it was great fun. Parents would never allow little kids to sail off alone like that nowadays, but it always felt safe.
My husband worked on the Alexander Hamilton in the early 1960's when it was still the Hudson River Day Lines. He has always told me that this was a job that he really loved.
WOW ! Just found this video. It brought back fond memories for me from MANY years ago. Perhaps 1960 or 1961, I can't now remember. But I had just started driving. On a day trip up the, I think Storm King high way, high above the Hudson, there was the Alexander Hamilton, paddling along. That was the only and also the last time that I ever saw this majestic steam paddle wheeler. Thank you for this video..
I was too young for the steamers. I lived in Poughkeepsie for a few years around this time. The Circle Line has a New York turn as far as the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Too bad the film didn't include more environment. The dock area around Albany must have been interesting. Thank you for showing this.
I love the way the captain, who is probably half in the bag, inadvertently send the kids down to the engine room LOL! Those were the days when we could explore... I remember doing the same thing as a kid going into places I wasn't sure what I could but I did!
I remember this ship well. From early 1960 to the landing of the Eagle on the moon. We were just coming from Bear Mountain under neath the bridge when it landed, I was 14 and me and my family was on the ship.
I rode this beautiful vessel as a youngster to Bear Mountain. I loved looking into the engine room amidships. it was easy to see. I remember how smoothly the machinery worked and I seem to remember small widows or portholes, where you could actually see the paddlewheels from inside this ship.
I remember the Alexander Hamilton. I rode on her to Bear Mountain and back when I was a kid. She was a beautiful boat and part of the Hudson River Day Line fleet at that time. Years later, I saw her tied up at the South Street Seaport Museum. The most memorable feature of the boat was her side-lying triple expansion engine, which was unusual for that period.
I took a couple of cruises on the Alexander Hamilton back in the '60s with my parents. We went from Albany down to Bear Mountain and back. I wish they had shown the paintings of Alexander Hamilton in the interior. It was a beautiful boat, such a shame it sank.
A yearly trip up the Hudson on what we called the "Bear Mountain Boat" was a ritual of my late 40's, early 50's childhood. Impressions include the long walk up the covered passageway at the Bear Mountain dock to the Inn, with a well-elevated crossing over the bear enclosure. The trip itself had its up and down moments. There were cinders in the eye from the coal-burning boilers and me screaming at the deafening nearness of the whistle, letting loose its steamy cry without warning. A visit to the engine room also drove this 4-year-old to tears of thrilled terror, at the sight of the rotation of the massive horizontal crankshaft driving the side paddle wheels. Besides the Alexander Hamilton, I remember the Robert Fulton and the Peter Stuyvesant. (I would love more information on them). In the 1970s I worked as fireman-oiler on the Seattle-based Virginia V. She featured a more conventional upright triple expansion engine, built ca. 1895, driven by a bunker-C oil-fired water-tube boiler. The boat was built of wood, in 1922, as part or the Puget Sound "mosquito fleet," serving the islands and bays in the days before the ascendancy of autos and motor trucks. Back then the engine would often outlast the boat. The Virginia survived into the days of freeways and jumbo jets, and now into the digital age.
Your video is amazing. I've been associated with Hudson River steamers for over thirty years through my modelmaking of these vessels, both the early sidewheelers and then the Hudson River Day Line. I was honored to build HENDRICK HUDSON for the former owners, re: the Olcott Family. To date I have built WASHINGTON IRVING, HENDRICK HUDSON, ROBERT FULTON, ALEXANDER HAMILTON and PETER STUYVESANT. Thank you for sharing your video. It's a great addition to the river's history! Rex Stewart
I remember riding on the Hamilton when I was a kid in the 1950's. I enjoyed leaning on the bulkhead where the paddle wheels were listening to the sound. Also enjoyed watching the engine room through the large windows. On of the interesting sites on the river was the hundreds of "reserve fleet" ships from WWII.
In 1966 our class from George Washington High School, Philadelphia, sailed on the Alexander Hamilton to Bear Mountain, New York, for our graduation trip.
My sister and I were about Roger and Nancy's age when we made several trips from NYC to Catskill during WWII, when gasoline was rationed. I always loved that trip, both because of the steamboats, but because I loved going up to the mountains. At least one trip was on the Hamilton but we went on one or two of the others as well. I believe most of the others were stern wheelers.
There was one other stop on her way before she was towed to the pier at Earle NWS. She sat in the shallow water along a pier in Atlantic Highlands, NJ where the Seastreak now picks up passengers. She sat the stuck in the mud for years, I do have photos, until it was decided to turn her into a floating restaurant, it was then they dug her out and towed her the pier at Earle where she caught fire and sank within a day if hot that night.
In '65,'66 we went with an Irish-American charter sponsered by The Rainbow Balroom on the S.S. City of Keansburg a twin funneled screw propelled riverboat to Bear Mt. They brought kegs of beer aboard and everybody had a grand time. On the way we passed the Day Line- Circle Line Piers and the A.H. was about to get under-way. She passed us up-river at some point. A great high light of trip was the then massive trots of the moth-ball fleet which incluuded Liberty's, Victory's, and General Class USAT's ( made for the task troopers). We departed from the Battery along w/ 2 other riverboats. One had an African American charter.
My grandparents took me for a roundtrip on the Hamilton in the late 1960's. As a child of 8 it seemed like the biggest ship in the world. I was saddened to see it had burned up and sank.
I believe we got on somewhere around bear mountain didn't really pay attention to which direction we went, I was about eight or nine, and they dropped us off again there are mountains I believe I was with the taylor family the first time and I remember writing on it as a young teenager or maybe that could've been the Hendrick Hudson... but I was so heartbroken to hear that a bunch of shysters from New Jersey probably burned it deliberately so they didn't have to pay insurance or they would collect insurance whatever the plan was because obviously it was costing somebody something... broke my heart to hear that… Thanks so much for the video and the ride down memory stream
Our family took the ride at least once a summer - we usually got off at Bear Mountain but sometimes just did the whole ride to Poughkeepsie and back. I wish I could find what it cost in the late '50's and '60's... I KNOW it had to have been very reasonable or my father would never have taken us.
Thank for the video! This brings back fond memories for me. We were kids in the 1960s, and when our parents wanted to get rid of us for an afternoon, they would give us a little money and we'd go ride the Alexander Hamilton from West Point's south dock up to Poughkeepsie and back. I think it was 75 cents back then, and it was great fun. Parents would never allow little kids to sail off alone like that nowadays, but it always felt safe.
My husband worked on the Alexander Hamilton in the early 1960's when it was still the Hudson River Day Lines. He has always told me that this was a job that he really loved.
I very much remember her and her engines, we went on a cruise and spent more time in the engine room than on deck. I was fascinated!
Thank you for this film. I rode on this ship many times in the 60's and have nothing but warm feelings for her.
WOW ! Just found this video. It brought back fond memories for me from MANY years ago. Perhaps 1960 or 1961, I can't now remember. But I had just started driving. On a day trip up the, I think Storm King high way, high above the Hudson, there was the Alexander Hamilton, paddling along. That was the only and also the last time that I ever saw this majestic steam paddle wheeler. Thank you for this video..
I was too young for the steamers. I lived in Poughkeepsie for a few years around this time. The Circle Line has a New York turn as far as the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Too bad the film didn't include more environment. The dock area around Albany must have been interesting. Thank you for showing this.
I love the way the captain, who is probably half in the bag, inadvertently send the kids down to the engine room LOL! Those were the days when we could explore... I remember doing the same thing as a kid going into places I wasn't sure what I could but I did!
I remember this ship well. From early 1960 to the landing of the Eagle on the moon. We were just coming from Bear Mountain under neath the bridge when it landed, I was 14 and me and my family was on the ship.
I rode this beautiful vessel as a youngster to Bear Mountain. I loved looking into the engine room amidships. it was easy to see. I remember how smoothly the machinery worked and I seem to remember small widows or portholes, where you could actually see the paddlewheels from inside this ship.
I remember the Alexander Hamilton. I rode on her to Bear Mountain and back when I was a kid. She was a beautiful boat and part of the Hudson River Day Line fleet at that time. Years later, I saw her tied up at the South Street Seaport Museum. The most memorable feature of the boat was her side-lying triple expansion engine, which was unusual for that period.
I took a couple of cruises on the Alexander Hamilton back in the '60s with my parents. We went from Albany down to Bear Mountain and back. I wish they had shown the paintings of Alexander Hamilton in the interior. It was a beautiful boat, such a shame it sank.
So adorable the way the plank moves around almost like it's made out of cardboard or something so adorable
Nice cameo of the Normandie. That was an unexpected plus.
A yearly trip up the Hudson on what we called the "Bear Mountain Boat" was a ritual of my late 40's, early 50's childhood. Impressions include the long walk up the covered passageway at the Bear Mountain dock to the Inn, with a well-elevated crossing over the bear enclosure. The trip itself had its up and down moments. There were cinders in the eye from the coal-burning boilers and me screaming at the deafening nearness of the whistle, letting loose its steamy cry without warning. A visit to the engine room also drove this 4-year-old to tears of thrilled terror, at the sight of the rotation of the massive horizontal crankshaft driving the side paddle wheels.
Besides the Alexander Hamilton, I remember the Robert Fulton and the Peter Stuyvesant. (I would love more information on them).
In the 1970s I worked as fireman-oiler on the Seattle-based Virginia V. She featured a more conventional upright triple expansion engine, built ca. 1895, driven by a bunker-C oil-fired water-tube boiler. The boat was built of wood, in 1922, as part or the Puget Sound "mosquito fleet," serving the islands and bays in the days before the ascendancy of autos and motor trucks. Back then the engine would often outlast the boat. The Virginia survived into the days of freeways and jumbo jets, and now into the digital age.
Your video is amazing. I've been associated with Hudson River steamers for over thirty years through my modelmaking of these vessels, both the early sidewheelers and then the Hudson River Day Line.
I was honored to build HENDRICK HUDSON for the former owners, re: the Olcott Family. To date I have built WASHINGTON IRVING, HENDRICK HUDSON, ROBERT FULTON, ALEXANDER HAMILTON and PETER STUYVESANT.
Thank you for sharing your video. It's a great addition to the river's history!
Rex Stewart
I remember riding on the Hamilton when I was a kid in the 1950's. I enjoyed leaning on the bulkhead where the paddle wheels were listening to the sound. Also enjoyed watching the engine room through the large windows. On of the interesting sites on the river was the hundreds of "reserve fleet" ships from WWII.
In 1966 our class from George Washington High School, Philadelphia, sailed on the Alexander Hamilton to Bear Mountain, New York, for our graduation trip.
My sister and I were about Roger and Nancy's age when we made several trips from NYC to Catskill during WWII, when gasoline was rationed. I always loved that trip, both because of the steamboats, but because I loved going up to the mountains. At least one trip was on the Hamilton but we went on one or two of the others as well. I believe most of the others were stern wheelers.
There was one other stop on her way before she was towed to the pier at Earle NWS. She sat in the shallow water along a pier in Atlantic Highlands, NJ where the Seastreak now picks up passengers. She sat the stuck in the mud for years, I do have photos, until it was decided to turn her into a floating restaurant, it was then they dug her out and towed her the pier at Earle where she caught fire and sank within a day if hot that night.
In '65,'66 we went with an Irish-American charter sponsered by The Rainbow Balroom on the S.S. City of Keansburg a twin funneled screw propelled riverboat to Bear Mt. They brought kegs of beer aboard and everybody had a grand time. On the way we passed the Day Line- Circle Line Piers and the A.H. was about to get under-way. She passed us up-river at some point. A great high light of trip was the then massive trots of the moth-ball fleet which incluuded Liberty's, Victory's, and General Class USAT's ( made for the task troopers). We departed from the Battery along w/ 2 other riverboats. One had an African American charter.
I've always loved that house like light house on the Hudson.
My sisters husband was the lighthouse keeper. The name of the lighthouse is the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse. I went there several times as a little guy.
The big ocean liner in the video is the Normandie which burned in her NY pier during WW2 while being refurbished as a troop carrier. Nice video!
Very nicely done. Thank you!
My grandparents took me for a roundtrip on the Hamilton in the late 1960's. As a child of 8 it seemed like the biggest ship in the world. I was saddened to see it had burned up and sank.
I believe we got on somewhere around bear mountain didn't really pay attention to which direction we went, I was about eight or nine, and they dropped us off again there are mountains I believe I was with the taylor family the first time and I remember writing on it as a young teenager or maybe that could've been the Hendrick Hudson... but I was so heartbroken to hear that a bunch of shysters from New Jersey probably burned it deliberately so they didn't have to pay insurance or they would collect insurance whatever the plan was because obviously it was costing somebody something... broke my heart to hear that… Thanks so much for the video and the ride down memory stream
Our family took the ride at least once a summer - we usually got off at Bear Mountain but sometimes just did the whole ride to Poughkeepsie and back. I wish I could find what it cost in the late '50's and '60's... I KNOW it had to have been very reasonable or my father would never have taken us.
Strange how these ships routinely catch fire and sink while docked. Must have been an insurance payout.
@atfatw Nothing, the ship is still at the bottom. That was the end of the boat
She was a good ship but the true Queen of the Hudson was the Mary Powell.