THE HUDSON RIVER

The Hudson River is a marvel for the eyes and the imagination. It flows 315 miles from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains to the Battery in New York City. A huge network of streams, lakes, and other rivers feeds into the Hudson River. Its watershed covers nearly 13,400 square miles, an area equal in size to Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. A watershed is the area of land from which water drains into a stream, river, lake, or other water body. A tidal river, the Hudson is influenced by ocean tides all the way to Troy, which is north of Albany. Thus, from Troy south to the Battery, the Hudson flows both ways, following the tides. Additionally, the river contains varying amounts of salt water as far north as Newburgh.

Geologists refer to the Hudson River as a fjord, similar to the fjords of Norway. The river is deepest —216 feet —  in the gorge called World's End near Garrison. World's End received its name from ship captains who tried to navigate this dangerous Hudson Highlands portion of the river. "The whirlwinds, changing currents, and unpredictable weather so treacherous for sailors then and now stem from the tidal action and natural features of the land as the Hudson forces its way through the gorge," explains Frances Dunwell in her book The Hudson River Highlands.

Named for Henry Hudson, who explored the river in September 1609, the river provides a home for a wide variety of animals and plants. It serves as a thoroughfare for shipping, a site for recreation, and a muse that has inspired scores of artists, environmentalists, musicians, and writers. Explore the information below to learn more about the Hudson River.
Hudson Talbott has written and illustrated River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River, a gorgeous children's book that shows and tells the history of the Hudson River from the Ice Age to our current era. Browse the book here, or borrow it from the Desmond-Fish Library.

stories about the hudson

The Hudson River Maritime Museum shares stories told by Hudson River commercial fishermen recorded between 1989 and 1999.

Hudson River Radio of Vassar College offers a rich archive of programs about the Hudson River recorded in 2003. They feature historians, environmentalists, musicians, scientists, and storytellers. 
Stephen P. Stanne, Roger G. Panetta, and Brian E. Forist have written The Hudson: An Illustrated Guide to the Living River. The book serves as an informative reference guide to the Hudson River for teachers and their students. You may borrow it from the Desmond-Fish Library.

HEALTH OF THE RIVER

The Hudson River is recovering from several hundred years of pollution, shoreline development, dredging, commercial shipping, recreational overuse, and invasion by exotic species. Thanks to the work of many dedicated people and organizations, the river is much healthier than it was 50 years ago.
Returning a River to Health

RIVER OF COMMERCE

The Hudson River provided an important inland trade route for sailing vessels in the 17th and 18th centuries. Depending upon the wind and tides, it took four days to reach Albany from New York City. After Robert Fulton launched the Clermont, the first steamboat, in 1807, the trip to Albany took only 32 hours. More steamboats were built, and they improved trade in New York by moving freight and people up and down the Hudson River much faster than had been possible before. Listen to "New York, Gateway to the Nation," a New York Times podcast about the launch of the Clermont.

After the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, the Midwest and the Great Lakes were connected to New York City by water. The Hudson River became America's first superhighway.

Now, the Hudson River is a major shipping route for oil, grain, cement, and road salt. Powdered cement goes downriver in barges. Stone quarried in Ulster, Dutchess, and Rockland Counties is pushed downriver in scows. Containers travel on barges between Albany and New York Harbor. Learn about:

RIVER OF INSPIRATION

The Hudson River has inspired artists, musicians, and writers for centuries. Hudson Valley writers include: naturalist John Burroughs, James Fenimore Cooper, Lewis Mumford, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edith Wharton. Washington Irving is known for his stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which take place in Hudson Valley towns. The Hudson River Valley Institute offers an extensive guide to Hudson Valley literature and poetry. In River of Words: Portraits of Hudson Valley Writers, Nina Shengold profiles 76 contemporary Hudson Valley writers.

 The Hudson River School is a term used to identify a group more than 100 artists who made landscape paintings in the Hudson Valley and other locations between 1825 and 1890. Thomas Cole, whose home in Catskill is now a museum, is considered the "father" of this genre.
The Hudson River has inspired musicians, too. Pete Seeger, a Beacon resident, was a folk singer, environmentalist, and Civil Rights icon. Pete understood the power of song as a catalyst for change, and used songs and a boat to draw attention to pollution of the Hudson River. Pete dreamed up the unique idea to build a Hudson River sloop called the Clearwater, which was launched in 1969. Since then, the Clearwater has worked to support the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972, clean up the Hudson River, and educate hundreds of thousands of people about the Hudson River ecosystem. 
Pete Seeger talks about the Clearwater's role in cleaning up the Hudson River in his introduction to "Sailin' Up, Sailin' Down," (above) which he sang with Arlo Guthrie.
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