Dragonwyck

If you haven't seen the 1946 movie "Dragonwyck", you can watch it this Friday, Oct. 23 at 10pm on Turner Classic Movies (available on Netflix). Dragonwyck is a dark, suspense-filled gothic romance set in Hudson, NY in the 1840's - the era of the Dutch Patroons and the Anti-Rent War.

The movie stars Gene Tierney and Vincent Price (as the Patroon), and has Harry Morgan and Jessica Tandy in supporting roles (they're so young you might not recognize them). Ignore the fact that the 1946 NY Times called it "the most grandiose and obvious repetition of the Bluebeard story that we have seen" and check it out.

After you've seen the movie, I highly recommend reading Anya Seton's book "Dragonwyck". (I linked to Amazon, but don't read their Editorial Review - it gives the whole plot away and spoils the end - try this spoiler-free Customer Review). The book is available through the Upper Hudson Library System, and is worth reading - you can decide which has the better ending - it was changed for the movie.

Perhaps inspired by the Fatal Hudson River Steamboat Race of 1852, the book also has great descriptions of steamboat races on the Hudson (imagine engines working so hard that ashes and burning sparks rained down on the passengers). There were no hair-raising steamboat races in the movie though - that must have been beyond their special effects budget.

July 31, 1909 - Baerena Park

100 Years Ago: From The Rensselaer Eagle [NY 41 Rensselaer 93-32173].

EXCURSION A SUCCESS

Churches United in a Fine Day's Trip to Baerena Park

The union excursion of the upper Rensselaer churches on Saturday last to Baerena Park was one of the pleasantest events that the churches have united in in a long time... Early in the day the weather was threatening but as soon as the two barges were fairly started the sun broke through the clouds...

Image: The USS Harvest Queen in 1917, just after the un-powered barge was purchased from Baerena Park owner J.N. Briggs by the Navy, to use as a barracks. Info at HistoryCentral.

From the Albany Evening Journal, July 26, 1909 (fultonhistory.com)

THIS EXCURSION IS LARGEST OF SEASON

RENSSELAER - Two barges, Empress and Harvest Queen, with about 3,000 people on board, left the dock at the foot of Second avenue this morning at 10:30 o'clock for Baerena park. The outing was that annual excursion of St. John's parish and was the largest from Rensselaer this season. ... A feature of the morning's program was the marching of the drum corps of St. John's academy to the dock. Many of the members of the parish who were unable to leave Rensselaer this morning left this afternoon for the island in the steamer Ursula from Albany.

Baerena Park was downriver on Barren Island in Coeymans, also known as Baeren, Bearn, or Bear Island. William Wade's 1846 Panorama of the Hudson River says:

This place, the southern boundary of the ancient colony or manor of Renssalaerwyck, was fortified and garrisoned by one of the early Patroons in 1644. As the port of the colony, all traders were here obliged to stop and learn the terms on which they might proceed.

John N. Briggs, ice harvesting tycoon and founder of the Atlantic Light and Power Company owned the island. Brickmaking.com's history of Coeymans says:

In 1879, Briggs developed an amusement park called Baerena Park on Barren Island. The park included docks, a covered dance platform, a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, refreshments and an Observation tower.

According to historic newspapers, Baerena Park was a stop for Sunday School picnics as early as 1877 and as late as 1913. Its 1879 opening was well before Electric Park in Kinderhook, though it likely didn't open with all the amusement rides (the Ferris Wheel, designed by an RPI grad, only dates back to 1893). This July 8th, 1891 ad in the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle reads:

BAERENA PARK

A most delightful Pic Nic Ground, Located on Baeren Island, in the Hudson River, thirteen miles below Albany, N. Y..

Is now open for Excusions of Sunday Schools, Military and Civic Societies. The grounds are of a slate rock formation, beautifully shaded, and laid out with walks and provided with large Pavillion, Summer Houses, Refreshment Stands, Ladies' Sitting Room, and an ample supply of filtered iced drinking water....
No mud, no mosquitos, beautiful scenery, no disagreeable features or surroundings. ... A good police force. All the Popular Amusements of the day at Low Rates...

March 27 1909 - Day Line Season

100 Years Ago: From The Rensselaer Eagle [NY 41 Rensselaer 93-32173].

DAY LINE SEASON

First Boat Will Reach Albany On Thursday, May 27

General Agent William B. Elmendorf of the Hudson River Day Line, announces that the first trip of the through line this season will be on Thursday, March 27. The boats will run daily except Sunday until Friday, October 25.

The steamer Mary Powell goes on the run between Kingston and New York, commencing Monday May 21, and running to September 23.

The steamer Albany, which will be put on the Poughkeepsie New York run, Saturday, June 26, will run until Saturday, Sept. 18, between Poughkeepsie and 42nd Street, New York city.

There is a good History of the Hudson River Day Line on the web site of the Hudson River Maritime Museum.

No one could claim to have seen America without seeing the Hudson River, and the only way to properly see the Hudson River was from the deck of a Day Liner steamboat.

The Mary Powell was famous for her speed. In this 1881 New York Times article "Rival River Steamers", there was great speculation about a possible race against the new, iron hulled Albany:

The Powell has for years been acknowledged to be the fastest boat on the river, and has become popularly known as "The Queen of the Hudson." When the Albany Day Line built their iron boat last season, however, they entered a protest against the claims of the Powell, and a sharp spirit of rivalry grew between the two lines and their respective friends.
...
"We cannot say which boat is the faster... If there is a race, the discrete man will not bet heavily either way."

Albany Steamers

Imagine seeing this view across the river? This 1905 postcard shows the steamboats Ursula of the Catskill Line and C. W. Morse of the Hudson Navigation Company's Night Line. (Click to enlarge.)


The C. W. Morse was a paddle wheel steam ship built in 1903 as a luxury overnight cruise ship, between Albany and New York. She was the longest side wheel steamer afloat at the time - 427 feet. She had a steel hull with 8 watertight compartments. But she had a draft of only nine feet when loaded, to navigate the shallow waters near Albany.

There's a great description in "Old Steamboat Days on the Hudson River". Here's a sample of her luxury appointments (but there's a technical description too, of the engines and propulsion).

The main staircase leads from the lobby to the grand saloon, which is twenty-eight feet high with a domed ceiling in white and gold and surrounded with two galleries having highly ornamented guard rails of mahogany and bronze. Staterooms with brass bedsteads and parlors deluxe with bath rooms and toilets can be entered from the saloon direct or communicating corridors, richly carpeted. There is also a passenger elevator on the boat. In all there are four hundred and fifty of these sleeping apartments furnished in varying degrees of elegance. She is licensed to carry two thousand passengers.

She was named for Charles W. Morse, "the Ice King", who purchased the steamer line with the ill-gotten profits of an attempted monopoly on ice in New York City and stock manipulation of his ice holding company. He later tried to corner the stock of United Copper, triggering the "Panic of 1907" and causing nation-wide financial turmoil. He was eventually jailed for violating federal banking laws, imprisoned, and successfully faked illness to get a pardon.

When his steamship company went bankrupt, the receivers changed the name from the C. W. Morse to the Fort Orange.