Conference Technical Tours (updated 3/4/08)

Wednesday, May 28 -   9am-12pm

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Tour

Rhinebeck, NY

The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a true "living" museum of antique aviation. It presents one of the largest collections of early aeroplanes in the world, many of which regularly take to the air in all their glory during our weekend airshows. The Aerodrome features aeroplanes, automobiles, motorcycles, early engines and memorabilia from 1900-1935. In addition to the airshows, there are four museum buildings displaying aircraft form the Pioneer Era, World War I and the Lindbergh/Barnstorming era. These were the golden years of aviation.

Tour will include all museums with docent. Unfortunately, airshows are not offered during the week. Biplane flights over the scenic Hudson Valley maybe available during the tour if there is enough interest.  Flights are $65.00/person - Rides take you over the beautiful Hudson River, the Kingston- Rhinecliff Bridge and back again, approximately 15 minutes. Flights are of course, "weather permitting" and the decision to fly is always left to the discretion of the pilot. Flights book quickly on a "first-come/ first-serve" basis.  Payment will be made the day of the flight, please indicate interest on the registration form.

Wednesday, May 28 – 1pm-4:30pm

Trolley Museum & Maritime Museum Tour

Kingston Rondout Waterfront

The Trolley Museum of New York is a non-profit educational museum founded in 1955. The goals of the museum are to offer a ride to the public and through exhibits and educational programs to share the rich history of rail transportation and the role it played in the Hudson Valley region. In addition to static displays of trolley, subway and rapid transit cars from the United States and Europe, an excursion ride runs 1 1/2 miles from the foot of Broadway in downtown Kingston, New York, to picnic grounds on the shore of the Hudson River. Picnic tables are available at the Hudson River and the West Strand Park ( Rondout Creek) trolley stops. Along the way, we stop at the museum grounds.

The museum is on the original site of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad yards at Milepost 1. The main building is built on the foundation of the engine house which existed at the turn of the century. The upper level includes a Visitors Center featuring seasonal and permanent displays, a video viewing area and large windows overlooking the restoration shop. Visitors can see up to eight trolley cars being housed and restored below.

The R-16 subway car undergoes restoration (Whitcomb locomotive #9 visible through door )(photo credit: H. Greenblatt 4/19/2003)(below left)

( photo credit: Harry Greenblatt, May 2003)

Maritime Museum

The Hudson River Maritime Museum is the only museum in New York State exclusively preserving the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and the industries dependent on the river. Founded in 1980 by members of the "Steamship Alexander Hamilton Society," the National Maritime Historical Society, and local historians, the Museum is located in the Historic Rondout Waterfront at Kingston, NY, once the major port between New York City and Albany.

The collection is comprised of paintings, prints, photographs and ephemera, vessel blueprints, artifacts such as ice-harvesting tools, important pieces of Hudson River vessels that have long since disappeared, and a variety of ship models. Our collection of small craft includes a 100 year old shad boat, a life boat from the steamboat Mary Powell, a lighthouse tender, and several ice yachts.

The tour will include a tour of the museum and grounds. If there is sufficient interest & weather permitting a boat ride to the Rondout Lighthouse will also be included.

Thursday, May 29 – 9am – 11:30am

NYC Department of Environmental Protection Tour

This tour will include the history of the New York City water supply, including the construction and operation of the Catskill Aqueduct & reservoir system. The tour will take place at the beautiful Ashokan Reservoir, which is part of the Catskill system.

**For security reasons a background check will be required to attend the tour. Additional information will be required.**

Thursday, May 29 – 12pm-3pm

D & H Canal Historical Society Tour

High Falls, NY

The Delaware and Hudson Canal was a 108-mile, man-made waterway, an engineering feat of pre-industrial America that brought a new form of energy from the hills of Pennsylvania out to the Hudson River. From 1828 to 1898, mules pulled barges laden with anthracite coal along river valleys from Honesdale in northeastern Pennsylvania to Eddyville on the Rondout Creek near the villages of Kingston and Rondout. From here, it was shipped on barges down the Hudson to New York City and up the river to Canada.

The canal was conceived in 1823 by William and Maurice Wurts, two Philadelphia dry goods merchants who had purchased large tracts of land in northeastern Pennsylvania rich in anthracite coal deposits. Though the British had been supplying America's fledgling industries on the eastern seaboard with bituminous coal, the War of 1812 caused America's supply to be cut off, creating a crisis. The Wurts brothers recognized New York City's need for a new source of cheap energy and believed that their anthracite coal was the answer to the problem. However, a reliable method of transportation had to be found and a market created, for anthracite had not previously been taken seriously and many doubted its ability to burn efficiently.

They hired Benjamin Wright, Chief Engineer of the newly created 350-mile Erie Canal, to survey and design a canal out to the Hudson. The canal proposed would be four feet deep, 32 feet wide, contain 108 locks, 137 bridges, 26 basins, dams, and reservoirs, and cost an estimated 1.2 million dollars. In contrast to the state-financed Erie Canal, the D & H Canal was begun with private money.

The Canal operated successfully until the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company made a unique transition in 1898 into a railroad company, becoming America's oldest continuously operating transportation company.

The tour will include the museum and a walking tour of the existing locks & canal. A boxed lunch will also be provided. We plan to be back at the resort at 3pm, in time for the Regional Directors Event.