M

WELCOME
TO THE TIUDSON.ATHENS LIGHTHOUSE
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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 Outside Deck

This lighthouse is one of seven thit remain today on the Hudson River. They are
The Hudson-Athens, Saugerties, Rondout in Kingston, Esopus Meadows, Stony point,
Tarrytown, and Jeffrey's Hook (also known as the Little Red Lighthouse) All in total
there were ttrirteen lighthouses'on the Hudson River. Stulvesant, Coxsackie, Four Mile
Point, The old Rondout Light, West Point, and Rockland Lake are no longer standing.
The Hudson City Light (its official name) is now the northernmost lighthouse on the river
and was first lighted on Nov l4th, r874 with Henry D. Best as its first keeper.
The Coast Guard installed the electric fog bell you see on the deck in the later part
of the 1940s. Prior to 1946 there was no electricity in the lighthouse. Everything was
operated by kerosene or coal. It is one of two fog bells in the lighthouse. The other hangs
overhead from the tower and is still functional. You will get a closer look at that when
you go up to the Lantem Room. The round metal plate you see is the opening to the coal
bin. Coal was brought to the lighthouse on boats that were called Lightho;e Tenders.
These tenders also brought others supplies that were needed. T'hey. operated out of a
central location on Staten Island, which was called a "lighthouse depot" The old depot on
Staten Island is nowthe home of The National Lighthouse Museum.
The U.S. Lighthouse Service was taken over by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1936.
That was the beginning of the end of the Lighthouse Keeper. Today all of our lighthouses
have been automated and the only lighthouse in the U.S. that is still manned is the Boston
Light, which was the nation's first light.
Giving tours of the lighthouse was also a part of the duties of a lightkeeper. As
found written in the "Instructions To LighlKeepers" from the year 1902 is the foll,owing:
ac-"Keepers must be courteous and polite to all visitors and show them
everyhing
of interest about the station at such times as will not interfere with light-house duties.
Keepers must not allow visitors to handle the apparatus or deface light-house property.
Special care must be taken to prevent the scratching of names or initials on the glass of
the lanterns or on the windows of the towers. The keeper on duty at the time is
responsible for any injury or defacement to the buildings, lenses, lamps, glazing of the
lantem and to any other light-house property under his charge, unless he can identify the
parties who have done the injury, so as to make them accountable for it; and any such
damage must be reported immediately to the inspector or engineer of the district, with the
names of the person or persons, if they can be ascertained. No visitor should be admitted
to the tower unless attended by a keeper, nor in the watch room or lantern between sunset
and sunrise."

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 First Floor

The Kitchen

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.

The Sitting Room

The next room was the sitting room, much like our living rooms except that there
was no television or telephone. Remember, they did not have electricity. The lightkeepers
and their families pretty much had to entertain themselves. However Mr. Brunner liked to
tinker with things and rigged up his own homemade crystal radio set which did not need
electricity to operate. I don't know how good the reception was as there were not many
radio stations back then. Today in this room we have a display of some Hudson River
memorabilia in the display case along with a replica of a Keeper's hat and badge. In the
corner is a reproduction of a Lighthouse Service blanket. Originals of these items in good
condition are very hard to come by and are very expensive to purchase.

a
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The Keeper's Room

There were several keepers that were stationed here at this lighthouse over the
years, the last civilian keeper being Emil Brunner. Our restoration efforts have focused
upon the years in which he and his family lived at the lighthouse. This small room here
on the first floor was his bedroom, as he had to be up several times during the night to
check the light and refuel the lantern. The oil or kerosene for the lantern was stored in the
basement and had to be brought up to the lantem room. The partial lens you see on the
floor is one similar to that which would have been here.'Tlie original lens as I have been
informed is in the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City.
Emil Brunner, the last civilian keeper was here from 1932 until 1949. The last
person to tend the lighthouse was William Nestlen, who oversaw the operations of the
light and fog signal from 1966 until 1986. The first keeper was Henry D. Best. He kept
the light until his death in January of 1893 and was succeeded by his son, Frank. Through
the years the lighthouse had nine lightkeepers including one wgman, Nellie Best, foia
short time in 1918.

Keepers Of The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

1874 - Henry D. Best
1893 - Frank Best
1918 - Netlie Best
1918 - William J.

Murray

t922 - August Kielberg

1932 - Emil Brunner
1949 - G.E. Speaks
1957 - Perry Peloubot
1966 -

William Nestlen

The Second Floor

The Stairway
The stairs are narrow and winding. Please notice the brass hand railing. The
Lighthouse Service was noted for all its brasswork. All of the fittings of the lens and
lantem apparatus were made of brass as well as many other items found in the lighthouse
such as duspans, work boxes, oil lanterns, oil cans, etc. When the lighthouse was closed
up in 1954 most of the brasswork was taken out. This railing is all that remains. 'Of
all of the brass was expected to be kept polished. These items as well as other
"o*r"
supplies came from a central warehouse called a Lighthouse Depot' which for the Hudson
River lighthouses was located on Staten Island. This is the site which was picked for the
soon to be.opened National Lighthouse Museum.
The last verse of a poem written by Fred Morong, a Maine lightkeeper, circa 1920
goes like this:
And when I have polished until I am cold,
And I'm taken aloft to the Heavenly Foldr'
Will my harp and my crown be made of pure gold?

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'

Hudson and Athens

The city of Hudson was a well-established river port being founded in 1784 as a
whaling port by a group of Nantucket whalers who relocated from to coast. They had
feared that England would retake the colonies and wanted a safer place to run their
whaling industry from. Hudson was one of several whaling ports on the Hudson River. It
was also a stop for the Hudson River Dayliners, which carried thousands of passengers
up and down the river from Troy to New York City.
Athens was a ship-building town. Many ships and boats were built in Athens
including the 281-foot Kaaterskill, which ran for over thirly years between New York,
Catskill, and Hudson. The Athens Shipyard, the Clark Pottery, the Every & Eichhorn Ice
house, and the Howlands Coal Yard were irmong many businesses that were located in
Athens. These and other industries on the river all shipped their goods by boat. Many of
the waterfront buildings were destroyed in the fire of March23rd 1935. There were also a
number of ferries that ran from Athens to Hudson from as early as 1778 until the 1940's.
One of the last was the Hudson-Athens, which ran from 1921 until 1938. She was
replaced by the Hopewell, which ran into the 1940's. The ferryboats were doomed by the
opening of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in 1935. All this combined with the hundreds of
sloops, steamships, and barges that went up and down the river made this a very busy
area on the river.
In the earlier days of navigation the lighthouses on the Hudson River were shut
down for the winter season, usually from December to March as ice made the river
impassible. During the winter the keepers would often engage in some seasonal
employment to supplement the low wages that they received as a lighthouse keeper.
Helping with the ice harvest was a cofirmon form of employment as the keepers lived on
the river. But in later years the Coast Guard kept the river open with the use of
icebreakers. Then the lighthouses remained operational all year.

The Saturday Evening Post-December 28th, 1946

The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

By Mead Schaeffer

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 LANTERN ROOM

This is where the actual light of the lighthouse was. Before modern technology
and the automation of this lighthouse, the keeper would have to keep the light shining.
Every night he would have to light the lamps and make sure that they burned brightly and
did not run out of oil. This usually meant several fiips a night up and down the stairs.
During the hours of darkness, the "light" was never to go out and if the Lighthouse
Service received complaints that the light was not lit or that it was poorly lit, the
lightkeeper would be in danger of losing his job. In the morning he would have to clean
the soot from the lantern room, clean the lens, polish the brass, and make the lamps ready
for the following night. This had to be done everyday. The lantern room as well as the
entire lighthouse was subject to periodical inspection by a Lighthouse Service District
Inspector. If all were not in ship-shape the keeper would be writtpn up and warned. If the
lighthouse continually did not meet the Lighthouse Service standards, the keeper would
be replaced. However if all were well, he would receive praise and usually a written
commendation. The Lighthouse Service had very strict regulations as to how a lighthouse
should be kept.

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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THE MIDDLE GROT]]\[D FLATS

From the lantem room if you look to the north you will see an island. The is the
"middle ground flats" and the reason for the building of this lighthouse. In the mid to late
1800's this was just a mud flat, which was completely submerged at high tide. There are
two high tides a day as far north as Troy on the Hudson River. This meant that twice a
day the mud flats were under water and a possible tlreat to boats navigating the river. I
am quite sure that many a boat captain had wished that the lighthouse had been built
much sooner that 1874 as many ships found themselves grounded on the mud flats.
Tlrough the years with dredging and the depositing of the silt, the "mud flats"
have become an island. The main channel of the river is to the right of the island towards
the city of Hudson. The channel on the left towards Athens is also navigable, but only for
smaller boats. Today the lighthouse probably would not have had to been built as the
island is always visible.