Sept. 2003

HRMM Lecture
"Kingston Point Park"
by Jack Matthews

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 7 pm
Hudson River Maritime Museum

Jack Matthews has a vast collection of photographs of late 19th and early 20th century Hudson River steamboats. Currently, some of these photographs are on display at the Museum as part of the Museum's exhibit about the Hudson River Day Line. At this event, Jack Matthews will show his early photographs of the Kingston Point Park.

The lecture will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 7 pm at the museum. Admission: $5; museum members, free. For more information, call the museum at 845-338-0071.

Kingston Point Park
The Hudson River Day Line ignored the Kingston Point landing and long preferred Rhinecliff on the opposite shore. There was limited dock space at Kingston Point, and the road to the Point ran across a swamp. Even though the final destination of most of the passengers disembarking at Rhinecliff was Kingston, the difficult docking and the isolated location made Kingston Point an undesirable landing. Ferry service was available between Rhinebeck and Kingston allowing connection with the day boats.

Samuel Decker Coykendall, an important Kingston businessman and president of the Cornell Steamboat Company, had significant interests in the Ulster & Delaware Railroad which ran from Kingston into the Catskill Mountains. His plan was to run the tracks of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad out to Kingston Point providing steamboat passengers easy access to his trains. Passengers could step off the day boat and directly board his trains. The plan had advantages for both the Day Line and Coykendall.

Most of the Day Line passengers that landed at Rhinecliff were bound for Kingston, and adding Kingston Point as a stop would offer a great convenience for these passengers. Coykendall saw that by offering direct railroad service into the Catskill Mountains, he could lure tourists destined for the landing at Catskill to Kingston Point instead. Accordingly, Kingston Point became a Day Line landing in 1896.

The swamp was transformed into an attractive park. Attractions such as a merry-go-round, a dance hall, and shooting gallery were added. In the evening, there were fireworks and concerts from a bandstand on a man-made island behind the steamboat landing. Kingston Point Park became a destination for day-trippers, and the Day Line offered special excursion fares from Albany.

History of the Hudson River Day Line

Directions to the Hudson River Maritime Museum