April 2003

Hudson River Day Line Exhibit
Opens May 3rd

A Great American Steamboat Company
1863 - 1948

Steamer Hendrick Hudson

Of the many Hudson River steamboat lines, the Hudson River Day Line was the most prominent and dependable. Their steamboats were known for elegance and speed, and provided the most enjoyable way to travel the Hudson River. 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 Hudson River Maritime Museum's 2003 exhibit, the Hudson River Day Line, will open Saturday, May 3rd, from 11 am to 5 pm. The exhibit will be available at the museum through October.

The exhibit will show the development of the Hudson River Day Line through historic photographs and artifacts from the museum's extensive archive and on loan form other important steamboat collections. Many of these photographs have never been displayed in public before.

A booklet about the history of the Hudson River Day Line will be available in the museum's gift shop, and the museum's Website, www.hrmm.org, has been updated with a summary of the Day Line's history.

For over 150 years, steamboats carried freight and passengers on the Hudson River, but in 1948, regular steamboat service by the Hudson River Day Line between Albany and New York ceased. On September 13, 1948, the Day Line steamboat Robert Fulton made its last run from Albany to New York City bringing to an end the era of gracious steamboat travel on the Hudson River.

For additional information, call the museum at 845-338-0071.

Hudson River Day Line Exhibit Website

Travel Directions to the Museum

Hours of Operation, Admission Fees

Steamboat New York

Steamboat Albany

The Day Line Boats are the New York and Albany new and splendid specimens of shipcraft, with iron hulls 300 feet in length, accommodating 1,500 passengers, and claimed to be the fastest steamboats in the world.  They were built exclusively for carrying passengers, and are the finest boats ever constructed for the business.  The spacious cabins are finished in highly polished woods, handsomely paneled, and are furnished luxuriously and adorned with statuary and paintings by celebrated artists.  The dining rooms are on the main deck, where the traveler can enjoy an excellent dinner, which is served on the European plan, and lose nothing of the view of this most charming of American rivers. They leave New York and Albany about 8:30 A.M., touching at the principal landings on their way, meet near Poughkeepsie, and arrive at their destinations at about 6 P.M.  A pleasant feature is an orchestra on each steamer. From Lake George and Lake Champlain,  A Book of To-Day, a guidebook By S. R. Stoddard, Copyright 1889.