KINGSTON, N.Y. -- A ceremonial groundbreaking for a home port for the Sloop Clearwater took place Saturday on waterfront at the Hudson River Maritime Museum and folk singer Pete Seeger made a surprise appearance to celebrate the event.

Seeger was a driving force in 1966 to build the Sloop Clearwater to fight pollution of the Hudson River.

The new building is expected to provide facilities for the sloop Clearwater’s winter maintenance and provide a facility for educational programming, green infrastructure training, community boat building, and maritime history presentations throughout the year.

The proposed building will cover 4,500 square feet and cost about $1 million to construct. Of that total, more than $500,000 has been raised through donations, and a $125,000 state grant has been secured by Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, according to Dr. Jack Weeks, vice president of the museum’s board of directors.

It is expected that Clearwater will occupy the first floor of the building between Nov. 1 and April 30 of each year.

The event Saturday afternoon was part of the 4th annual Hudson River Day festival.

Construction on the barn-like structure is expected to begin Sept. 15, with the building ready for use six weeks later.

Organizers plan to dry-dock the sailing vessel and replace the rear two-thirds of its hull during this upcoming winter.

For the first time in its 43-year history, Clearwater volunteers will enjoy heat and plumbing while performing maintenance work on the sloop during inclement seasons. Local wood salvaged from natural storm treefall was collected for construction material.

“I think this building has enormous potential,” said Clearwater Board President Allan Shop. “This is a wonderful collaboration that we're looking forward to in the next upcoming decades, I feel very optimistic,” he said. Continued...

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

Jeff Rumpf, Clearwater executive director, likened the partnership with the Maritime Museum to a marriage. “Today is a wedding,” he declared, naming Clearwater founders Pete and Toshi Seeger as proud parents. “Everybody here is now part of our family,” Rumpf added.

“We have this great boat that sails up and down, which needs a home, a place for us to refocus, create a new generation of leaders, and they have this great facility, right here in downtown Kingston, that is all about revitalizing the next generation,” Rumpf said.

Patrick McDonough, new director for the Maritime Museum, agreed. “This is really a historic partnership,” he said. “Our home port project is going to be just the beginning of a wonderful thing all up and down the river.”

Kingston Mayor Shayne Gallo said that “partnership is really what we have to do now – not only to sustain our community, but make it grow, and embrace the future with a sense of cooperation.”

Frances Dunwell, the state Environmental Conservation Department's estuary coordinator, said that Hudson River Day features 40 events this year, and will double in 2013 for the fifth anniversary. Dunwell said the festival celebrates progress made cleaning up the Hudson. “This shows how state agencies, non-profits, local government, can all work together, to achieve a vision.” she said.

“We hope that this boat will keep on sailing through the centuries,” said Pete Seeger,” the 93-year-old musician and environmental organizer. “I feel like someone who planted a seed. Some fall on fallow ground, and sprout, and grow, and multiply a hundredfold.”

The building plan is part of an effort to breathe new life into the creekfront museum.

Clearwater recently entered into a 30-year lease with the Hudson River Maritime Museum to dock its sloop at the museum during the winter months, starting in late 2012. For years, the sloop has had its winter quarters where the Esopus Creek and Hudson River come together in Saugerties.

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

• Return to Paging Mode