Lighthouse Keeper
Saugerties Lighthouse, just one of many beacons along the river, marks the shallow shoals of Esopus Creek and is home to Patrick Landewe, Keeper of this 140 year old tower.

Superior Concept Monsters
For 30 years, the theme costumes of New York's Village Halloween Parade have been designed and built at Rokeby Farm, a historic estate near Barrytown on Hudson. For several months of construction, nearby residents pitch in every weekend to facilitate the grand design of these costumes and many of these locals operate the puppets in the great parade up 6th avenue.

Ice Breaker
US Coast Guard Cutter Penobscot Bay maintains a navigable channel through the frozen waterways in the Hudson River to allow for the transport of cargo and heating oil from Albany to Manhattan. 660 tons and 140 ft in length, its weight and specific design make the ship an effective icebreaker. Executive Officer Jamie Collins is our narrator explaining that it was FDR who first ordered the channel be kept clear for winter commerce in the mid 30's.

Ice Sailing on the Hudson River
Intrepid sportsmen have been sailing in fanciful ice yachts since long before FDR made sailing the ice-covered Hudson River fashionable. Reid Bielenberg skippers the famous ice yacht Vixen in a wordless poem of speed and excitement as his boat races across the ice near Athens at 50 miles an hour. The film captures the excitement and awesome beauty of this historic Hudson Valley sport.

Hudson Valley Light
We focus on Leigh Palmer, a contemporary painter who settled in the Hudson Valley inspired by the light and the vast open landscapes. His work references the colors and Arcadian "clichés" of the great Hudson River painters of the past but Palmer's dark paintings are about environmental change and the parsing of farmland and open space in the Hudson Valley.

Ghosts of the Gilded Age
The 3 living Aldrich siblings (3 memorable characters who are the great grandchildren of John Jacob Astor) are captured at Rokeby, the 19th century family mansion where they grew up. They speak of their family's storied past connection as aristocracy of the Hudson River Valley.

Rocking the Boat
A river-based after school program run by dedicated community worker, Adam Green, teaches boat-building to Bronx HS students to help develop leadership, life-skills, and environmental responsibility in it's young participants.

Hudson RiverKeeper
An independent environmental organization that operates on the premise that local individuals should take responsibility for monitoring and protecting the local waterways. Hudson Riverkeeper John Lipscomb patrols the Hudson waters throughout the year in the 36-foot RiverKeeper boat maintaining a "presence" along the waterways. He acts as a pollution watchdog.

Beacon Environmental Education Project
In partnership with schools in Beacon, Scenic Hudson has introduced environmental education to the school curriculum in a format that includes field trips to the river and out-of-the-classroom lessons. The program teaches ecology, conservation, sustainability and the history of the environmental problems pertaining to the Hudson. We'll follow a class of 4th graders who participate in this program.

The Battle over Storm King Mountain
The Hudson Valley is the birthplace of the modern environmental movement, launched when local citizens saved Storm King Mountain from Con Edison's proposal to blast the face off the mountain to build a power plant. Local activists like Bob Boyle relentlessly fought Con Ed from 1963 to 1981 finally achieving victory with the "Scenic Hudson Decision" which formed the cornerstone of the National Environmental Policy Act.

Goats Landscape the Hudson
At historic Ft. Weed and Ft. Tompkins this summer, a goat farmer will lend between 10-20 goats to the National Park Service to feed on non-native and invasive plant life along the Hudson shoreline. The use of livestock to control plant overgrowth along the perimeter of the battery is a green, environmentally friendly approach to land maintenance.

Shad Fishing
Shad Fishing has a long legacy in the waters of the Hudson River. Legendary commercial fisherman, John Mylod, has been fishing these waters for 38 years and we'll follow him up and down the Hudson in search of this storied fish.

Tugboats
Tugboats are the lifeblood of commerce along the Hudson River. These powerful, stubby ships serve the same purpose today that they did a century ago. We will join skipper Denny Donovan on his tugboat, Cheyenne, as he pushes and hauls barges from Albany to Manhattan.

Return to the Introduction

Images from the production

Letter from the director

About Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial

For more information contact:
Josh Aronson - Aronson Film Associates
phone: 212-253-6941 - fax: 212-253-8863
eMail: aronsonfilms@aol.com