A Travel Experience in the Hudson River Valley

Mid Atlantic Travel Itineraries

The Hudson Valley extends 150 miles above the tip of Manhattan. Designated as a National Heritage Area, the valley is steeped in history, natural beauty, culture, food and farmers’ markets.

Colonial Era The first Dutch settlement was established at Fort Nassau, a trading post south of modern day Albany, in the early 17^th century, with the purpose of exchanging European goods for beaver pelts.

During the French and Indian War in the 1750s, the northern end of the valley became the bulwark of the British defense against French invasion from Canada via Lake Champlain. The valley also became one of the major regions of conflict during the American Revolution.

19^th Century following the building of the Erie Canal, the area became an important industrial center as the canal opened the Hudson Valley and New York to commerce with the Midwest and the Great Lakes.

The region is associated with the Hudson River School, a group of American Romantic painters who worked from about 1830 to 1870. The natural beauty of the Hudson Valley has earned the Hudson River the nickname "America's Rhineland" a comparison to the famous 40 mile (65 km) stretch of Germany's Rhine River valley between the cities of Bingen and Koblenz.

Tourism became a major industry as early as 1810, as elite visitors frequented the mineral waters at Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs with convenient steamboat connections from New York City, and numerous attractive hotels in romantic settings.

The Hudson River is navigable for a great distance above mile 0 off Battery Park. The original Erie Canal connected the Hudson with Lake Erie enabling shipping between cities on the Great Lakes and Europe via the Atlantic Ocean. The Hudson Valley also proved attractive for railroads, once technology progressed to the point where it was feasible to construct the required bridges over tributaries. When the Poughkeepsie Bridge opened in 1889, it became the longest single-span bridge in the world. On October 3, 2009, it re-opened as a pedestrian walkway over the Hudson, connecting over 25 miles of existing pedestrian trails.

Winemaking The Hudson Valley is the oldest wine making and grape-growing region in the United States, with roots established as early as 1677. Many wineries are located in the Hudson Valley, offering wine-tasting and other tours.

Dutchess County is 800 square miles of natural scenic beauty, historic and cultural landmarks, and outdoor recreation. Stroll the Walkway Over the Hudson. Tour and taste along the Dutchess Wine Trail. Explore the homes of FDR and Vanderbilt. Taste new creations at The Culinary Institute of America. Fill the pantry at farm markets. Cruise the Hudson River. Video

A Travel Experience in the
Hudson River Valley

Personalized travel destinations and itineraries based on client interests by leveraging an in-depth knowledge of your destination, superior client service in the planning stages and throughout the trip or event and logistics expertise to reduce accommodations and transport costs as well as transfer times.

Historic Estates Museums Presidential Libraries and Hiking Trails

Explore FDR’s Home, Presidential Library and Museum, with two floors of new interactive exhibits. Tour Dia: Beacon and a city-wide celebration of the arts. Vassar’s Loeb Art Center invites you to stroll its galleries free of charge. Shop for treasures in village antique shops or specialty shops. The Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum. Observe native birds and wildlife while hiking, including 30 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Ramble or cycle three Rail Trails, including the Walkway over the Hudson State Historic Park, the world’s longest pedestrian bridge!

Hudson River Valley Historic Itineraries Biking, Walking and Driving. Outdoor adventures include
hiking, horseback riding, golf, kayaking, parasailing, archery and skeet shooting.
  

Historic Great Lakes Towns

The Story of Mobility in America in the Maritime Museums of

Milwaukee Chicago South Haven Marquette and Buffalo

Milwaukee lies along the shores and bluffs of Lake Michigan at the confluence of three rivers: the Menomonee, the Kinnickinnic, and the Milwaukee. Ideally situated as a port city, and as a center for collecting and distributing produce, Milwaukee shipped more wheat than any place in the world.

The name Milwaukee comes from an Algonquian Word meaning Good Beautiful and Pleasant Land

The Wisconsin Marine Historical Society is a self-supported, nonprofit organization that collects, preserves, archives and makes available to the public materials related to Great Lakes marine history.
The Great Lakes Collection is maintained at the Milwaukee Public Library, one of the most important repositories of Great Lakes marine materials in existence. The collection contains more than 11,000 vessel files, 32,000 vessel index cards, and over 50,000 photographs and graphic images, along with books, nautical charts, manuscripts, journals, nineteenth century newspaper stories, and ship artifacts.

The Intermodal Station provides Amtrak riders access to other intercity bus operators; the Amtrak Hiawatha line connects downtown Milwaukee and downtown Chicago daily.

Chicago is on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan. The Chicago Portage connects the Mississippi River and Great Lakes Watersheds. The city's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's lake carriers use Lake Calumet Harbor on the South Side. When founded in 1837, most of the early buildings were around the mouth of the Chicago River and the original 58 blocks. Chicago’s history and development stem from its axis at the foot of the Great Lakes.

The Story of Chicago’s Waterways and their Impact on America’s Economy

The Chicago Maritime Museum collects items that commemorate Chicago’s maritime history.  More than 6,000 items have accumulated, including watercraft, models, articles, books, displays, art, images and artifacts.  The collection makes historic materials accessible to scholars or anyone seeking to understand Chicago’s unique historical connections.

Preserving and Divulging a Community's Cultural Heritage with Local Museums

South Haven is a port city at the mouth of the Black River on the southeastern coast of Lake Michigan and a port of call for passenger and cargo shipping lines. In the early 1900s South Haven became a resort town because of its recreational harbor and beaches. It is the western terminus of the Kal-Haven Trail, popular with bicyclists and snowmobilers. 

The Michigan Maritime Museum presents the rich maritime heritage of the Great Lakes and is Michigan's most distinguished institution of maritime research, preservation and education. Five separate buildings offer a variety of engaging opportunities: exhibits on Michigan maritime history, a center for the teaching of boat building and related maritime skills, and a research library. The Friends Good Will promotes tourism in West Michigan by providing the public with a wide variety of cultural and educational experiences. The dramatic story of this sloop speaks to the history of commerce in the early 1800s, as well as her pivotal role in the War of 1812.

Marquette is a major port city on Michigan’s Lake Superior, known primarily for iron ore shipping. The land around Marquette was known to French missionaries of the early 17th century and the trappers of the early 19^th century. The village of Marquette began on September 14, 1849, with the formation of a second iron concern, the Marquette Iron Company. In the late 19th century, during the height of iron mining, Marquette became nationally known as a summer haven. Visitors brought in by Great Lakes passenger steamships filled the city's hotels and resorts. Marquette continues to be a shipping port for hematite ores and enriched iron ore pellets, from nearby mines and pelletizing plants.

The Marquette Maritime Museum Association began in 1980. The Museum was opened in the old City Waterworks building in the summer of 1984. The building is a one story, stone, Romanesque style structure. Area school kids learn their local maritime history along with guests from all over the world.

Stannard Rock Marquette Coast Guard Station provided the support necessary for Stannard’s Rock Lighthouse. The 110-foot sandstone tower was built on a desolate reef first discovered in 1847. Located 44 miles due north of Marquette, its lightkeepers called it the “loneliest place in North America” since it is the most distant lighthouse from land on the entire continent.

The Buffalo area was inhabited before the 17^th century by Native American Iroquois tribes and later by French settlers. The city grew significantly in the 19^th and 20th centuries; immigration, the Erie Canal, rail transport and proximity to Lake Erie fueled trade with the midwestern part of the nation. 

Buffalo is located at the head of the Niagara River 16 miles south of Niagara Falls

The Buffalo Maritime Center promotes traditional hand skills and a craftsman-like attitude while advancing knowledge of the Western New York maritime heritage. The high standards of craftsmanship intrinsic to the work of boat building form the basis of educational programs that encourage self-discipline, self-sufficiency, and the pride of performing meaningful work.

Durham boats flat-bottomed, double-ended craft were used throughout the inland waterways of North America to ferry supplies and people. They were used to transport George Washington and his troops across the Delaware River during the American Revolution and were especially common along the Niagara River to transport salt and lumber from Little Niagara (Fort Schlosser) to Black Rock. Durham boats eventually were replaced in the Niagara region by larger, more efficient canal boats after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825.

Missouri River Trails

Navigation Tributaries Watershed and People

The Missouri is the longest river in North America, rising in the Rocky Mountains and flowing east and south for 2,341 miles - 3,767 km - before connecting with the Mississippi north of St. Louis.

History for over 12 thousand years, people have depended on the Missouri River as a source of food and transportation as ten Native American groups have led a nomadic lifestyles along with the buffalo herds. In the late 17^th century, Spanish and French explorers reached the river which become part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of the early 1800s. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark followed the Missouri on their 1803-06 journey to the Pacific Ocean.

Navigation boat travel on the Missouri started with wood-framed canoes and Native American bull boats. The first steamboat was the Independence, in 1819. By the 1830s, large mail and freight-carrying vessels were running regularly between Kansas City and St. Louis. Water transport increased through the 1850s with craft ferrying pioneers, emigrants and miners. Steamboat navigation peaked in 1858 with over 130 boats operating full-time on the Missouri.

Tributaries nearly 100 significant tributaries and hundreds of smaller ones feed the Missouri River. Most rivers and streams in the Missouri River basin flow from west to east, following the incline of the Great Plains; however, some eastern tributaries, such as the James River, flow from north to south. The largest by runoff are the Yellowstone in Montana and Wyoming, and the Platte in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.

Upper and Lower the Upper River is north of Gavin Point Dam, the last of 15 hydroelectric dams upstream of Sioux City. The lower Missouri runs 840 miles meeting the Mississippi just above St. Louis.

The Watershed encompasses most of the central Great Plains, stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River Valley in the east and from the southern extreme of western Canada to the border of the Arkansas River. This watershed is home to 12 million people in Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. The watershed's largest city is Denver; many northwestern cities, like Billings Montana, are among the fastest growing in the Missouri basin.

The Missouri Watershed includes 25 percent of Agricultural Land in the United States

The People archaeological evidence suggests that the first arrivals in the watershed of the Missouri River were between 10 and 12 thousand years ago, making the Missouri River one of the main migration paths that settled in the Ohio and the lower Mississippi River Valley.

Pioneers the river defined the American frontier in the 19^th century as the major trails that opened the American West started on the Missouri River.

The First Westward leg of the Pony Express was a Ferry across the Missouri River

 Most emigrants arrived at the eastern terminus of the First Transcontinental Railroad via a ferry ride across the Missouri between Council Bluffs and Omaha. In 1869, the Hannibal was the first bridge to cross the Missouri River near Kansas City, the largest city upstream from St. Louis.

Manifest Destiny over one half million people set out from the river town of Independence, Missouri to their various destinations in the American West from the 1830s to the 1860s. Covered wagons, known as prairie schooners, provided the primary means of transport until the beginning of regular boat service in side wheelers and sternwheelers in the 1850s. Over 80 percent of upstream passengers and freight hauled from the Midwest to Montana was transported by boat, a journey that took 150 days. Conflicts between natives and settlers over the opening of the Bozeman Trail in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana resulted in Native American victory. However, the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, sparked when American miners discovered gold in the Black Hills, ended in relocation to reservations.

Missouri River Itineraries