|
|
|
|
Click to visit the
Official Town Site
|
|
|
|
|
|
General News: Cornwall Residents Celebrate River Day
|
| Mayor Gross dedicated the new memorial shortly after noon. |
|
| The unveiling of the boulder inscription. |
|
| Congressman Hall presented a certificate to village historian Colette Fulton for outstanding service to the community. |
|
| Don Van Leuven dressed as early 17th century man. |
|
| Mary Vance Duggan spoke of her family's role in the Con Edison decision. |
|
| Children had fun building and painting their boats. |
|
| The fleet of handmade boats went on display. |
|
| The Half Moon replica sailed past Bannerman's Castle. |
|
| The Dutch Onrust ship passes beneath Breakneck Ridge. |
June 08, 2009
It’s been 400 years since Henry Hudson sailed past Cornwall, part of the first known group of European explorers to ply these shores, and hundreds of people came down to the riverbank this Sunday to remember his voyage and the historic milestones that followed in his wake.
Hudson River Day started with a small group gathered at Donahue Memorial Park where Cornwall-on-Hudson mayor Joseph Gross dedicated a new memorial to what he termed the “the most significant event of the past century.” That was the defeat of a plan by the Con Edison power company to build a hydroelectric power plant on the side of Storm King Mountain.
Mayor Gross recalled how the debate over the project, first proposed in the early 1960s, “stirred the emotions of village residents at a time when our country was beginning to recognize the excesses of unchecked industry.” He also sought to put an end to that debate, with the “coming together of the two opposing forces that did what they thought was best for our village.”
As two dozen people looked on, village trustee Rick Gioia, who wrote the inscription on the boulder honoring those who fought to preserve Storm King Mountain, pulled off a tarp that had covered the monument since the words were carved into it on Friday. Village trustee Barbara Gosda, who served as co-organizer of the Hudson River Day, was also on hand.
After the ceremony, a daylong program of speakers and music began in the shade of a tent set up at the riverfront. U.S. Congressman John Hall was the first to speak. He recalled his first encounter with Storm King Mountain, while sailing with his father. A storm swept in as they were at the foot mountain, with heavy fog and a driving rain. “I saw how the mountain got its name and saw the power of nature,” Hall said.
He noted that the Con Edison decision in favor of environmentalists empowered people to fight against seemingly unstoppable corporate projects. He also tried to enlist people in his current campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in a new bill making its way through Congress. Hall predicted that Cornwall landing could be covered in water if nothing is done to reverse the melting of the polar ice caps and called for a focus on renewable energy resources and a limit to carbon dioxide.
The next speaker, Don Van Leuven, a historian associated with the New Windsor Encampment, dressed in the typical clothing of Henry Hudson’s era and he recounted in detail the seeming obsession that Hudson had to find a northwest passage through the New World to Asia. On his third voyage to America in 1609, a trip he made against the direction of his bosses at the Dutch East Indies Company, he sailed up the Hudson, thinking he had found the passage to the Pacific Ocean at last.
His shipmate’s log tells of the crew’s encounters with Native Americans, some of them welcomed Hudson into their village for a ceremonial meal and others who traded furs with the newcomers. Hudson’s men also traded bullets with the Native Americans and more than a few, including one of his crewmembers, was killed. When crewman Robert Juet commented that the Cornwall area looked like a “pleasant place to build a town,” the crew was headed south, back to the Atlantic Ocean, defeated in its efforts to find a route to Asia.
There was nothing pleasant about Hudson’s fourth and final voyage to the New World the next year, as Van Leuvan tells it. Sailing a ship for England, Hudson went to Canada in the area now known as Hudson Bay, where his crew mutinied and put Hudson and his teenaged son adrift on a boat, never to be seen again. The remaining crew had an equally rough time, with all dying from starvation or wounds they received while fighting Native Americans.
Village historian Colette Fulton picked up the story 75 years after Hudson’s voyage and she told how the MacGregor family settled in Plum Point where they set up a trading post. Fulton talked about the role Cornwall citizens played in the American revolution and about the thriving river traffic at its shores in the 19th century.
Mary Vance Duggan, brought the audience back to the theme of the 18-year-long fight against Con Edison’s hydroelectric plant. Duggan’s in-laws, Stephen and Beatrice “Smokey” Duggan, were two of the leaders of the citizens group that fought for and won the right to have a legal standing to challenge Con Edison. Duggan described how Smokey had rheumatic fever as a child and lived in isolation in Cornwall-on-Hudson, with the beauty of Black Rock Forest her only sanctuary. Years later, when Con Edision threatened to destroy White Horse Lake in the forest by turning it into a saline holding tank, Smokey begged her husband for help.
Duggan said she discovered her in-laws’ story as she poured through trunks full of diary, journals and legal documents they left behind. Stephen Duggan had been a lawyer who represented Gulf Oil and he never intended to take a stand up to corporations, Mary Vance said, until pressured by his wife.
After Duggan won the right to sue Con Edison, he went on to co-found the Natural Resources Defense Council, a legal group dedicated to protecting the environment.
Jeffrey Anzevino, of Scenic Hudson, spoke next, describing the significance of the Storm King legal decision, and he was followed by Simon Gruber, a watershed environmentalist. Lydia Adams Davis and Kathy Byers presented a special program of folk music for the children and adults alike and the 20-piece Riverbank Banjo Band serenaded the crowd that kept growing in anticipation of the historic flotilla of boats.
Throughout the day, children created their own 3-D boats out of cardboard, paint and other supplies with the help of event organizers Barbara Smith Gioia and Kathy Schaack, along with other volunteers. By the end of the day, some 30 colorful boats sat on the lawn. Further down the park in the gazebo, Andrew Maroney and the Orange County Amateur Radio Club set up their radio station and broadcast the day’s activities to listeners far and wide.
Around 6 p.m. the flotilla, led by the replica of Henry Hudson’s Half Moon ship, sailed into Cornwall Bay. The Mystic Whaler and the Clearwater Sloop followed close behind, followed by the Onrust, a replica of another 17th century ship. The original Onrust was the first decked vessel to be built entirely in America and was completed with help from the Lenape Indians.
Several hundred people sat on the banks of Donahue Memorial Park to watch as the ships steered north to Newburgh and Beacon, where they will dock until Tuesday. Others took their own boats and kayaks on the water to get a close-up view. Once the ships departed, people gathered up their families and belongings and headed home from a day on the riverfront.
Click here and here to see more photos of the flotilla by Julia Lawrence and Wynn Gold.
Comments:
|
John Hall not only represents us in Congress but is doing a better job for our veterans than his predecessor ever did and has been an advocate for conservation and the environment since well before he was elected to Congress. It was entirely appropriate that he be there to participate in the dedication of the monument to the environmental battle.
He brought recognition and dignity to the ceremony yesterday, both of which were not only deserved but appreciated.
Perhaps the better question would be to ask why none of our other elected representatives were there to honor the struggle that has kept our shore the beautiful and tranquil place it is.
posted by Jon Chase on 06/08/09 at 4:42 PM
|
|
I don't agree that he didn't pledge to support our vets, but you're not objecting to the unprecedented support he's delivered, now are you??
But we digress: the facts are that Congressman Hall is a dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist, and it was the first great environmental battle he came here to salute. Might have been opportunistic had the others been here, but that accusation simply doesn't hold water, if you'll pardon the choice of words, against Hall.
posted by Jon Chase on 06/08/09 at 6:43 PM
|
|
Sunday was a super day for a sail down to Sandy Beach just south of Storm King on the east shore. Plenty of wind from the SE. We watched the whole flotilla go by and it was a great family day with my wife, Kathrine and Kristina. Best of all we got back to Chelsea before the brief rain without voting.
posted by Robert Langston on 06/08/09 at 7:35 PM
|
|
I just want to say Thank-You to all involved!!Thoroughly an enjoyable day for family!
posted by j b on 06/08/09 at 8:37 PM
|
|
I would like to say how Thankful I am to live in Cornwall On Hudson.
I served on the Riverfest Committee and the Hudson Day Committee. It was a pleasure to work hand in hand with such a great group of people from both committees . The children?s face painting and the children?s boat making was a blast. I hope the kids that made the boats do not forget the parade for the 4th of July. If you did not have a chance to make a boat you can still make one and get into the parade!!
And THANK YOU Bill , Pete, Kathy and Jeff for pulling through and serving food at the last minute, I have heard so many compliments on the food. GREAT JOB!!
posted by Karen Schaack on 06/09/09 at 3:00 PM
|
Add a Comment:
Please signup or login to add a comment.
|
 |
|
|
|
