To the locks

The Erie Canal opened yesterday at noon.  Here aboard the Grande Mariner we had an early breakfast and left our mooring before 8:00AM.  We didn't, however, beat the snow birds.  The yachts and the sail boats -- with their masts lashed to their decks any way possible (see photo on left), which lined the Hudson last night, were gone when I stepped out on deck before 6:00.

The first lock, the Troy Federal Lock and Dam, is in the Hudson, within sight of the Green Island Bridge at Troy (that's the bridge in the photo above, the odd-looking art deco).  Because the Hudson is tidal to this point it is considered ocean!   This first lock, then, is owned and operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. 

We walked across the Green Island Bridge yesterday afternoon following our visit to St Paul's Episcopal Church.  The bridge in this image is the Collar City Bridge, carrying New York State Thruway traffic.  Beyond that bridge is the dam, with the lock on the right side of the river.  In the distance is the 112th Street Bridge connecting the town of Cohoes on the west side of the river to Lansingburgh on the eastern side. 

 

Entering in the lock ...



... and, elevated 14 feet, moving into the "real" Hudson River.

   

Obsolescence happens

Troy NY.  Who knew?

If you have seen "The Age of Innocence," you have caught glimpses of this engaging town.  Troy stood in for the city of New York at the end of the 19th century in Martin Scorsese's beautiful 1993 film (which we viewed Saturday evening in the lounge).  Fortunately, Troy's signature architecture somehow dodged the urban renewal wrecking ball of the 1960s.  So, there's charm here, as well as an extraordinary place in history.

About a mile upstream from the non-navigable rapids at Troy (at which point the Hudson River actually begins), the Mohawk River flows from the west into the Hudson.  Given that geography, Troy found itself at a crossroads of transportation and commerce, a significant spot on what could be considered to be the Oregon Trail of the East, the water route of westward expansion.

I don't know the name of
this building, but note the
fire escape system -- foot
and hand rails at the
windows leading to a
ladder on the left.

After a morning visit to the Rensselaer County Historical Society and a walking tour of Troy's central historic district came the centerpiece of my day: a visit to St Paul's Episcopal Church during the afternoon. Built in 1820, it was re-designed in 1890. The designer engaged was none other than Louis Comfort Tiffany -- and not only for the windows. The altar, the pews, the columns, the font, the stencilling on the ceiling, the mosaics on the walls, the cross and candelabra, the floor, the light fixtures. The space takes one's breath away.

Everything in this image is Tiffany designed.

I am not going to list the innovations coming out of Troy which I gleaned through two lectures, but it's safe to say that Troy played an important part in this country's transition form rural to urban, agricultural to industrial, wood to steel.  The concentration of innovation here as well an in improvement mindset in the years leading to the Civil War and beyond displaced what people though of as normal in all areas of life -- technology, transportation, education, finance, military tactics.

So, what happened to Troy?  Many factors play a part in our not knowing about that spot at the intersection of the Hudson and the Mohawk.  Like, time.  Like, newer innovation.  Like, the US military making the move from horse to Jeep.  Like, working one's self out of a job.

But, all is not lost.  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is thriving.  And, people all over the world like visiting towns with beautiful and hospitable waterfronts.

I'd come back.

Changing one's vantage point

While I have not spent any significant time in the Hudson River Valley during my life, there is a stretch along the river Tal and I visited on occasion when we lived NW of Philadelphia. We toured Lyndhurst (at Tarrytown) and West Point, hiked Storm King and admired the bridges, learned to watch for passenger trains in the east side of the river and freight trains on the west side.

Today I saw familiar places from a different – literally – point of view. I spent hours on the ship’s open top deck, unable to get beyond the surprise and pleasure of looking inland at the passing landscape from the water as opposed to looking at the water and the passing watercraft from the shore.  Nonchalant I'm not.

 

The Rip Van Winkle Bridge
at Catskill NY

Through the day Sam has pointed out landmarks, talked about the battles fought over the years to control the Hudson – battles among countries during the colonial period and battles among families during the nation’s youth – and returned again and again to our waterway theme. I have continued photographing bridges, pleased at the fact that I could gaze at them in a leisurely and admiring way. So much better than the quick and limited looking I’m able to do while driving and minding traffic.

Life aboard ship is setting in to a wonderful routine.  The meals have been and are exceptional, delicious, interesting with homemade everything, including all the baked goods -- cakes, pies, muffins, breads, dinner rolls.  There's the not so routine as well, such as this morning's fire drill.

Two things are going on here.  The rolls are being formed in the foreground and the individual sponge cakes for strawberry shortcake have just gone in the oven.

The crew has clear duties
during a drill.  These guys
tested hoses, shooting
geysers of water off the
back of the boat.

Here we are in the assembly spot -- the dining room -- with everyone present and accounted for.



Before ...

Our location for tonight and tomorrow night is Troy, the birthplace of both Uncle Sam and the American industrial revolution. While we are here the crew will prepare the vessel for travel on the Eric Canal, clearing the top deck of everything, including the pilot house.



... and after.  That's the frame used to lower the pilot house onto the deck just behind the bow still standing in place.