INTRODUCTION

Paintings and Text by Ray Curran

For over eight thousand years, the only players in the river’s history were the Native Americans, who arrived after the last Ice Age. In 1609 when Henry Hudson began his journey to the Far East, they inhabited the entire length of the river, in numerous semi-permanent villages. Hudson encountered many of them from three confederations, including the Lenni Lenape, the Mohicans, and the Iroquois.

Though Henry Hudson did not find a passage to the Far East, the successful purchase of beaver and other animal pelts from the Indians, led to the development of lucrative trading posts within a few years. As the influx of Europeans increased, many of the Indians succumbed to European diseases, or were otherwise displaced in a sad chapter of American history. Almost all the new settlements replaced earlier Indian villages, while occasionally retaining place names like Manhattan, Poughkeepsie and SingSing.

Having lifestyles that were fully integrated with the environment, Indians left no lasting landmarks. Over the 415 years since Hudson’s journey, a number of distinctive landmarks have been built by the newcomers, and often in places where important Indian crossings, sacred sites, forts and settlements had been. This series of paintings is focused on a selection of these landmarks along Hudson’s route, from New York Harbor to Albany. Brief texts about his daily experience, the genesis of the landmarks and some historical highlights, accompany each painting.

A HUDSON RIVER LANDMARKS JOURNEY

Click on each IMAGE for a larger view and historic text for each painting.

All paintings are in watercolor, approx. 14” x 20"and are available at $850 each

Gyclee Prints on Archival Paper at $120

DAY 1

After meeting and trading with local Native Americans in canoes, the Half Moon sailed a short distance and anchored near where the Statue of Liberty would be built over 275 years later.

View 1 - The Half Moon in New York Harbor

DAY 2

The Half Moon sailed the length of Manhattan and anchored just north of where the most heavily travelled bridge in the world would be built some 320 years later, the George Washington Bridge.

View 4 - The New Jersey Central Railroad Terminal

Day3

The third day took Hudson nearly 50 miles further through the most spectacular segment of the river, the Highlands, where Revolutionary battles would later be fought.

View 9 - Phillipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow

DAY 4

During another long day of sailing Hudson first saw the Catskill Mountains in the distance and encountered his first Mohican Indians near the future Village of Catskill.

View 19 - The Kingston Landing and Lighthouse

View 21 - The Clermont at Livingston Manor

DAY 5

The Half Moon travelled only a few miles and encountered the first shallow waters that forced them to stop at low tide. They were nearing the furthest that shipping could occur.

View No.22, The State Historic Site of Olana

DAY 6 & 7

The next day they sailed to the vicinity of today’s New Baltimore where they stayed for two days and Hudson went ashore to visit a Native American village where he was feasted by a local tribe.

DAY 8

The following day took Hudson only a short distance and the farthest point the Half Moon was to travel. Here they did ship repairs and invited local Native Americans aboard to visit.

Days 9 - 11

During the following few days sailors were sent upriver in a small boat to sound the depths while Mohawk Indians of the Iroquois Confederation held a formal gathering and celebration for Hudson and his crew.

Text references:

1491……………………………..........................……………………Charles O Mann

The Hudson River …............Stephen Stanne, Roger Panetta, Brian Forest

Hudson River Valley National HeritageArea …Heritage Site Guidebook

Highlands…………………………….................…………………….Frances Dunwell

Hudson River Lighthouses…………....……………………….Hudson River Maritime Museum

The Hudson: America’s River…….................………..Frances Dunwell

Island at the Center of the World….....................Russell Shorto

The Women of the House…………..................………...Jean Zimmerman

The Half Moon………………………...................………………..Doug Hunter

The Street That Built a City………….................……..Lowell Thing

The History of the Hudson River Valley…............Vernon Benjamin

Journal of Hudson’s 1609 Voyage……..........………….Robert Juet

Hudson Valley Voyage……………………...........………………..Spiegel/Sparling

The Hudson River Watertrail Guide……….........……..Ian Giddy

The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York …..John Kouwehoven

Indian Tribes of Hudson’s River to 1700 ……………..E.M.Ruttenber

League of the Iroquois…………………................…………….Louis H Morgan

The Historic Atlas of Native Americans ………………..Dr. Ian Barnes

Henry Hudson, His Times and History ………….………..Edgar M Bacon

Native New Yorkers……………...........................………….Evan T Pritchard

Henry Hudson and the Algoquins of New York……..Evan T Pritchard

The Mohicans and Their Land 1609-1730………………..Shirley W Dunn

The Encyclopedia Brittanica

The historical notes provided in this exhibition are based on these references