view no.23: The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

Watercolor on Linen / 13“ X 18”

Going only a few miles further north by now New Baltimore, Hudson was taken ashore by a local chief to visit their village where he was feasted. After the War of Independence, whalers from New England created the City of Hudson in 1785, as a safe haven from the British. The new settlers engaged in ship building and eventually again in whaling. A lighthouse was built here in 1874.

To the north, covering 5,000 square miles, the Adirondack Mountains are visible. They were confiscated from the British by the new state government of New York after the American Revolution, sold for logging and then abandoned. Returned to public ownership, the State established them as a forest preserve in 1894, the largest in the lower 48 states. Here the Winter Olympics were held in 1932 and 1980