Riverfront Park

Riverfront Park. Hyde Park Trails. , STARTING AT THE RIVER'S EDGE , Many Hudson River settlements share similar beginnings. The Hudson has been the lifeblood of the Valley since before history, providing food, water and transport. The Hudson is a tidal estuary , an arm of the sea , that flows north and south twice each day. Predictable tides and winds enabled travel by canoe, sail and sloop for centuries before Robert Fulton's 1807 steamboat revolutionized water travel. Can you tell which way the River is flowing right now?, [Left illustration caption reads] , This panel from the Olin Dows mural in the Hyde Park Post Office shows the waterfront in 1870. William Meier, head of Hyde Park's caviar industry, pulls up an oversized sturgeon helped by Abe Atkins., FROM FARM TO PORT , Today's Hyde Park began as a small farming community started by Jacobus Stoutenburgh in the early 1700s. It grew quickly. By 1800 a waterfront landing operated by Richard DeCantillon shipped grain and supplies to New York City, and even received shipments of rum, sugar and molasses from the West Indies. The mouth of the Crum Elbow Creek became the site of a ship building and repair yard. The creek itself powered several kinds of mills, including grist mills, saw mills, a plaster mill, a flax mill and even a nail mill , producing many of the needs of the growing community. Commerce grew throughout the 1800s, especially after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. Sloops, and later steamers, docked here nearly every day, as the Hudson River became a busy Main Street for a rapidly growing nation., [Top right illustration caption reads] , The Atlantic sturgeon was once so common that their bodies were stacked like logs on the decks of sloops and steamboats bound for market. They commonly grew to 6 to 8 feet long, and over 200 pounds. Many fish 800 to 1,000 pounds were caught around the turn of the 20th century., ATLANTIC STURGEON AND "ALBANY BEEF" , In the late 1800s, the Hyde Park waterfront became home to a prolific sturgeon fishing industry. Sturgeon eggs were sold as high-priced caviar, and the meat became so common that it was known as "Albany Beef.” Over-fishing and other factors caused the sturgeon population to drastically decline by the mid-1900s, and sturgeon fishing has not been allowed since 1996. Since sturgeon are long-lived and mature very slowly, it may take as long as 50 years for their population to rebound., HYDE PARK RAILROAD STATION , The first Hyde Park railroad station was built in 1851, when the Hudson River Railroad advanced north from Poughkeepsie toward Albany. The current station was built in 1914, when the number of tracks was doubled from two to four, and the first station was leveled to make room for the expansion. Passenger service to Hyde Park ended in 1958. The station is now used for exhibits, and is maintained by the Hudson Valley Railroad Society., [Lower right photo caption reads] , The Hyde Park railroad station is draped in black to prepare for the arrival of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral train, April 14, 1945.