Historic Landmark on the Hudson River

Category: Keepers Log

  • Coast Guard Icebreaking Tug

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    This 140-foot Bay-class Cutter operates as an icebreaking tug. Today, it passed by the lighthouse while steaming down the Hudson River, breaking up ice in the commercial navigation channel. Coast Guard ice-breaking operations are vital for keeping the river channel open for fuel barges delivering heating oil to upstate New York.

  • New Year's midnight log entry

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    It is customary in the maritime services (Coast Guard and Navy) to write a rhyming entry in the logbook for midnight on New Year’s Eve instead of the usual matter-of-fact prose account. In that tradition, I offer this verse: The tide table tells me what this cloudy sky will not: full moon overhead on New…

  • Question for the Keeper: outer island

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    The Fischer Family from North Carolina wrote to inquire about the outer island adjacent to the lighthouse. We’re wondering if you might share some information about who helped create this magical space: who created the island, who planned the deck (with the backs of the side benches hinged to lift up! (for what purpose, we wonder), who planted…

  • Dam builders

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    This morning, my cross-river neighbor Tim mentioned that he recently noticed a beaver swimming along the shore at the Tivoli Landing. Probably the same beaver I saw one evening while kayaking home from Tivoli last week. I wonder where its lodge is located. Beavers are known for their dam-building activity, but I wouldn’t want to…

  • Water temperature

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    Water temperature reading: 78 degrees F. In recent days, the water temperature climbed above 75 degrees for the first time this summer.

  • Question for the Keeper: meteor shower radiant

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    Last week’s Perseid meteor shower prompted the following question: Why do meteor showers appear to radiate from single point in the sky? Meteor shower particles are actually all traveling in parallel paths and at the same velocity, but they appear to an observer below to radiate away from a single point in the sky. This…

  • Star-gazing and lighthouse pollution

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    A lesson from lighthouses on light pollution: A hometown friend of mine asked me (jokingly) if I ever turn the beacon off for star-gazing. Well, of course not, for obvious reasons, especially obvious to commercial cargo vessels trying to navigate the narrow river channel at night. Even so, it’s not necessary to turn off the…

  • Saugerties Lighthouse Vacation

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    A family who were recent guests at the lighthouse posted two videos on youtube.com about their stay at the lighthouse. The videos provide an interesting overview of what it’s like to visit the lighthouse. Everyone has a different experience, and these videos show one example. For anyone looking forward to staying at the lighthouse, watching…

  • August

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    August was called the “Sturgeon Moon” by fishing tribes because the sturgeon was easier to catch in late summer. I call this month “Katydid Moon” because the katydids start up their nighttime chorus. This year I first noticed their sing-song stridulation the night after the August full moon. Male katydids rub their forewings together to…

  • Question for the Keeper: ripples

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    Question: Why are some patches of the river’s surface smooth and other rippled during a drizzle? This question arises from observation of the texture of the water’s surface. In a drizzle, rain droplets ripple the surface of the water. Although the rain is falling uniformly, smooth patches appear of the water’s surface amidst the ripples.…