Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

Thank you to everyone from volunteers to patrons for a successful tour season! We are currently doing a test of our holiday lighting, did you see the display last night? We have gone solar and LED. Many thanks to our volunteers who took time out of their day to go string them up.

Helping the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse is as easy as clicking a button! If you shop on Amazon using the link below, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society through their AmazonSmile initiative. Any questions? Reach out to us at [email protected] and we'd be happy to tell you more. ... Happy shopping!

The bell is a working antique and one of the last surviving, working examples of a Gamewell timing mechanism, it requires some care and training to correctly operate. When we took over the lighthouse the bell did not work. It was not until about 2006 when we had inmates from Hudson Correctional Painting the outside of the building. We needed to have the boat available at the lighthouse when the inmates were there. Volunteers from Hudson Power Boat stood by with the boat all... day, every day the inmates were there. The HPBA members had mechanical backgrounds and had very little to do so, they investigated the problem and repaired the mechanism. Thanks to them it has worked ever since. The timing mechanism was manufactured by Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Company see information I found below on the internet: The first telegraph fire alarm system was developed by William Francis Channing and Moses G. Farmer in Boston, Massachusetts in 1852. Two years later they applied for a patent for their "Electromagnetic Fire Alarm Telegraph for Cities". In 1855 John Gamewell of South Carolina purchased regional rights to market the fire alarm telegraph, later obtaining the patents and full rights to the system in 1859. John F. Kennard bought the patents from the government after they were seized after the Civil War, returned them to Gamewell, and formed a partnership, Kennard and Co., in 1867 to manufacture the alarm systems. The Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Co. was later formed in 1879. Gamewell systems were installed in 250 cities by 1886 and 500 cities in 1890. By 1910 Gamewell had gained a 95% market share. Joe Kenneally

Our winning photographers perfectly captured HAL's personality.

The results are in! A huge congratulations to the winners of our #hellohal summer photo contest and many thanks to everyone who participated. Our new Honorary Lighthouse Keepers are: Paul Abitabile (The Keeper’s Prize Winner); Wayne Francis, Carol Ball, and Matt Keeling (First Place Winners); Virgilia Tegiacchi, Arthur King, and Marija S. (Runners-Up) We look forward to working with all our winners to redeem their prizes, ranging from private tours of the lighthouse to gift s...hop items. The winning photos, along with ALL the fantastic entries we received, will be featured on our accounts throughout the fall, so keep an eye out and say hello to HAL all year long! Photo Credit: Paul Abitabile

Last call! Tomorrow is the last day to send in your photos of HAL as part of the #hellohal photo contest! Tag us (Hudson-Athens Lighthouse) on here or on instagram, or send your entries to [email protected]. Happy snapping! Many thanks to Nina Green for this great photo of HAL through the riggings of the Schooner Apollonia.

The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse doesn't sit at the edge of a dramatic clifftop, but its spot in the middle of the Hudson River presents its own challenges. Check out the latest installation of our blog post series with the Preservation League of New York State below! https://www.preservenys.org//shoring-up-the-lighthouses-fu

What a great summer we had at Waterfront Wednesdays! Today is the last day to get a free tour of the Lighthouse leaving from Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today, visit the HALPS booth to sign up. Don't miss out!

Photo credit Luke Schroeder

We are a week into our #hellohal photo contest and we’ve gotten some fantastic entries so far. Keep ‘em coming! To enter, send your photos via email to [email protected] or tag us in your post on Facebook or Instagram. More details on our website!

Another beautiful day for Waterfront Wednesdays down at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park! From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today, swing by the HALPS booth for a Lighthouse tour. Kayaking, BBQ, music, and vendors complete the perfect summer evening. See you there!

HALPS is pleased to announce this summer’s Hello, HAL! photo contest! From 8/1 to 9/1, send us your photos of the super photogenic Hudson-Athens Lighthouse (HAL) for a chance to win the Keeper’s Prize: a private tour of the Lighthouse, membership benefits, gift shop swag, the title of Honorary Lighthouse Keeper, and much more! Want to enter? Submit photographs online through our email ([email protected]), as a post that tags our Facebook page (Hudson-Athens Lighthouse), or as an Instagram post or story with the tag @hudsonathenslighthouse. To help us see you post, tag your photo with the contest hashtag #hellohal Winners will be announced over Labor Day Weekend. Happy snapping!

So happy we could host our friends at Preservation League of New York State at the Lighthouse today! Check out the full tour led by HALPS volunteer Jonathan Palmer below: