Maritime museum interpreting the history of the Hudson River and Rondout Creek · Operates the in-house-built solar vessel Solaris · Stop on the Haunted History Trail of New York State
The Hudson River Maritime Museum is located at 50 Rondout Landing in Kingston, on the banks of Rondout Creek where it meets the Hudson River. The museum preserves and interprets the maritime history of the Hudson, a working waterway whose creeks and harbors carried freight, passengers, and ice for more than two centuries.
The Rondout was a busy port through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and that traffic produced its share of wrecks and drownings, the raw material for the museum's haunted programming. The museum operates the Solaris, a solar-powered vessel built in-house, which it uses for educational cruises and for the seasonal Haunted Rondout tours.
Each October the museum runs the Haunted Rondout boat tours. Guests gather at the museum to hear Hudson Valley ghost stories, then board the Solaris for a trip around the Rondout Lighthouse while a storyteller recounts the creek's history of shipwrecks, maritime deaths, and reported apparitions. Tours leave on the hour and run about an hour, with reported tickets at $35 per person; the museum notes that earlier tours are gentler and better suited to families.
The museum is listed as a stop on the Haunted History Trail of New York State, which collects haunted and historic sites across the state for visitors.
Sources
- https://www.hrmm.org/hauntedrondout.html
- https://hudsonvalleycountry.com/hudson-river-haunted-history-kingston-ny/
- https://www.hrmm.org/
Stories of shipwrecks and drownings on Rondout CreekMaritime deaths recounted on the tourReported apparitions tied to the creek
The Haunted Rondout tour builds its stories from the documented hazards of a working waterway. The museum's own description points to the creek's past: the people whose lives were lost in its waters, the sunken shipwrecks along its bottom, and accounts of apparitions tied to the Rondout.
The experience begins at the museum, where a storyteller sets out Hudson Valley ghost stories before guests board the Solaris. The boat then runs a circuit around the Rondout Lighthouse while the narration turns to maritime murders, drownings, and the spirits said to linger near the water. Regional coverage on the Haunted History Trail describes the cruise as a themed ghost-storytelling outing rather than a claimed encounter site.
The museum distinguishes its tours by intensity, noting that the earlier evening departures are less frightening and appropriate for families with young children, while the later tours lean more strongly into the darker material. The Haunted Rondout is among the Hudson Valley's recurring fall paranormal-themed events and is documented on the state's Haunted History Trail.
Where this legend is told
