A keeper drowned fetching groceries in 1856; his wife ran this Hudson River light for 51 years — and a ghost still searches the tower after each fall equinox.
50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY 12401
Research updated June 2026
Age
Minimum 8
Cost
$$
Boat tour with interior lighthouse access; $35 adults, $25 children 6–12, $30 seniors 62+. Haunted Rondout October tours same pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Lighthouse accessible only by boat; interior has stairs, a ladder, and narrow passages. No restroom facilities on site.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1915 · Third lighthouse on this site since 1837; current structure dates to 1915 · Keeper George W. Murdock drowned 1856 returning from supply run · Catherine Murdock served as keeper 1856–1907 — over 51 years continuous service · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1979
The Lighthouse Board established the first light at Rondout Creek in 1837, a wooden structure replaced by a bluestone building in 1867 and finally by the current yellow-brick lighthouse completed in 1915. All three occupied the same strategic point where Rondout Creek meets the Hudson, marking a commercial gateway that handled coal, brick, and produce from the interior.
George W. Murdock arrived as keeper in 1856, having previously worked as a guard at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining. He brought his wife Catherine and their children to the lighthouse, but within roughly a year of his appointment he drowned at Ponckhockie while returning home from a supply run. The exact circumstances are sparse in the record — he was near his boat, gathering groceries — but the result was swift and final.
Catherine Murdock was appointed to succeed her husband and served continuously until 1907, a tenure of more than 51 years. The Lighthouse Board later identified her as its oldest employee by length of continuous service, commending her for maintaining the station in excellent condition throughout. Her grandson James Murdock Jr., born in the lighthouse, eventually became the next keeper.
The Hudson River Maritime Museum assumed management of the lighthouse after the Coast Guard transferred it to the city of Kingston in 2002. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as part of the Hudson River Lighthouses Historic District.
Sources
The 'Widow's Watch' legend at Rondout describes a female figure who appears after the fall equinox, moving through the lighthouse in search of a husband who drowned on their wedding night. Local accounts say she returns each year at the anniversary of his death. The story is widely attached to Catherine Murdock's documented history — a real keeper whose husband genuinely drowned near the lighthouse — though the legend compresses and romanticizes. George and Catherine were not newlyweds; she was already the mother of three children when he died.
What the record does support: George Murdock drowned at Ponckhockie while fetching supplies, within a year of arriving at the lighthouse. Catherine then spent more than half a century at the station. Whether that weight of years, and the particular isolation of a lighthouse at the river's edge, seeded the ghost story is hard to say — but the emotional architecture of the legend fits the documented circumstances closely enough.
The Hudson River Maritime Museum's annual Haunted Rondout program, run each October aboard the Solaris, treats the creek's ghost lore alongside historical shipwrecks and maritime deaths. The tours have sold out consistently, suggesting the legend carries ongoing force regardless of what the historical record confirms or denies.
Notable Entities
Board the museum's solar-powered boat Solaris for a cruise to the 1915 brick lighthouse at the mouth of Rondout Creek. The tour includes interior access from the first floor up to the observation deck around the light itself. Children under 8 are not permitted; narrow passages and a ladder make the climb physically demanding.
Each October the Hudson River Maritime Museum runs its sold-out Haunted Rondout program aboard the Solaris. A storyteller recounts maritime murders, sunken shipwrecks, and ghostly apparitions tied to the creek and river — including the legend of a keeper's widow said to search the lighthouse tower after the fall equinox. Tours depart on the hour.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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