Category: Educational Museums

Fenimore Art Museum 5798 NY-80 Cooperstown, NY 13326

Fenimore Art Museum 5798 NY-80 Cooperstown, NY 13326

Fenimore Museum

5798 NY-80

Cooperstown, NY 13326

(607) 547-1400

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Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm (check hours during the seasons)

Admission: Adults (13+) $17.50/Children (12 and under) Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47529-d103482-Reviews-Fenimore_Art_Museum-Cooperstown_Otsego_New_York.html?m=19905

The Fenimore Museum at 5798 NY-80

The museum at the start of the holiday season

I was in Upstate New York visiting Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame and when I finished, I travelled up the road to see the Fenimore Art Museum. What a unique museum packed with interesting art from all aspects of the medium.

The Portrait Collection

The Lady in White

The middle level of the museum specialized in early American works and paintings from the Hudson River School. Across the hall was the history of the Cooper family who once owned all the land in the area, developed it to the town known as Cooperstown as a planned community.

The collection of Folk Art Paintings

The lower level was dedicated to the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art which was pretty extensive.

The clothing from the Native American display from the Thaw Collection

The Thaw Collection gallery

I liked the collection of spiritual masks that could scare away any evil spirit. The collection of small dolls and icons makes you wonder how they if ever captured any spirits. Their collection of clothing was interesting too.

The Thaw Collection

The Thaw Native American Collection

The ‘Looking Back’ exhibition

The paintings in the exhibit

One of my favorite paintings from this exhibit (note-some of the buildings in this painting from 1860 still exist).

The upper floor in 2025 was the exhibition of the ‘’Calvin and Hobbes’ cartoon. I loved this comic strip when it was out and found myself laughing the whole time.

The opening of the Calvin and Hobbes exhibition in 2025

(From the Fenimore Art Museum website)

Exploring Calvin and Hobbes

Exploring Calvin and Hobbes revisits the beloved comic strip created by Bill Watterson from 1985 to 1995. This exhibit explores his mastery of the comic strip art form through engaging characters, thoughtful writing, and creative layouts.

The exhibition features original Calvin and Hobbes daily and Sunday strips as well as specialty pieces by Watterson from his collection of more than 3,000 originals housed at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at The Ohio State University. Calvin and Hobbes appeared in 2,400 newspapers worldwide at the height of its popularity. Watterson won the National Cartoonists Society’s prestigious Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” in both 1986 and 1988.

The History of the Fenimore Art Museum:

The Fenimore Art Museum originated as the New York State Historical Association, founded in 1899 by New Yorkers who were interested in promoting greater knowledge of the early of the state. They hoped to encourage original research, to educate general audiences by means of lectures and publications to mark places of historic interest with tablets or signs and to start a library and museum to hold manuscripts, paintings and objects associated with the history of the state.

The Fenimore Art Museum in the Fall of 2025

In 1939, Stephen Carlton Clark, offered the organization a new home in the village of Cooperstown, NY. Clark, an avid collector, took an active interest in expanding the holdings of the Association and in 1944 donated Fenimore House, one of his family’s properties, to be used as a new headquarters and museum. The impressive neo-Georgian structure was built in the 1930’s on the site of James Fenimore Cooper’s early 19th century farmhouse on the shore of Otsego Lake, Coopers Glimmerglass.

The Weathervane Collection

Fenimore House was large enough to have both extensive galleries as well as an office and library space. The collections and programs continued to expand and a separate library building was constructed in 1968.

The Cigar Store Indian

In 1995, a new 18,000 square foot wing was added to the Fenimore House to accommodate the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection, which is one of the nation’s premier collections of American Indian Art. In 1999 in recognition of our world class collections, we renamed the Fenimore House to the Fenimore Art Museum.

The Collection includes The Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, Fine Art & Folk Art, Photography and the Research Library.

Early American Portrature

Mission:

Preserving-Engaging-Educating

Fenimore Art Museum is dedicated to welcoming and connecting people to our shared cultural heritage through exhibitions and programs that engage that engage, delight and inspire.

(This information comes from the Fenimore Art Museum’s website and I give them full credit for it)

The ‘Humming Bee’ portrait

This was one of my favorite paintings in the collection when I visited in 2025.

The Thaw Collection gallery

The Trolley Museum of New York 89 East Strand Kingston, NY 12401

The Trolley Museum of New York 89 East Strand Kingston, NY 12401

The Trolley Museum of New York

89 East Strand

Kingston, NY 12401

(845) 331-3399

http://www.tmny.org/

https://www.facebook.com/trolleymuseumny/

Open: Sunday & Saturday 12:00pm-5:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed-May through October so please check the website.

Fee: Adults $6.00/Children over Five (5) and Seniors $4.00/Children under Five/Active Military with ID and their families/Members Free

Trolley Rides leave Gallo Park at 12:30pm/1:30pm/2:30pm & 3:30pm.

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48003-d4755385-Reviews-Trolley_Museum_Of_New_York-Kingston_Catskill_Region_New_York.html?m=19905

The Kingston Trolley Museum at 39 East Strand

When I was visiting Kingston, NY again for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”, I came across the Trolley Museum that was down the road from the NY Maritime Museum and the harbor for the ‘Hudson River Cruises”. This unique museum has a lot of interactive things for a family to do including riding a trolley through the harbor of the Kingston Roundout to Kingston Point Park right on the Hudson River. On a beautiful sunny day there is nothing like it.

The first part of the trip took us to the Kingston Roundout

I just made the first trip on the trolley. You start at the front of the museum and then you take a short trip to the downtown and we picked up other passengers. It was then off for a short trolley trip following the river up to Kingston Point Park and the picnic grounds there.

The Trolley Museum

The Trolley arriving at Kingston Point Park

The foliage was amazing at the park with hues of gold and red and the trees were just coming into their peak. We only had about a half hour to stay at the park and look around but it was a real delight of colors and the views of the river just shined in the sun. It was very picturesque especially with sailboats passing by.

The Trolley stops at Kingston Point Park

On our way back to the museum, you could see the lighthouse from its perch at the mouth of the inlet. People were starting to take the Hudson River Cruise in the distance which I had made two weeks earlier. When I got back to the museum, I toured all the buses, subway cars and the Path train that they had in the parking lot. I could see this live in Manhattan so I went to visit the museum. The nice part about the museum is how interactive it is and how you can pace yourself through all the displays.

You can tour old subway cars, buses and an old Path Train

There were small exhibits on the history of the trolley cars in cities, the development of the cars as a mode of transportation starting with horses to the electrical age.

Old New York City subway car

There was also a small display on glass fixtures used in the electrical lines before the new cabling systems came in and another hats and uniforms used on the trolley cars over the years. There are also displays of signs and posters for the different lines.

The inside of the Kingston Maritime Museum

The Subway display at the Kingston Trolley Museum

It is a small museum but for families, there is a lot to climb through and tour around and just taking the trolley up to the park is worth the price of the ticket.

The conductor operations room display at the Kingston Trolley Museum

History of The Trolley Museum of New York:

The Trolley Museum of New York is a non-profit educational museum founded in 1955. The goals of the museum are to offer rides to the public, exhibits and educational programs sharing the rich history of rail transportation and the role it played in the development of the Hudson Valley region. In addition to static displays of trolley, subway and rapid transit cars from the United States and Europe, a trolley ride runs 1 1/2 miles from Gallo Park at the foot of Broadway in downtown Kingston, NY to Kingston Point Park on the shore of the Hudson River, using a renovated 1925 trolley. Along the way, we stop at the Museum grounds.

The inside of the Kingston Trolley Museum

The Museum is on the original site of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad yards at Milepost 1. Our shop building is built on the foundation of the U & D engine building house which existed at the turn of the century. The upper level includes a Visitor’s Center featuring seasonal and permanent displays, a video viewing area and large windows overlooking the restoration shop. Visitors can see up to eight trolleys being housed and restored below.

The outside of the Kingston Trolley Museum

One of the cars in the restoration shop is our 1897 wooden trolley car from Olso, Norway. This car is one of four cars that we have on display that are 100 plus years old.

The public transport display inside the Kingston Trolley Museum

Your Donations:

All of the Museum staff are volunteers. There are many projects, both large and small, all of which require funding to complete. Chief among these are the installation of overhead electric wire, trolley restoration and the expansion and rehabilitation of track. Your donations will help to provide vital support for these projects and others.

Inside the Kingston Trolley Museum

(This information comes from The Trolley Museum of New York’s pamphlet and I give them full credit for it).

New Jersey Maritime Museum 528 Dock Road Beach Haven, NJ 08008

New Jersey Maritime Museum 528 Dock Road Beach Haven, NJ 08008

New Jersey Maritime Museum

528 Dock Road

Beach Haven, NJ 08008

(609) 492-0202

Homepage

https://www.facebook.com/NJMaritimeMuseum/

Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm (Check by season)

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46292-d1881647-Reviews-Museum_of_NJ_Maritime_History-Beach_Haven_Long_Beach_Island_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

I made a special trip to Beach Haven, NJ recently to visit the NJ Maritime Museum which had gotten some interesting write ups online. The museum covers many aspects of the maritime history of Long Beach Island and the surrounding Jersey Shore and the State of New Jersey.

The NJ Maritime Museum at 528 Dock Road in Beach Haven, NJ.

Each of the rooms are packed with pictures, artifacts and explanations of all the events. The front room has a lot of information of ship wrecks, both local and from all over the state.

The Front Galleries of the NJ Maritime Museum.

There is a large story board of the 1916 Shark attacks that inspired the book and movie, “Jaws” including the clippings from the paper and pictures of the cemetery where the victims were buried. It was a very detailed display of the incident.

The front section of the museum has the display of the “Morro Castle” fire.

In the back room of the first floor the room is dedicated to the 1934 “Morro Castle” luxury liner disaster where incompetence from the crew and staff lead to the burning of the ocean liner on its way back from Havana to New York at the height of the Depression and twenty years after the Titanic Disaster. The displays included menus, artifacts from the ship, witness accounts and a movie on the disaster being shown in a loop.

The Morro Castle Fire exhibition.

Natural disasters are covered as well with storms that have reeked havoc to the Jersey Shore over the last hundred years including the recent Hurricane Sandy which was the perfect storm. The pictures show the disaster that have hit Long Beach Island and the rebuilding over the years.

The history of Diving exhibition on the second floor.

There is a lot of local history with pictures of the all the luxury resorts that used to be on the island and its role in the development of the area as an early resort town through the railroads as well as the history of the local “Women’s Surf Fishing Club” and pictures of the club members over the years.

The second floor galleries.

The second floor is dedicated to the local Coast Guard history and rooms full of artifacts from local shipwrecks and the history of the local maritime history and fishing industry.

The Andrea Dora exhibition on the second floor.

The New Jersey Maritime history is in full display here

For such a small museum, the museum is packed with all sorts of interesting information on the New Jersey Shore line.

The History of the NJ Maritime Museum:

On a 1983 episode of the television program “Prime Time”, Jim O’Brien did a segment on New Jersey Shipwreck Diving, interviewing Bob Yates and Deb Whitecraft. During that interview, Deb spoke of her quest for knowledge about different wrecks and New Jersey maritime disasters. She also stated that she had started collecting this information and other items pertaining to New Jersey Maritime History and that she hope to one day have a place to display her collection. On July, 3rd, 2007, Deb’s lifelong ambition came to fruition when the Museum of New Jersey Maritime History opened its doors.

In the years between the program and the museum opening, Deb actively pursued her quest, working with other New Jersey maritime historians and amassing a sizable collection of shipwreck files and artifacts. This collection comprised almost all of the museum’s material when it opened. In the years since it opened, the museum has grown at amazing rate, thanks to the donations and loans from the diving community and the public in general.

The second floor galleries.

Although the museum was built entirely with private funds, it is now a registered non-profit entity and deed restricted to remain so. It operates entirely on donations and is staffed by a small group of dedicated volunteers. The museum is open all year long, Friday through Sunday in the off-season and seven days a week during the summer.

(NJ Maritime Website History)

The NJ Maritime Museum Mission:

The Museum of New Jersey Maritime History Inc. is a museum and research facility organized exclusively for educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The corporation’s educational purposes include, among other things, providing a facility for the public display of historic maritime artifacts, books and documents. The display of such collections, preserved and exhibited under professional museum standards will encourage maritime research and promote the education of the public about New Jersey’s rich maritime history.

The museum is really interesting.

(NJ Maritime Museum pamphlet)

Hudson River Maritime Museum 50 Roundout Landing Kingston, NY 12401

Hudson River Maritime Museum 50 Roundout Landing Kingston, NY 12401

Hudson River Maritime Museum

50 Roundout Landing

Kingston, NY 12401

(845) 338-0583

http://www.hrmm.org/

Open: Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm/Monday-Thursday Closed/Saturday 11:00am-5:00pm

Fee: Adults $9.00/Seniors (over 62) & Children (18 & under) $6.00/Members-Children under 4 years/Active Military Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48003-d285787-Reviews-Hudson_River_Maritime_Museum-Kingston_Catskill_Region_New_York.html?m=19905

The Kingston Hudson River Maritime Museum 50 Roundout Landing

I recently visited the Hudson River Maritime Museum after a boat cruise around the Hudson River and I found this wonderful little under-rated museum to packed with information not just about the history of the Hudson River Valley but the rich history of boating and boat building, the economic impact of the area in mining, brick building, ice manufacturing and cement development.

The Tug Boat display

It was interesting to see how the natural wonders of the area have given the rise to so much development in not just building the area but its long lasting contribution to New York City. This was not just in industry but in the pleasure and shipping boat industries as well.

The Ferry display

One part of the museum is dedicated to transportation up and down the river with sailing and steamboats in the forefront especially how the luxury steamboat industry went full force until about 60 years ago. It was considered the nicest form of transportation to and from New York City. It was interesting how the modern train and car lead to the demise of something that today would be embraced as unique and fun. The pleasure steamboat industry continued on until 1971.

The leisure ferry industry down the Hudson River

Another part of the museum was dedicated to the history and development of the area from the Native American tribes living along the shore and the Dutch settlements to the rise of modern development of manufacturing along the shores to its after effects and clean up in the 1960’s and 70’s. These included fishing, ice manufacturing and brick making.

The Ice Industry on the Hudson River

There were really nice displays on the ship building, sail companies and maritime industries that supported them. The manufacture of raw materials and building supplies because of the natural resources of the Hudson River Valley show how rich in minerals, clay, cement and stone from the cliffs built New York City and how they nearly destroyed nature.

The Brick industry in the Hudson River Valley

The displays tell the stories of activists who saved the area, Robber Barons that exploited it and the everyday people who contributed to making the valley the interesting place that it is today. It showed how protests and free speech saved the Valley from devastating development.

The Alexander Hamilton Ferry ride down the Hudson River

With each room at the museum, there is a story to tell and pictures to explain why the Hudson River Valley and the Kingston Roundout is such an interesting place to see. Outside you can find an example of the Tug Boat industry

The Tug Boat “Mathilda” on the museum grounds

The tugboat display by the riverfront

Take time to guide through the rooms and read the signs and stories. There is a lot to see and do here and make sure to leave plenty of time to walk the grounds and see the tug boat and sailing displays and walk the river front. There is even a display of ships models to explore. It makes for an interesting afternoon.

The ‘Ship Models’ display

History of the Hudson River Maritime Museum

(This information was taken from the Museum’s website and pamphlet)

Hudson River Maritime Museum

The Hudson River Maritime is dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries and related industries.

Ship building was very important in the region

The Hudson River Maritime Museum was founded in 1980 to preserve the history and maritime heritage of the Hudson River. Our collections range from steamboats, tugboats and sailboats to the canal system and waterfront industries, dating back to the early 19th Century.

The ferry display

The museum has a library and archives open to researches by appointment. Some of our collections have been digitized and are available online at http://www.hrvh.org/hrmmkingston.

http://www.hrmm.org/

HRMM exhibits cover topics including:

Passenger steam boats, Hudson River rowing, ferries, ecology and conservation, ice boats, tugboats, fishing, ice harvesting, brick making, early exploration, cement production, lighthouses and more. HRMM features a new temporary exhibit every year. Information on exhibits, including online exhibits is available at hrmm.org.

The ‘Cabin Room’ display

Some of the attributes of the museum:

Wooden Boat School:

The Wooden Boat School was opened by the Hudson River Maritime Museum to preserve the rich boat building heritage of the Hudson River Valley. Wooden boat building occurred on Roundout Creek in particular throughout the 19th and 20th centuries including World War I & II and the Korean War.

The ‘Hudson River Weather’ display

Today, the Wooden Boat School offers adult classes, Youth boat program for teens and serves as the headquarters for the Sailing & Rowing School, Sea Scouts Ship 609 and the Kingston Sailing Club.

Kingston Home Port:

A timber framed carbon neutral structure, the Kingston Home Port and Education Center was completed in 2012 to serve as the winter home port and maintenance center for HHRM partner the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater during the winter season. During the summer months, the Home Port serves as an event, lecture and educational space for the museum.

The ‘Steamboat Captain’ display

The Kingston Home Port also functions as the main operational headquarters for the Roundout Rowing Club and the Kingston High School Crew Team.

The ‘Erie Canal’ display

The ‘Erie Canal’ display

The Hudson River Maritime Museum (HRMM) features a variety of programs and events throughout the year including:

*Lighthouse Tours

*Local History tours, including guided walking and car tours.

*Woodworking, maritime art and boat building classes at the Wooden Boat School

*Sailing, boating and rowing classes at the Sailing & Rowing School

*Follow the River Lecture Series

*School Field trips

*Museum Mates monthly family programs

*Free Public Festivals

*Visiting Vessels

*Special members only events-Join today!

The ‘Lighthouse’ display