“Beaming Reflections: A Tribute to 150 Years of Light”, held at Hudson Hall, brought out residents from the Twin Counties to celebrate the history of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse and learn more about the efforts to save it. The lighthouse brings people together, Kristin Gamble, president of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society said during the event. “Everybody pulls together in their love of the lighthouse, and in this part of the valley, it’s really a sense of our identity,” she said.
“As we look at that lighthouse sitting there in the middle of the river, it’s ours, we feel personal about it.” Kristin Gamble, president of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, speaking during the event on Friday. The lighthouse has acted as a protector for over a century, Van Calhoun, chairman of the preservation society’s Restoration Committee, said during the event on Friday.
“It was a beacon of light, in a physical sense and metaphorical sense because it shone in our communities across the river and up and down, and it brought us together,” he said. “But, after protecting us from danger for all that time, the lighthouse was now in danger itself.” The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, built in 1874, was added to the National Trust for Historic Preservations list of most endangered historic places in the country in May.
Over the course of its construction, from 1872 through 1874, engineers drove 200 wooden pilings 50 feet into the bed of the Hudson River, packed them with mud, and secured it with large rocks to protect against erosion. The lighthouse has suffered from 150 years of erosion from water currents, weather, and large vessels passing the structure. The river's currents have removed some of the larger boulders and mud infill that were protecting the wood pilings, some of which are already damaged from air exposure.
Seven feet of the lighthouse's pilings have been exposed due to erosion, Calhoun said. “That’s the beginning of the end for us because those pilings would have sat in that river mud forever,” he said. “New York City’s got hundreds of these old pilings out there, as long as oxygen doesn’t get to those pilings, if the oxygen can get to them then they begin to deteriorate, so we’ve got a real situation going on here.
” Van Calhoun, the chair of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society's Restoration Committee, speaking during the event Friday. If left in its current condition, the lighthouse could begin to tilt and fall into the river within three years. An estimated $7.
5 million in funding is needed to stabilize the pilings and address the other preservation needs in the lighthouse, such as façade cracks and rusted railings. The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society has received some funding over the last three years, including a $500,000 state grant in 2020, and another $500,000 Regional Economic Development Council grant at the end of 2023. The Preservation Society has a plan in place to keep the lighthouse standing, which includes repairing gaps in the lighthouse’s windows, and installing a metal barrier around the base of lighthouse to protect it from further damage.
An expansion of the lighthouse's existing footprint to 100 feet in diameter is also being proposed, which would provide space for picnics and gatherings at the lighthouse. “Our plan has to be bold, and it is bold," Calhoun said. "We’ve given license for it to be bold because this Board of Directors decided four years ago, even though they didn’t have any money, that they could do a short-term fix by putting some boulders up against the lighthouse, building a little wall, a longer-term fix, or fix this thing for generations to come.
This Board of Directors decided that. That was a really brave move to make and they made it.” State Assembly member Didi Barrett, D-106, and state Sen.
Michelle Hinchey, D-41, also attended Friday's celebration to present a copy of the Senate and Assembly resolutions commemorating the lighthouse's 150th anniversary. Members of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society with state Sen. Michelle Hinchey,D-41, and state Assemblymember Didi Barrett, D-106.
Hinchey and Barrett presented the organization with resolutions commemorating the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse. The work the Preservation Society does with the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse tells a part of history that is not shared often, Barrett said. “This is really a New York story that doesn’t get told very often," Barrett said.
"Maritime history, the Hudson Valley’s history, individual lives that were out there helping the boat find their way up and down our historic and glorious Hudson River. I’m thrilled to be part of this effort.” The lighthouse is a connector of communities, Hinchey said.
“The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse brings together Columbia County and Greene County in a way that not much else does, and that’s a really beautiful thing,” she said. Attendees of the event were also given the opportunity to watch a short section of the documentary “Seven Sentinels: Lighthouses of the Hudson River,” which features the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. Kay Lasher, a longtime volunteer with the preservation society was also honored during the celebration on Friday.
Lasher died in June at the age of 98, and volunteered with the preservation society as its treasurer for over 30 years. Lasher’s legacy is the positive impact she had on the lighthouse and the Preservation Society, Louise Bliss, a volunteer with the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society said. “Kay (Lasher) volunteered freely, giving her time and expertise for many years, 30-plus years,” she said.
“I was happy to be able to work with her for a considerable amount of that time, and she was always reliable, she was always pleasant, she was always serious and she was right on task, whatever it was,” she said. Lasher was a sentinel in her own right, Bliss said. “A sentinel is a soldier, it’s a guardian who watches, and I think that Kay (Lasher) is our sentinel at the lighthouse,” she said.
“When we hear the bell, when we see the light, we know now and into the future that Kay (Lasher) is on guard as a sentinel, watching for the lighthouse and its preservation.” Bliss also urged attendees to volunteer with the organization to keep Lasher’s legacy going into the future. The preservation was a significant part of Lasher’s life, Perry Lasher, Kay Lasher’s son said during Friday's event.
Perry Lasher, and other members of the Lasher family, were given a commemorative plate in honor of Kay Lasher’s time volunteering with the organization. From left, Wayne Lasher, Susan Lasher and Perry Lasher with a commemorative plate given to them in honor of Kay Lasher, a longtime volunteer of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society who died in June. “I honestly don’t remember a time when mom (Kay Lasher) wasn’t active in the lighthouse,” he said.
“It just seemed like that was a significant part of her life.” The lighthouse is a personal thing, said Marc Vota, a Claverack resident, following Friday's event. Vota was attending the event with his partner, Linda Seda, an Athens resident.
“It has united us, even though we’re on opposite sides of the river,” he said. “But it’s beautiful and it really does need to be saved.” Seda knew Kay Lasher personally from the time her mother roomed with Lasher in a nursing home.
“She was the sweetest, kindest person,” she said. “Honoring her and knowing that she gave so much to the lighthouse all these years, I had no idea. I wish I could have gone back, she’s since passed, and said to her ‘go Kay!’” Anything helps with trying to save the lighthouse, Vota said.
“Whether you’re just a driver of a pontoon boat, or you give millions, we’re all equal, we all need to save this lighthouse,” he said. A model of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse on display in Hudson Hall on Friday..
