It's been decades since people could travel between two Hudson Valley communities without a car. Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports that ferry service between Greene and Columbia counties resumes this summer…
Hudson Cruises owner Captain Guy Falkenheimer says the Hudson-Athens ferry is back on the river and full operations are expected to begin in June. The first ferry service between Hudson and Athens launched in 1778 - The last "official" ferry to sail the 11-mile one-way trip was in 1947.
Falkenheimer notes that the ferry - or taxi, as the locals call it - will run from Riverfront Park in Athens to Hudson and back every Friday and Saturday, through the end of August, and he says service may be extended into the fall.
Anne Cooper is the Administrator of Tourism for Columbia County. She invites tourists to take in a variety of summer events accessible from either side of the river, thanks to the ferry service.
The ferry, named “Little Spirit,” an 18-passenger, 33-foot twin engine vessel, has been in service taking visitors on tours around the 1873 The Hudson–Athens lighthouse, which is the most northern of the remaining Hudson River lighthouses.
