Volunteers at the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse say the building’s dock and stairs are destroyed after a tugboat crashed into the site early Wednesday morning. Van Calhoun, Restorations Committee Chair for the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, says the “Erin Elizabeth” was heading south when it ran aground with an outgoing tide near the lighthouse at 2 a.m.
“He was pushing seven barges, and he did a maneuver to go back and forth and try to get out of the mud — he was outside of the shipping channel," Calhoun explains. "And as he did, he got closer and closer to the lighthouse, and he unfortunately made contact with the lighthouse…They called us up yesterday, [they] were very apologetic, and offered emergency assistance in any way they can, which we thought was most generous.”
The U.S. Coast Guard estimates the damages to the lighthouse to be $50,000, but it is deferring to local law enforcement for an investigation. Green County Sheriff Peter Kusminsky says his office has located the tugboat, but he declined to identify the operator, citing an investigation.
“There are potential violations of the New York state navigation law and the New York state parks and recreation law regarding, basically, accidents on the water," says Kusminsky.
The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, which dates back to the 19th Century, is already at risk of collapsing into the Hudson River within the next few years. A 2022 study identified extensive wear and tear at its base, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation included it on its list of “11 Most Endangered Historic Places” in the U.S. The Army Corps of Engineers recently committed to shoring up the site.
Calhoun says it’s too soon to tell if there is any damage to the base, or whether the restoration project will be delayed. The Army Corps is still in the design phase of its project, with construction slated for early next year.
What will likely be delayed, he says, are ongoing efforts to replace the building’s roof. Without a dock and the new set of stairs the preservation society just installed last week, Calhoun says there’s no way for the crews to get there.
“The old roof has all been removed, and Monday we’re starting the soldering of the new copper and the installation of the new slates," he notes. "So, we’re on a tight schedule. We’ve got to get that done by September."
Calhoun says the lighthouse was lit at the time of the crash. Since 1874, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse has been helping ships navigate around the Middle Ground Flats, a sandbar in the middle of the Hudson River. Calhoun can’t remember the last time there was a crash at the lighthouse (if there was, he says it was before his time), but he says it’s proof it needs a fortified sea wall, especially as shipping traffic in the Hudson gets bigger and busier.
In the preservation society’s own plans for the base restoration — which it sent to the Army Corps of Engineers — it calls for a steel wall to surround the dozens of wooden pilings underneath the granite base.
“We joked a year ago — one should never joke about disasters — but we joked about the fact that, when the Frances Scott Key Bridge [was struck] in Maryland, how bad would it be if a boat was to strike our lighthouse," he says. "Well, lo and behold a year later, it’s a reality.”
The lighthouse is already closed for on-site tours this season while it undergoes restoration.
