WHY A COVERED BARGE?
The covered barge embodies the history of centuries of river tradition from settlement of the valley to the lives of contemporary fishermen. The history that unfolds within its walls, upon its decks and along the shore, relates the story of the emergence of the Hudson as a global presence in the modern world. When Americas rivers were the natural highways of the new world, the Hudson River was the transportation backbone of New York. Once extended by the Erie Canal, the Hudson became the principal artery of an interstate transportation system that connected the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, the Port of New York and the markets of the world barge by barge by barge. At first, barges were individual cargo vessels pulled by mules or current. The marine steam engine made it possible to tow a train of barges up or downstream, on a reliable schedule. The marriage of barge and railroad was inevitable and the two powered the growth of the Empire state. On the Hudson and in New York Harbor the r
