Lecture: Life on the Erie Canal as a Tugboat Cook

03/26/2025 07:00 PM - 08:30 PM ET

Description

Life on the Erie Canal as a Tugboat Cook


Date: Wednesday, March 26th, 2025

 

In-Person Event
$10/person | HRMM Members $5/person

 

Program Topic:

In 1976 & 1977, Bettina Mueller made three trips on a tugboat from New York Harbor to Buffalo on the Erie Canal. Each trip took about three weeks to travel over 400 miles. It was a working boat with five crew members and I was the cook. From a chance meeting with the Captain, a girl friend of mine and I joined the boat for what would become one of the great adventures of our lives.

Bettina documented the trips in a new book called Photographique – A Journal.

Erie Canal What was it like to go through the 57 locks and pass under 15 lift bridges that span the 363 miles of the Canal? We sailed through small New York towns and sometimes went for miles without seeing a single person. Bettina cooked delicious vegetarian food for the crew but on occasion we would tie up dockside so they could go “up the street” for a good hamburger. In this lecture Bettina will show photographs of the Philip T. Feeney and the Canal and describe some of our adventures.

 

Presenter:

Bettina’s been a cook on a working tugboat, a news photographer, owner of a pioneering vegetarian restaurant and executive of a cutting edge Internet company. In addition to her interest in food and media, she’s been a lifelong student of Zen, the Japanese Tea Ceremony, and the natural world.

 

 

This program is being presented in-person at the Hudson River Maritime Museum's Wooden Boat School. The Wooden Boat School is located at 86 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY 12401.

Members can receive their registration discount by logging in. Please note that you must be a current member the date of the event to receive your discount.