Rondout

Text from William Wade

Roundout, eighty-nine miles from New York, is a thriving town of fifteen hundred inhabitants, on the west side of the river, at the mouth of a large stream of the same name, where the United States government has erected a lighthouse. Two miles above Roundout, at Eddyville, is the terminus of the Delaware and Hudson canal, which is one hundred and eight miles in length, and connects by a railroad sixteen miles long, with the great anthracite region of Pennsylvania.

Benson Lossing speaks of Rondout in his The Hudson From Wilderness to the Sea

"Rondout (Redoubt) is at the mouth of Rondout Creek, is one of the busiest places on the river between Albany and New York. It was formerly called The Strand, then Kingston Landing, and finally Bolton, in honour of the then president of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. That canal which penetrates the coal region of Pennsylvania, has its eastern terminus at Eddyville, two and a half miles up the Rondout Creek; and the mouth of that stream is continually crowded with vessels engaged in carrying coals and other commodities. Immense piers have been erected in the middle of the stream for the reception and forwarding of coal. Here, and in the vicinity, are manufactories of cement, and also extensive quantities of flagstone-all of which, with the agricultural products of the adjacent country, giving freights to twenty steamboats and many sailing vessels. Lines of steamers run regularly from Rondout to Albany and New York, and intermediate places, and a steam ferry-boat connects the place with the Rhinebeck Station.

The population of Rondout was about 6,000 in 1860. The greater proportion of able-bodied men and boys were, in some way, connected with the coal business."

Arthur Adams in The Hudson River Guidebook tells us that Rondout became part of the city of Kingston in 1878 along with Ponckhockie and Wilbur.  Rondout was the home of the famous steam ship the Mary Powell. Today the banks of the Rondout Creek , called the Wallkill River in Wade's time, are being restored as part of the Kingston Urban Cultural Park.