In September 2014, we reported on the S.S. Columbia Project, an initiative to bring America’s oldest surviving passenger steamship to New York. While it served its previous life in Detroit as one of the Boblo Boats, it will get new life reinvigorating the Hudson Valley‘s connection with its river and will serve as a floating mobile museum and cultural space along the Hudson River. Over the last year, the S.S. Columbia moved from Detroit to Toledo, where it wintered and had its hull repaired with 3,791 square feet of new steel welded below the waterline. On September 2nd, 2015 it arrived in New York State and will be docked at Silo City on the Buffalo River for the upcoming winter, before more rehabilitation is done to the boat next year.
A new video shares beautiful footage inside the S.S. Columbia and tells an oral history of the ship’s role in Detroit’s cultural memory.
Below are some additional photograph so the ship on its arrival to Buffallo. You can also explore the boat in 3D here.
S.S. Columbia. Photo by Aaron Asis
S.S. Columbia. Photo by Aaron Asis
S.S. Columbia. Photo by Aaron Asis.
S.S. Columbia. Photo by Aaron Asis.
Read more about the S.S. Columbia on Untapped New York and support the project here.
Next, discover the history of Hudson River Steamboats and Floating Palaces and read about 6 famous shipwrecks in New York City.
