WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

Tied up at Pier 25 in Tribeca, the black-hulled LILAC is the last surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender in America, and the oldest of only three remaining American lighthouse tenders. Built in 1933 by Pusey & Jones Shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware, LILAC plied the coasts of Delaware Bay and the lower Delaware River bringing supplies to the lighthouse keepers—from food to kerosene for the lamps—until 1972. After a stint at the Seafarers International Union School in Piney Point, Maryland, LILAC sat on Virginia’s James River from 1985 to 2003 before being brought to New York by the Tug Pegasus Preservation Project. In 2004 she was transferred to the Lilac Preservation Project which runs her today as a museum ship and cultural center.

Mary Habstritt, the Museum Director and President of the Lilac Preservation Project, shared the story of LILAC and her experiences preserving a historic ship along Manhattan’s Hudson River waterfront. Long active in historic preservation, Mary is also the founder of the Historic Ships Coalition, which advocates for New York City’s fleet of historic vessels, and previously served as president of the North River Historic Ship Society and as president of the Society for Industrial Archaeology.