3103. Hudson River Maritime Museum. Hudson River Lighthouses. Arcadia. 2019. 128p. Soft wraps. With over 200 vintage photographs. The Hudson River, as beautiful as it is, has its dangers. To help river traffic navigate safely, there were once dozens of lighthouses up and down the length of the river. Set against the backdrop of purple mountains, lush hillsides, and tidal wetlands, the lighthouses of the Hudson River were built between 1826 and 1921 to improve navigational safety on a river teeming with freight and passenger traffic. But unlike the towering beacons of the seacoasts, these river lighthouses were architecturally diverse, ranging from short conical towers to elaborate Victorian houses. Operated by men and women who at times risked and lost their lives in service of safe navigation, these beacons have overseen more than a century of extraordinary technological and social change. Of the dozens of historic lighthouses and beacons that once dotted the Hudson River, just eight remain, including the iconic Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor’s great monument to freedom and immigration, which served as an official lighthouse between 1886 and 1902. These facts and more fill Images of America: Hudson River Lighthouses, one of the latest in the beautiful series of local lore. This compact volume features numerous early photographs, drawn from the author’s and other private collections, most never before published. Filled with rare and early views. (M). $21.99.