Friends of Historic Kingston is a volunteer membership organization founded in 1965 to support the preservation of the Kingston community’s historic and architecturally significant places. The group fulfills this mission through guided walking tours, educational programming, preservation advocacy, and annual exhibits.
Friends of Historic Kingston Gallery is located facing Wall Street beside the historic Fred J. Johnston House, an 1812 Federal-style mansion bequeathed to the organization in 1993. Additionally, they maintain the recently restored Louw-Bogardus Ruin at Frog Alley and the adjoining public park.
The group’s decades of advocacy include purchasing and reselling several threatened buildings including 95 John Street (the Luke Kiersted House) and 292 Clinton Avenue (the Amelia Westbrook House).
Their members were instrumental in saving Kingston City Hall and sponsoring the city’s historic districts: Clinton Avenue Historic District (1969), Kingston Stockade Historic District (1974), Rondout-West Strand Historic District (1978), and Chestnut Street Historic District (1984).
Friends of Historic Kingston’s assistant director Dean Engle will present a talk about the organization’s history and the legacy of Kingston’s preservation activists, in-person at the Hudson River Maritime Museum’s Wooden Boat School. The Wooden Boat School is located at 86 Rondout Landing in Kingston.
“Still Standing: The Friends of Historic Kingston and the Local Preservation Movement” will take place on Wednesday, May 21st, 2025, from 7 pm until 8:30 pm. The cost is $10 per person; Hudson River Maritime Museum members pay only $5 per person.
Read more about historic preservation in New York.
Photo: Kingston historic preservation activists rally to save City Hall, 1975 (Friends of Historic Kingston Archives).
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