Ground Breaking (Left to Right: Nick Reddick, Con Tech; ABM Trustees Lisa Weber and Trey Vars, Rob Reddick, Con Tech; Jim Schnauber, ABM B&G Committee; Rebecca Hopfinger, ABM Executive Director; Taylor Woolf and Rick Tague, BCA
CLAYTON, New York (November 18, 2024)—The Antique Boat Museum (ABM) is excited to announce the groundbreaking of a new facility dedicated to the care and maintenance of the Museum’s permanent boat and engine collections. The new building will enhance ABM’s capabilities to fulfill its mission to preserve and celebrate fresh-water recreational boats and boating.
Working with BCA Architects & Engineers and Con Tech Building Systems, the boat shop has been designed to provide dedicated spaces for professional repair and maintenance, ensuring that the museum’s permanent collection can be preserved and showcased at the highest standard. This vital project will enhance the museum’s preservation efforts and play a crucial role in the museum’s educational programming. “As a chartered institution through New York State’s Education Department, we are committed to providing exceptional learning opportunities for our community,” said Rebecca Hopfinger, the Antique Boat Museum Executive Director. “The Boatyard will allow us to expand our educational impact significantly, creating an environment that fosters hands-on learning through year-round classes, potential apprenticeships, and partnerships with higher educational institutions.”
Chairman of the Board Charles Crow stated, “The boat shop is the keystone to museum objectives in many dimensions. It enables the museum to provide educational opportunities in the varied disciplines associated with marine science, whether an individual’s interests are of a vocational or avocational nature. It is an asset to the museum as an institution, but also, to the community at large. It provides opportunities to witness and learn tradecraft while serving as another reason to visit and take advantage of all Clayton offers. Just as importantly, the activities in the boat shop will allow for the in-house care and preservation of the entire collection, including the in-water fleet. These in-water boats, whether rowed, sailed, or powered, provide a unique visitor experience into boating’s past. The items in the collection are as much pieces of art as they are the story of commerce, transportation, and pleasure on the water historically, all of which is better told and enhanced through the boat shop.”
The new facility will provide an interactive educational experience for novices and professionals alike, allowing for a dynamic new teaching and learning environment to help foster new interest in vintage boating for future generations. A special dedication of the new building is slated for September 2025 during the Antique & Classic Boat Society’s 50th Anniversary Meeting and Boat Show, which will be sited at the Antique Boat Museum’s waterfront.
