Don and Ann Eberle’s love of boats has taken them around the world. The New Scotland couple, celebrating 51 years of marriage in June, have cruised their way around the globe, and in doing so, they have visited some 42 countries.

This spring, they will board a ship in Rome that will cruise to New York City, with stops in Croatia, Greece, Morocco, and Spain.

They are sharing their passion for the American Steamboat by lending their support and some of their collection for a special exhibit at the Albany Institute of History and Art.

This exhibit will be composed entirely of institute pieces, with the exception of three models loaned by the Eberles, said Ruth Greene-McNally, research curator for the project.
"The objects belong to the public," she said. "We facilitate interpretive access, so the public can enjoy their own heritage."
Mr. Eberle’s admiration of boats – steamboats in particular – was well known around the office where he worked as a financial advisor. "Everybody in the office got exposed to this steamboat stuff," Mr. Eberle told The Enterprise with a friendly smile.

Mr. Eberle retired from Capital Financial Planning in October. Todd Slingerland, the principal managing partner with the company, wanted to honor Eberle’s 35 years in the field.

Slingerland established two grant funds, honoring Eberle, and his wife, Ann. One grant will support the New Scotland Historical Society, and the other will partially underwrite the steamboat exhibit at the institute.
"It’s a fitting tribute to the Eberles," Slingerland said. The gain to the company, he said, "is in honoring a very important part of our firm."

The steamboat exhibit will open on March 24 and run through the end of the year. An opening reception will be held on Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m.
"It’s hard to know Don and not know that he loves steamships and cruising," Slingerland said of his former colleague. "I certainly didn’t have an appreciation for steamboats until I met the Eberles."

The exhibit – Full Steam Ahead: Robert Fulton and the Age of Steamboats – will correspond with the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton’s maiden voyage in 1807 from New York City to Albany, said Greene-McNally.
"Don is an expert on the history of steamboats," she said of Mr. Eberle.
The institute will borrow two steamboat models from the Eberles’ "marvelous collection" for the exhibit – the Robert Fulton and the Washington Irving, as well as a toy model of the Syracuse, Greene-McNally told The Enterprise. "I would be borrowing more if we had more gallery space."

Fondness for boats
"We’ve both had an interest in boats most of our lives," said Mrs. Eberle.

The Eberles’ 200-year-old New Scotland farmhouse is home not only to them, but to an impressive collection of souvenirs from their travels; a variety of model steamboats; and historic paintings. A mural illustrates Hudson River Day Line steamboats carrying passengers and cattle, or being pushed by tugboats, while a waterfall cascades from the second floor to the downstairs hallway.

Mr. Eberle’s interest in boats began when he was about five or six years old, he said. That was when he began riding on the Hudson River Day Liners.

From 1863 to 1948, the boats, powered by steam, carried passengers from Albany to New York City.

A boat left Albany at 9:20 a.m. and would arrive in New York at 6:15 p.m., he said. He would often get off at Hudson, he remembered. The boat docked there at 1 p.m. and the northbound boat to Albany arrived at 2:30 p.m., he said.
In Hudson, "Young kids would dive into the river for coins," Mr. Eberle said. "If they had a good day, they may have made eight cents."

By the time that Mr. Eberle was 9 or 10, he was able to ride the Day Liner by himself, he proudly recalled.
"I was enamoured with watching the engines go," he said, explaining that the engine room was open to the public.
He also enjoyed watching the bow "slicing through the water," and, he would "watch the world go by" from the stern of the boat, he said.

The second deck of the Day Liners generally had green carpeting, with wicker furniture situated throughout and palm plants in the center, he said. The trim work was done in gold leaf, he added.

In the forward part of the boat was a bandstand that was sunk into the floor about 12 inches, Mr. Eberle recalled vividly. The music could be heard from the main floor, and the second and third decks, he said.

An opening on the third deck allowed passengers to look down on the musicians while listening to the music, he said.
On Sundays, when the boat was teeming with Sunday-school kids, the children would stand on the third deck and throw pennies down and hit the drum, Mr. Eberle said. "The drummer would say, ‘Boys, save them for Sunday school.’"

Family ties

The connection that Mrs. Eberle has with boats dates back to her great-great-grandfather, Jeremiah J. Austin.

Austin owned a group of towboats. He towed barges that came through the Erie Canal, she said.

One of the boats that Austin built, the Syracuse, is the subject of a large painting by James Bard. Bard and his brother, John – the Bard Brothers – painted many portraits of large boats, each one painted from right to left, so that the name of the boat would read from left to right. The painting hangs on the wall of the Eberles’ living room.

They acquired it from Mrs. Eberle’s grandfather in 1969. It was then that the couple realized their common interest in boats.
Mrs. Eberle wonders if her respect and fondness for boats could be a trait she inherited from Austin.

Her grandfather, Hoyt Austin, was also a boatman, she said. He managed the Horicon Showboat, an entertainment boat that ran on Lake George during the Depression, she said.
The Eberles now share their mutual enthusiasm for boats by taking cruises to various parts of the world. "It’s like being in a magic box, because every day when you wake up, you’re in a different place," Mrs. Eberle said of traveling on a boat around the world.

The couple also enjoy spending time on Lake George, where they keep their 1958 wooden Lyman boat. Their two sons both have boats, and all their grandchildren are growing up boating, said Mrs. Eberle.
She and her husband are active members in the Hudson Valley chapter of the Steamship Historical Society of America. Mr. Eberle – "the longest standing president in the history of the society" – has served 18 years on the board, and six years as national president of the society, said his wife.
"We’ve accumulated so much information because of our involvement in the society," said Mr. Eberle.

Full Steam Ahead
"Robert Fulton was a brilliant entrepreneur," Greene-McNally told The Enterprise. He was able to put the first steamboat into regular service, and, "It changed the way we live," she said.

The steamboat era was spurred by a need for better transportation and intertwined with developments and advancements to steam engines, Greene-McNally said. President George Washington urged inventors and men of science to develop an engine that ran off steam, she said.
At that time, she said, "Roads were scarcely more than trails."
"It created a lifestyle that lasted 150 years, and there’s no trace of it now," she said.
Greene-McNally admitted that, when she first began work on the project about six months ago, she "knew nothing about steamboats, and just basic information on Fulton."

But that is how her job works, she said, and part of what is exciting about it.
She enjoys "putting all the pieces together to put the story together that’s been sitting there all along," she said. "Just to see the objects, it’s a treat, and a real honor," she added.
The research for this project, "is really involved," but is connected with a project that will celebrate the 400th anniversary of navigation on the Hudson River in 2009, Greene-McNally said.
Greene-McNally says she expects that the exhibit will have "tremendous public appeal."
"One reason this exhibition is so important – it’s putting that era in a place where we can examine it," she said.
Slingerland said that he wanted to sponsor "something worthwhile" and to open people’s eyes about local history.
"It’s a double-edged sword," he said. The exhibit is an apt way of honoring the Eberles, but will also "be able to bring some attention to this important part of our history."
The Hudson River has been known as the Rhine of America, Mr. Eberle said. "I agree that it is just beautiful."
"Albany was a big hub of commerce," Mrs. Eberle said. "I think its great that people will be learning about this era of steamboats."