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COHOES — A proposal to turn a historic shipyard into a waterfront attraction drew a crowd inside Peebles Island State Park’s Visitor Center Thursday to begin discussing what would be appropriate for the site.
The 6-acre, state-owned property is the site of the former Matton Shipyard, which was open from 1916 to 1983. It is located in the Peebles Island State Park at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.
Buildings on the property have been damaged by flooding and only three are salvageable, attendees were told. Those include the small former watchman’s building at the front of the site, the carpenters’ shop and a building that had stores on the first floor and offices above.
Any use of the property will have to take into account that the land is subject to flooding, said William Price, vice president of Fisher Associates, the firm hired by the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to examine uses for the site.
“The floods are fairly significant,” Price said. “They have taken their toll on the buildings.”
Ideas discussed include walking trails, a place to launch kayaks, or a boat-building operation.
Price said he hopes neighboring communities work to attract restaurants, hotels and other complimentary businesses.
Five decades of paperwork from the business has been preserved, he said.
“It is an amazing collection,” he said. “We know virtually every detail of every boat that was built.”
After gathering input, the consultant plans to develop a list of ideas and cost estimates to be presented to the public in late April or May.
“There isn’t going to be a grand Disney plan we drop on this,” Price said. “It’s going to be incremental, and it’s going to be long.”
No conceptual plans for Matton shipyard are being introduced by @ErieCanalway tonight. That will happen in late April or May. pic.twitter.com/D3BiVn7at5
Otto Madsen of Cohoes and Richard R. Davis Jr. of Malta both worked in the shipyard before it closed.
First owned by John Matton, who opened the shipyard in 1916, the business remained in the family until 1966. Bart Turecamo purchased it but continued to operate it under the Matton name.
Davis worked there from Sept. 11, 1979 until it closed in 1983. He started as a diesel mechanic and became a machinist.
When he was hired, he said, “I thought it was always going to be there.”
Madsen was employed from 1981 to 1983 first as a laborer, then as a welder/fitter.
Both want to see it become an attraction.
“I’d love to see Cohoes and the state have a marina,” Madsen said. “I’d like to see it as a functional place where people can walk around.”
“I’d like to see some kind of historical museum related to the ship-building process that was done here,” Davis said.
Cindy Rakowski, a Cohoes resident, said it would make sense not to add permanent structures but to use the site for flooding-resistant purposes like bike paths.
“It would be nice, living in this community, to have a place to launch a kayak,” she said.
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