Defending New York Harbor: The City’s Waterfront Forts is an exhibit of photographs by Richard W. Golden which documents the fortifications that protectively ring New York Harbor. It is on view at the historic Cutter Lilac through July 31st during regular hours.  An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 16 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public. Cash bar. Those under 21 must be accompanied by an adult guardian. Lilac is open to the public, free of charge from 4:00 to 7:00 PM on Thursdays and 2:00 to 7:00 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. Lilac is berthed at Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 in Manhattan at West Street and N. Moore Street.

Lilac is a 1933 lighthouse tender that once carried supplies to lighthouses and maintained buoys for the U.S. Lighthouse Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. Decommissioned in 1972, USCGC Lilac is America’s only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is eligible to become a National Historic Landmark.