Battery Park, New York City, Oct., 2012

Hello everyone, I am trying to decide just what I want to say about our tour of lower Manhattan Island, Battery Park and Ellis Island. I guess it is more of a problem of trying to find the photos that go with that occasion. Well after some searching I found  them so on with the show as they say on Broadway in New York City. Battery Park is on the tip of Manhattan Island in New York City. New York City is made up of five Boroughs ( which here in the mid west we would call counties. Manhattan Island is the big place you think of when you see pictures of New York City with all the tall sky scrapers, The United Nations, Times Square, etc. Then you have Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and Bronx. When we lived there  my office was in lower Manhattan several blocks up from Battery Park. We lived in Garden City, New York which is on Long Island, New York. The photo below shows why it is called Battery Park. In the red brick building you see the openings in the wall, well those were for cannons which could shoot out toward the harbor and protected the island from invading forces. This was one of several forts that guarded the harbor.The  harbor is out toward the bottom of this photograph and the Atlantic Ocean directly joins the harbor. The Hudson River is to the left of this photograph..

Battery Park, Lower Manhattan, New York City

 

Battery Park is where the history of New York City began. The areas strategic location was recognized by Native Americans and Dutch settlers, who called it Capske Hook ( from Kapsee, an Indian term for rocky ledge ). Near this point, the colonists of the Dutch West India Company began the settlement of New Amsterdam in 1625. With that start the rest as they say is history. Over many years the area was enlarged many times by massive landfill projects. Part of one of these landfills was an old fort which was completely demolished and a new one built. Over the years this fort served many functions and was renamed Castle Gardens. The fort ( building ) was used as the federal immigration center for the east coast from 1855 to 1890 and roughly eight million immigrants were processed through it. In 1890 Castle Clinton was acquired by the New York City Department of Public Parks and from 1896 to 1941 the New York Aquarium operated there. Castle Clinton was ceded to the United States Department of Interior in 1950 and designated a national monument. Battery Park contains many monuments honoring soldiers, explorers, inventors and immigrants and important personalities. One of these was a singer known as the " Swedish Nightingale " Jenny Lind. In honor of her an American Linden tree was planted in the park. I have heard of Jenny Lind cakes, hats, opera glasses an other things and never knew how they got that name. Now I know. They were named after her because she caused such a stir when she performed at Castle Gardens in an event that was billed as the musical event of the century. She toured the United States during the 1850s.

 

A few of these monuments are shown:

 



 Statue to Immigrants. The Sculpture Depicts Figures Of

Various Ethnic Groups And Eras, Including Eastern European

Jews, A Freed African Slave, A Priest An A Worker.

 



 

Monument To Immigrants Who Entered

The United  States Through Castle Clinton

 

 

 

View Of New Tower From Battery Park



 

 

Plaque About " The Sphere " Which Is Pictured Next

 

 

" The Sphere "

 

 

Some History Of Castle Clinton

 

 

Now time for some somber reflection. Just a few weeks after we were standing in Battery Park and enjoying the beautiful park scenery and reading about this historic place along comes hurricane Sandy with its massive surge of water and changed every thing. Many of the places where we were standing were under 10- 12 feet of water and to this day many businesses in the area are not open and have no idea when they will be able to open. The buildings in the park and the waterfront suffered extensive damage. What you see on TV gives the appearance that everything is back to normal. That is true in some areas such as trains and subways running, bridges and tunnels open but many other places are still filled with stagnant and polluted water, trash, cars and everything imaginable with no timetable when they will be restored and cleaned up. It takes a disaster like this to make us realize that with all our knowledge and advances we are helpless when it comes to the power of nature.

 

Next posting some information about Ellis Island and then some updates on prior blogs.

 

Take a few moments to pray for those still struggling from the damage of Sandy and pray for all the relief workers who are working so hard to help those people.

 

Love you all. Grandpa Bill.