April 1
Due to the late hour, I will not post comments about today’s activities until tomorrow, Sunday (though there are photos in the Daily Trip Report section). Plenty to talk about, including the wonderful mother and four kids at Morristown NHP, Beverly the Morristown volunteer, Edison’s garage and lab complex, and how to get around NYC on the subway.
April 3 has treated me better relative to timing, so time to type about April 1. Teedie Roosevelt was born and raised in mid-Manhattan. Yes, his family called him Teedie. That was new to me, as was learning about his childhood asthma. The movie in the VC discusses in great detail the trials he faced as a youngster trying to fight this health issue. His father would make him smoke cigars to try and improve the situation. Nothing worked. There are three floors to the home, so the family seemed to have plenty of room to live. But these Brownstone houses were narrow. So, even though the depth was probably 90 feet, the width was much less. The guided tour (recommend you obtain reservations via www.recreation.gov) started on the first floor. The formal parlor was colored in blue. This room was only used on Sundays or special occasions, thereby depriving the kids of one part of the house every day. The dining room had a dumb-waiter, to allow food to be sent upwards from the kitchen.
The #4, #5, and #6 Green subway lines run along Park Ave, and can get you within a few blocks of 20th Street. Be sure you get the Local train, not the Express, since you will then miss those stops. Check the NYC Subway map.
Folks are taught that Valley Forge was the ultimate winter sacrifice by the Continental Army. But that would be incorrect. The encampment for the winter of 1779-1780 at Morristown and Jockey Hollow was worse. 96” of snow came down. Temperatures were frigid. Washington was able to stay at the Ford Mansion, in town, but his men literally froze to death down at Jocky Hollow. Thankfully, lessons learned from Valley Forge were put to use, such as placing the log huts on downward slopes, so sanitation drainage was better. Beverly was our guide for the Ford Mansion tour (free tickets at the VC). She had a wealth of knowledge about the house, Washington, and the encampment. One of my favorite comments was when she explained why the front and back doors of the mansion were split in two; a top half and a bottom half. The family could open the top halves to generate a breeze through the house while keeping the farm animals out. I think she said the house was the center of a 600-acre farm, complete with livestock. The house is quite large, enough to keep Washington, his entourage (and Martha and her folks when she arrived), and many others under roof.
While I was waiting for the tour to begin in the VC, I watched a couple of young boys take the Junior Ranger Oath, while their mother and toddler brother looked on. They indicated this was not their first JR badge. I applauded and wished them the best on visits to other parks. After the house tour, I went down to Jocky Hollow, and guess who I ran into at the log hut displays; the same family. The family was taking the same auto-tour route I was on (it goes by all the important sites). The boys said they would not have liked to have been in those huts during a cold winter. I concur. But, that should make all of us more deeply appreciate the suffering those soldiers went through in order to keep the war moving foward. Without their sacrifices, the Continental Army might not have won in 1783. Those huts were made from hundreds of acres of forest wood. The Wick family home still stands today, but all the trees for as far as the eye could see back in 1779 were quickly gone. My impression is that Jocky Hollow today is used mainly as a hiking park. There were more local hikers than there were out-of-state visitors. But that is still great. Our parks should be used for enjoyment.