March 29

For those of you who live in the NYC area, or are at least familiar with it, you can guess what I drove into this morning on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge; a traffic jam. Sometimes I just want to be driving through cornfield country in Illinois. I figured this would be a bad omen for the day. But, there were parking spots at General Grant NMem and Hamilton Grange NMem. Every time I have driven by these two sites, the locals are bumper to bumper. So, no parking garage today.

General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant is buried with his wife, Julia, in the largest mausoleum in the country. Grant died on July 23, 1885, from throat cancer. He, as well as many important men of his day, smoked heavily. Yes, he was important, but he was not wealthy when he died. His family did not know what they were going to do for his burial, nor how to provide for themselves after his death. Thankfully, he had just completed his autobiography, and the proceeds from the publisher allowed Julia to live comfortably. The citizens of the country took care of the after-life. Over 90,000 people raised $600,000 for a tomb. It was completed in 1897, and Grant was reinterred. The location of the mausoleum is in Riverside Park, overlooking the Hudson River, a quiet neighborhood. The hustle and bustle of NYC life is not evident until a couple blocks to the east.

Alexander Hamilton built his home at the corner of St. Nicholas Ave and W 141 St. Granted, the area looked a lot different back then compared to today. People with money were moving “up river” to get away from the docks and port scum in lower Manhattan. The structure was completed in 1802. Hamilton did not enjoy the home for as long as he thought he would. The famous 1804 duel with Aaron Burr ended Hamilton’s life. The house sits on three acres, with plenty of flowers. Hamilton loved plants and flowers. His collection included exotic species, obtained from a friend of his who owned a botanic garden. The NPS has tried to incorporate as many of those species in the floral arrangements seen on the grounds.

St. Paul’s Church was a focal point for life in the Eastchester area for over three centuries, having been founded in 1665. The area’s Village Green was outside its front door, where folks voted. The building was used as a hospital by the British in the Revolutionary War. Four U.S. Presidents have visited and/or worshipped with the congregation. John Adams and his wife had to leave Philadelphia in 1797 to escape the scourge of yellow fever. Their daughter Abigail lived close to the church. F.D.R. gave a keynote address at the church, where one of his early American ancestors was a member of the congregation.

One time George Washington rode by the church to scout the surrounding area. The church stood on the Boston-Post Road, the most important road in the region since it connected New York City with Boston. Both the Patriots and the British prized control of this vital link. During that war, Hessian soldiers were forced into battle by their British commanders at Pell’s Point, about one mile from the church, in October-1776. Wounded and sick soldiers were cared for in the church after the engagement. At least six Hessians died of sickness. A marker is located in the church’s cemetery to identify their remains. It had been a sand pit.

Inside the church one can see the box pews which many families owned. Yes, “owned”. A man could place this asset in his will, to be handed down from generation to generation. Only men’s names are on the doors to each box. And those families who wished to “donate” the most money to the church were allowed to claim the pews closest to the pulpit. The pipes of a large organ sit in the balcony. This organ is one of the oldest in our country.

Sagamore Hill is where Theodore Roosevelt called home for many years. He chose the word “Sagamore” because it is the Algonquin term for chieftain. And was Roosevelt ever a great leader of men. The building also became known as the Summer White House, from 1902 to 1908 when Roosevelt, his wife Edith, and children would return to Oyster Bay for the warmer months. It was here, in 1919, when Roosevelt died in his sleep. The famous phrase from his son was, “The old lion is dead.” Edith stayed in the home until her death in 1948. The Theodore Roosevelt Association bought the house, grounds, and personal belongs which were in the home, in 1950… then donated the lot to the NPS in 1960. This explains why most of the material one sees on the home tour is original to the family.

Fire Island National Seashore has plenty of sand. Yes, the state of New York has sandy beaches. Those folks in Florida and California have competition. The beaches looked great today. And are they ever wide, before being stopped by high dunes. I have a feeling this place gets packed in July and August. The main road access is at the southern end of the park, by Robert Moses State Beach. One has to park in one of the state “fields” (costs $8 once April 1 comes), then walk to enter the NPS unit. The fun part about this walk is that in a mile or so you get to tour the famous Fire Island Lighthouse. Today, the tower was closed due to some recent weather damage, but the two floors of the lighthouse keeper’s building were open, as was the boathouse museum next door. The museum has the original 1858 first-order Fresnel lens on display. This thing is a work of art (see Trip Report section).

The NPS also owns a mansion at the north end of the park, the William Floyd Estate. But it is only open in the summer, so I stayed at the southern entrance. Volunteer Michael gave me a tour of the lighthouse keeper’s house and explained a few of the artifacts. One was the gun used to fire ropes to any ship that had become stranded by the shore, and which Life Rescue boats could not reach due to serious wave action. The ship’s crew would tie the ropes around the masts, then each man would fit into a safety harness and attach the mechanism to the rope. Another rope would pull the man to shore. The harness looks just like the devices one sees on television during helicopter rescues. A more exciting event occurred in the last two weeks. Michael detailed how the SS Savannah had been lost at sea in 1821. Efforts over the past 50 years to find the wreckage were unsuccessful. But where Man fails, Mother Nature might just succeed. Just three weeks ago after the latest big winter storm pounded Long Island, bits and pieces of the ship have surfaced… they started getting stranded on the beach. A large section is currently sitting outside the lighthouse (actions are underway to get it secured and inside). Smaller pieces are being stored in the keeper’s house. CBS News, USA Today, and other major media outlets covered this discovery back in February. One way to look at this is the NPS unexpectedly discovered a gold mine.