Archive for the ‘Hudson River’ Category
George Washington Bridge
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Way outside of the Newtown Pentacle, straddling the Hudson River, is found an artifice called the George Washington Bridge.
from wikipedia
Groundbreaking for the new bridge began in October 1927, a project of the Port of New York Authority. Its chief engineer was Othmar Ammann, with Cass Gilbert as architect. The bridge was dedicated on October 24, 1931, and opened to traffic the following day. Initially named the “Hudson River Bridge,” the bridge is named in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States. The Bridge is near the sites of Fort Washington (on the New York side) and Fort Lee (in New Jersey), which were fortified positions used by General Washington and his American forces in his unsuccessful attempt to deter the British occupation of New York City in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War. Washington evacuated Manhattan by crossing between the two forts. In 1910 the Washington Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a stone monument to the Battle of Fort Washington. The monument is located about 100 yards (91 m) northeast of the Little Red Lighthouse, up the hill towards the eastern bridge anchorage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gleaming, the unclad steel of the GWB distinguishes it from the other bridges. A product of pure utility, its beauty is achieved in the simplicity of purpose.
from wikipedia
Othmar Ammann designed more than half of the eleven bridges that connect New York City to the rest of the United States. His talent and ingenuity helped him create the two longest suspension bridges of his time. Ammann was known for being able to create bridges that were light and inexpensive, yet they were still simple and beautiful. He was able to do this by using the deflection theory. He believed that the weight per foot of the span and the cables would provide enough stiffness so that the bridge would not need any stiffening trusses. This made him popular during the depression era when being able to reduce the cost was crucial.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These sort of geometries are organic to my eye, familiar shapes cast in the key of nature, despite being manmade. Imaginings of structures of this scope, however, represent an epoch of advanced mathematics and titan industry.
from wikipedia
Cass Gilbert was one of the first celebrity architects in America, designing skyscrapers in New York City and Cincinnati, campus buildings at Oberlin College and the University of Texas, state capitols in Minnesota and West Virginia, the support towers of the George Washington Bridge, various railroad stations (including the New Haven Union Station), and the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.. His reputation declined among some professionals during the age of Modernism, but he was on the design committee that guided and eventually approved the modernist design of Manhattan’s groundbreaking Rockefeller Center: when considering Gilbert’s body of works as whole, it is more eclectic than many critics admit. In particular, his Union Station in New Haven lacks the embellishments common of the Beaux-Arts period, and contains the simple lines common in Modernism.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Note: A little commented pedestrian walkway exists on the southern side of the bridge, which is largely populated by aggressive and speeding bicycle riders shouting “out of my way”. Encounters with this crowd and phenomenon here- and on the bridges which cross that emerald ribbon of concealment called the Newtown Creek- forces me to ask- Hey, since bicycles are now considered vehicles with their own lane and all, couldn’t the Cops start requiring registration, license plates, operators licenses, INSURANCE from bikers? City and State could probably extort a whole lot of “not taxes” and “revenue enhancements” from this source.
Militant Bikers… who ride bicycles… bicycles… have demanded and received fair treatment and roadway rights as legitimate vehicles- time for the responsibility. The sign says PEDESTRIAN.
I’m walking here.
from wikipedia
The George Washington Bridge is popular among sightseers and commuters traveling by foot, bicycle, or roller skates. The South sidewalk (accessible by a long, steep ramp on the Manhattan side of the bridge) is shared by cyclists and pedestrians, with a level surface from end to end. The entrance in Manhattan is at 178th Street, just west of Cabrini Boulevard which also has access to the Hudson River Greenway north of the bridge. The sidewalk is accessible on the New Jersey side from Hudson Terrace, where a gate open in daytime and evening allows pedestrians and bikes to pass. Also on Hudson Terrace, less than one hundred yards north of the bike/ped entrance, walkers will find the start of the Long Path hiking trail, which leads after a short walk to some spectacular views of the bridge, and continues north towards Albany, New York.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the walkway, looking south, late summer weekend traffic on the Hudson River. Below is a preview of one of my “stitched panoramas”, whose clicking will lead you to its Flickr page which, in turn, leads to larger incarnations of this ENORMOUS multi image shot showing the West Side of Manhattan and the Eastern Shore of New Jersey from up high.
from nydailynews.com
More than one in 10 people who kill themselves in Manhattan are “suicide tourists” – out-of-towners who choose New York City landmarks to take their lives.
Their deaths cluster around some of the most famous, scenic spots in the city: the Empire State Building, Times Square and the George Washington Bridge, a new study shows.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
from nycroads.com
The “Hudson River Bridge,” as the George Washington Bridge was called in the early days, was twice the length of any existing span, and it required an intricate system of access roads to handle large volumes of traffic.
The bridge’s two steel towers, embedded deep in rock and concrete, soar 604 feet into the sky, each as tall as some of Manhattan’s great skyscrapers. They contain more than 43,000 tons of steel. Rope cables were strung from anchorages on each shore and draped in an arc between towers, like a giant silver braid. When 36 of them had been placed, catwalks were erected to provide walking platforms.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Until just yesterday, since 911, it would not have been possible to obtain these shots due to security restrictions. I would suspect that a higher level of security is in place now than formerly, and that mere photography of public areas no longer poses the threat it once did. Back in 2001, NYPD didn’t have a single attack helicopter or unmanned aerial drone, after all.
The big question about 911 is not “was it a conspiracy”, its why the de facto Capital City of the United States had no air defense. The fence was left open.
from myfoxny.com
- In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Port Authority restricted photography on the bridge for security reasons (the rules have since been relaxed).
- In 2005 and 2006, the agency installed cylindrical bomb shields on the lower the section of the bridge’s suspension cables.
- More than 105 million vehicles crossed the George Washington Bridge in 2008, according to the Port Authority, making it one of the busiest spans in the world.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The old city was wide open, and criminally so. You can still just walk on in to too many places, crawl through too many fences. I personally observed construction gates at the Sunnyside yards left absent mindedly open over Thanksgiving weekend in 2009.
from nycroads.com
In 1955, after nearly a decade of explosive traffic growth, Robert Moses chaired the Joint Study of Arterial Facilities between the Port Authority and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. The Joint Study was developed to spearhead construction of new bridges and expressways, including an unbuilt Hudson River Bridge between 125th Street in Manhattan and Edgewater, New Jersey. One of the proposals called for the addition of a six-lane lower level to the George Washington Bridge.
Construction of the $20 million lower deck began in 1959. The construction of the lower deck followed Ammann’s original design. Without interruption to the eight traffic lanes above, 76 structural steel sections were hoisted onto the bridge from below. The lower deck was designed with a minimum clearance of 15 feet between the upper and lower deck roadways. Even with the addition of the lower deck, the bridge had a clearance of 213 feet over the Hudson River. Stiffening trusses were incorporated into the design of the lower deck to provide additional stability against torsion. The additional weight required a slight adjustment on the rollers atop the towers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As longtime readers of this Newtown Pentacle may have guessed by now, I’m into infrastructure. Big stuff, meta stuff, supranormal. My senses reel at scale and scope, which is how I quantize and manage reality. Parts, which fit together, forming dynamic systems and “chain of falling dominos” networked causalities.
On the aforementioned Sept. 11, one of the things that kept going through my head were numbers. How many desks, houseplants, mops, toilet fixtures, light bulbs, shoes?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just then, the leader of this municipal adventure over the GWB gestured toward the river, and at an approaching ship.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The John J. Harvey Fireboat was returning from Poughkeepsie and its Fourth of July duties. The Harvey, of course, was one of the ships that fought those fires.
misty water colored memories… but with blood
Long Island City, mouth of Newtown Creek, Greenpoint stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
Note- I’ve got a turmoil in me right now.
Your humble narrator is pissed off, and this ape is standing at the edge of his personal forest, hurling invective at an unfamiliar thing hanging in the sky called Moon. Rambling ahead, with a few reminisces of New York in “the good old days”.
The disturbing incongruity of modern skyscrapers in the Newtown Pentacle’s panoramic skies, whether commercial spire or residential tower, is horrifying to the residents of victorian relicts such as Long Island City and Greenpoint. All along the rotting infrastructure of the malodorous Newtown Creek, nearly the geographic center of the City of Greater New York, the arrival of a pregnant moment is apparent.
“A river of federal money will wash out the Newtown Creek, and all the poisons in the mud will be hatched out, or so say the G-Men” is my take on the EPA superfund listing of the Creek for now.
I still haven’t parsed everything, that was said in the November 5, 2009 Newtown Creek Alliance meeting at St. Cecilia’s. I made an audio recording of the presentation, and will be listening to it again. Its just that the EPA… the feds… gaining absolute control over a 4 long by half mile wide chunk of New York City for as long as 50 years… that’s 12.5 presidential administrations. 12.5 administrations ago was FDR’s first term.
Speaking of FDR, did you know that his second term Vice President- Henry A. Wallace (responsible for the very successful transformation of dustbowl era agri-businesses from rural homestead into their somewhat modern form) was a well known and public occultist?
Looking east from Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant catwalk stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
The New York that my father knew, the one built up in the late 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, is the one that began crumbling in the 70’s and came crashing down during the 1980’s. Contrary to what you may have read, the Reagan years were not a very nice time, and a soggy malaise hung over both the great city and the nation that exists because of it. Disillusioned by the failures of utopian city planners and those shambolic ideologies which were popularized by academic and journalist alike, the population of New York turned on each other in those days.
Here’s a few of my “new york stories”- I was there, I saw them.
Looking southwest from Queensboro Bridge stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
A tragedy of Russian scale and tone, “good old days” New York saw violent encounters between strangers became commonplace in a city always on the edge. Back then (late 80’s, early 90’s)- Williamsburg was a blasted out brick lot, blighted, and an island of extreme poverty.
West from Pulaski Bridge facing Manhattan, stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
Naked hookers plied their trade in Williamsburg on Bedford and Grand, while just beyond- a Motorcycle Club’s shanty was lit by oil drums filled with castaway lumber and litter. The Lower East Side (then known as Alphabet city) was where you spent your time, then, or way uptown above 96th street on the west side- and both neighborhoods had borderlines and “DMZ” areas.
The City belonged to the rats, and you either fought them or ran away. Cowardice was considered an intelligent option back then, just run away- don’t try to fight “them”.
East on Newtown Creek, Kosciuszko Bridge stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
Once, I saw a businessman 2 blocks north of Grand Central Station on Park Avenue, wearing an expensive vested suit which was the fashion at the time. He walked between two cars, dropped his suit pants, and defecated in the street. You used to pee wherever you wanted to, as well, “back in the day”.
You could smoke tobacco, in designated areas, within New York City hospital wards. There was a magical danish called the Bearclaw, which has since gone extinct in New York City, best quaffed with bitter black coffee. The last Bearclaw I had was in the “New York New York” casino in Las Vegas.
Skillman Avenue, Sunnyside Railyard fence line – photo by Mitch Waxman
Once, I saw a homeless guy junkie- during the early AIDS years- get hit by a cab. His head shot forward toward the asphalt in a parabolic arc with his knees acting as a fulcrum, shattering his face and killing him. This happened on 21st street and 3rd, down the block from the Police Academy. They left him there for 2-3 hours waiting for the morgue to show up because nobody wanted to get AIDS blood on themselves. The bulls set up traffic cones around him.
Sunnyside, Barnett Avenue looking west stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
That New York City- the one that was a national disaster long before it became the scene of a national disaster, a lamentable metropolis of blood, hate, and too much damn noise- is being built over and carted away. But this is the way of things, here.
Those farms and mills obliterated by rapacious rail barons and their quest to build Sunnyside Yards, do you know who the Payntars were, or their story?
Queensbridge Park, looking west toward Manhattan stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
The mansions of Ravenswood, gothic palaces built for the ultra rich who made their fortunes on Newtown Creek and in Long Island City, were casually eradicated to make way for mill and dock, and later bridge and housing project. Do you know the story of the Terracotta House?
From George Washington Bridge looking south on upper Manhattan and New Jersey stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
Once, back in ’93, on 99th and Broadway- some guy was talking on a pay phone in the middle of the night, during an ice storm. You know the kind- the sort of weather that coats every surface in a half inch of clear, slick ice. Urban misery, but quite beautiful.
Astoria 31st Avenue stormy sky stitched panorama- photo by Mitch Waxman
Unfortunately for this fellow on the phone, someone shot him a few times and he must have slumped forward with the phone in his hand. I walked by on my way to the 2 train the next morning and the wind had pushed him backwards, his frozen hand around the receiver and his corpse was swaying stiffly in the february wind. There were bloodcicles.
Long Island City, Hunters Point, mouth of Newtown Creek, Greenpoint stitched panorama – photo by Mitch Waxman
For more on this lost and forgotten civilization, buy an early Ramones album and play it very loud.
Going to be in Newtown on Labor Day weekend?
Just received from working harbor committee-
Labor Day Weekend
Fun for the Family at the Annual Tugboat Race!
Tugboat Race & Competition
6 September at Pier 84
Ride on a Circle Line 42 Spectator Boat
Or go to www.WorkingHarbor.Org
Also available A special ride on a tug in the race!!! All proceeds to benefit Working Harbor Committee Maritime Educational Programs for at-risk High School students in the NY/NJ area.
To order tickets direct for tug race spectator boat or special tugboat ride in the race- Click Here
I’m going to be helping out at this event, and it promises to be nothing but fun.
Catching up with the Pentacle
Newtown Creek Bulkhead Fungus – photo by Mitch Waxman
Terms coined by the Newtown Pentacle in recent posts for future usage by the Real Estate Industry when the economy cycles back up-
DUPBO– Down under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp
DUGABO– Down under the Greenpoint avenue Bridge Onramp
DULIE– Down under the Long Island Expressway
DURFKO- Down under the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge Onramp
aka
DUTBO– Down under the Triborough Bridge Onramp
DUKBO– Down under the Kosciuszko Bridge Onramp
DUTZBO– Down under the Tappan Zee Bridge Onramp
DUGWO– Down under the George Washington Bridge Onramp
Sorry for the “clip show” today, I’m running a little late on my schedule, and the next “Astoria to Calvary” photowalk installment will be ready tomorrow.
also: Click here for a fascinating experience one pedestrian had down by Gantry Plaza Park. This is precisely the sort of thing that I’m constantly droning on about…
Also, something I found while doing research on Northern Blvd.- or how Robert Moses almost did to western Queens what he did to the South Bronx.
John J. Harvey Fireboat trip part 2
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Believe it or not, there is a wide world beyond New York City. The John J. Harvey Fireboat passed under the George Washington bridge, and up the Muhheakantuck (or Hudson River, as we palefaces call it). A “drowned river”, the Hudson is actually a marine estuary with strong tides felt as far north as Troy, New York. If one considers the formation as a whole, from its source in Lake Tear of the Clouds all the way to the submarine Hudson Canyon, the implications of its scale are staggering.
from fireboat.org– official site of the Harvey
In the 1920’s the New York City Fire Department’s fleet of 10 steam fireboats was aging, and it was decided to construct a new fireboat with internal combustion power. Basic plans were prepared in 1928. Contracts were drawn up and construction started in 1930 by Todd Shipbuilding’s Plant at the foot of 23rd Street on Brooklyn’s Gowanus Bay. Launching took place on October 6, 1931 with the boat completed and placed in commission on December 17, 1931. Harvey’s dimensions are 130′ long with a 28′ beam and a 9′ draft. She is of steel construction with a riveted hull. Propulsion is by twin screws six feet in diameter. She was the largest, and most powerful fireboat in the world when built. More importantly, she was the model of modern fireboat engineering, and set the pattern for all subsequent fireboats to follow.
John J. Harvey was Pilot of the steam fireboat Thomas Willett, assigned to Engine Co. 86 at Bloomfield Street. On February 11, 1930 a fire broke out aboard the North German Lloyd Lines ship Muenchen at North River Pier 42, Morton Street. Willett came alongside and her crew started working aboard the burning ship. Soon a series of terrible explosions tore throughMuenchen. One of the worst caused serious damage to the fireboat and swept men overboard. John J. Harvey, knocked over the side by a section of steel plate, was killed instantly. His body was recovered from the river four hours later. It was quickly announced that the new fireboat to be built in Brooklyn would be named in his honor. This was the first time a fireboat was named for a member of the Fire Department.
Harvey’s long life in the Port of New York includes service at hundreds of serious fires, explosions, and marine disasters. One of the first was the five alarm fire that destroyed Cunard’s Pier 54 at West 14th Street in May 1932. In 1942 Harvey worked at the fire that destroyed the French Line’s Normandie, the grandest ocean liner ever built. In 1943 Harvey along with Fire Fighter went into harm’s way to control a raging fire aboard the ammunition ship El Estero. The ship was eventually scuttled, and Harvey’s entire crew received the highest awards for bravery. Harvey has also operated at dozens of major pier fires, in New York as well as New Jersey where FDNY has jurisdiction.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The John J. Harvey Fireboat History- from Wikipedia
She had a distinguished career in the FDNY, from her launch in 1931 to her retirement in 1994. Among the marine fires at which she assisted were the Cunard Line pier fire in 1932, the burning of the Normandie in 1942, the ammunition ship El Estero during World War II, and the collision of the Alva Cape and Texaco Massachusetts oil tankers in 1966. She was named for marine fireman John J. Harvey, who lost his life when a ship exploded during a fire. Her official designation at the end of her career was Marine 2.
She was sold, at auction, in 1999, to a private consortium of marine preservationists determined to prevent her from scrapping. In June 2000 she was added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. Her current owners have thoroughly restored her, and host frequent free trips on the river.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The John J. Harvey Fireboat History- from Wikipedia
The John J. Harvey had an unexpected encore. During the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the boat’s owners asked FDNY officials for permission to assist in evacuations from Ground Zero. Meanwhile, firefighters had determined that the vast scale of destruction had damaged many fire mains, depriving fire crews of water. Officials radioed the Harvey to drop off her passengers as soon as possible and return to the disaster site to pump water, reactivating her official designation Marine 2. Alongside two other FDNY fireboats, she pumped water at the site for 80 hours, until water mains were restored.^ The National Trust for Historic Preservation gave the Harvey a special National Preservation Award to recognize this incident. The Harvey‘s story was the subject of a 2002 children’s book.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
As the Harvey moved north, we congregated on deck and marveled at the show passing by. The Tugboat Barbara E. Bouchard was moving a barge. A 1992 engenue from the Moss Point Marine Shipbuilding Yards in Mississippi, Barbara E. Bouchard is a slim 591 tons and looks good in red.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a tug called Falcon, and I’ve got nothing on this one. Had to happen, really. Anyone out there got anything on this tug? Hey Tugster!
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The New Jersey side of the river, with its impressive cliffs. These are hydrologic scars in the earth, the Hudson has been cutting this canyon since the last ice age.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The tug Sea Service, with its barge. Sea Service was built in 1975 at the VT Halter Marine yard in Mississippi, and weighs 173 tons. It used to known as the “Capt. Paul”, and as the “Sea Star”.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
from fireboat.org– official site of the Harvey
The New York Fire Department operated the largest fleet of fireboats. All fireboats before Harvey were steam, all since were diesel powered. The average specifications for these 28 fireboats was about 100′ in length, over 7000 gallons per minute (gpm) pump capacity, with a speed of 15 knots. This list includes all vessels built as fireboats as well as the four tenders Velox, Captain Connell, Smoke, and Smoke II. Tenders were used as auxiliary boats to assist the big fireboats or as command stations for Chiefs. Some tenders had limited pumping capacity. In the late 19th century the City of Brooklyn had a Fire Department almost as large as New York’s. When the two cities were consolidated in 1898, the Brooklyn fireboatsSeth Low and David A. Boody joined the FDNY fleet. Delivery of the four 105′ boats of the Wilks class, almost completely dieselized the fleet by 1961. Only one steam fireboat remained on the roster. Starting in the 1960s, FDNY sporadically used some converted commercial hulls in seasonal service in outlying parts of the harbor. Some were equipped with small pumps. These fast motorboats were used primarily for water rescues or emergencies. They are not included in this list. Another class not included here were boats not belonging to FDNY but equipped with pumps that could be pressed into service for firefighting when needed. Their use was restricted to the 19th century as the FDNY fleet was being built up. These were the steam tugs John Fuller and Protector, and the Police Department’s steamboatSeneca. In the 19th century the awesome pumping power of fireboats was quickly proven as the only solution to fighting fires that were either uncontrollable or inaccessible with conventional apparatus. The same principle holds true today, and it can still be said that “when you need a fireboat, nothing else will do!”.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The Tappan Zee bridge suddenly loomed low over the river. My gold standard for reference on New York bridges is nycroads.com. Check out their Tappan Zee page here.
from wikipedia:
With the increasing demands for commuter travel taxing the existing bridges and tunnels, the Port of New York Authority had plans in 1950 to construct a bridge across the Hudson near Dobbs Ferry. The proposal was overridden by Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey, who wanted to construct a bridge to connect the New York State Thruway across Westchester to the New England Thruway. The Port Authority promised its bondholders that it would not allow any other entity to construct a river crossing within its jurisdiction, which reached to a point one mile (1.6 km) south of Nyack and across to Piermont. A May 10, 1950 editorial in The New York Times suggested that a site in southern Dobbs Ferry or northern Hastings-on-Hudson, where the Hudson narrowed considerably from its three-mile (5 km) width at Tappan Zee, would be a more appropriate site, and suggested that Governor Dewey work with his counterpart, Governor of New Jersey Alfred E. Driscoll, to craft a compromise that would offer Thruway customers a discounted bridge fare at a more southerly crossing.[6] Two days later, Governor Dewey announced that the Port Authority had dropped its plans to construct a bridge of its own. The location would be as close to the Tarrytown-Nyack line just outside the Port Authority’s jurisdiction. Dewey stated that World War II military technology would be used in the bridge’s construction.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
from wikipedia:
The deteriorating structure, which bears far more traffic than it was designed for, has led to plans to repair the bridge or replace it with a tunnel or a new bridge. These plans and discussions were whittled down to six options and underwent environmental review. Part of the justification for the replacement of the bridge has been that it was constructed during material shortages during the Korean War and only designed to last 50 years. The collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minnesota on August 1, 2007 has renewed concerns about the bridge’s structural integrity.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is studying the feasibility of either including a rail line across the new bridge or building the new bridge so a new rail line can be installed at a future date. The rail line, if built, will be located on a lower level, beneath the car lanes. Commuter rail service west of the bridge in Rockland County is limited, and the MTA is studying expansion possibilities in Rockland County that would use the new bridge to connect with the Hudson Line (Metro-North) on the east side of the bridge along the Hudson River for direct service into Manhattan.
On September 26, 2008, New York state officials announced their plan to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge with a new bridge that includes commuter-train tracks and lanes for high-speed buses. The bridge would cost $6.4 billion, while adding bus lanes from Suffern to Port Chester would cost $2.9 billion. Adding a rail line from the Metro-North station in Suffern and across the bridge, connecting with Metro-North’s Hudson Line south of Tarrytown, would cost another $6.7 billion. The plan is being reviewed for environmental impact.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
River traffic really started to drop off near the Tappan Zee. After we passed it, the shorelines on both sides of the river began to take on a small town feel. Small town with the occasional barge of fill passing by, of course.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Looks lovely, doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t you want to live here? What could it be, perhaps something just around the next bend on the river?
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.
Sigh.
I’m a Newtown Creek guy, this is somebody else’s problem. We’re all gonna die of something.
The reactors own website
NY Daily News Omnibus Indian Point Page
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Motor on Harvey, away from the three eyed fishes.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The Bear Mountain Bridge, New York landing. There’s a train tunnel in the lower right of the shadow, completely hidden in the shadows.
nycroads.com has a great page on the history of the bridge here.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
This is actually pretty neat, a pedestrian, rail, and vehicle bridge in one shot.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Bannerman’s island. Francis Bannerman VI was a Brooklyn kid of Scottish descent who joined the Union army during the Civil War. At the end of the conflict, massive amounts of military surplus were being auctioned off by the victorious Union. Bannerman bought this surplus and became a successful merchant based at 501 Broadway in Manhattan. By the time that the Spanish American War ended, Bannerman was already a rich man, and the Federal Government sold him 90% of all war surplus in a closed bid. A lot of this surplus was munitions and black powder, which the City of New York did not want him to warehouse within city limits.
from hudsonriver.com
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Bannerman built his castle over an 18 year period, at the end of which he died. In 1920, 200 pounds of powder and shells exploded and destroyed part of the castle. It lost its ferryboat in a storm in 1950, and a fire in 1969 rendered the place a abandoned wreck. Its the New York State Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s problem these days.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The Indians didn’t like this island, with its dangerous tides and reputation of being haunted. There’s meant to be a ghost called Polly Pel in residence, named for the Dutch nomenclature of the landmass- Pollepel Island.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
The Harvey at last made it to Poughkeepsie, and the Crew began preparing to dock.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
As you can see, the ship was lousy with photographers.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Got it in one toss. Sweet.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
We disembarked in Poughkeepsie, and left the Harvey to its business. The Crew said that they would be participating in 4th of July celebrations through the next day, including a laser show. The John J. Harvey is in dire need of both physical repair and financial support. Visit fireboat.org for information on the Harvey and what you can do to help out.
Next posting- We return to Queens and Newtown Creek. Also, some exciting new information has come to us on the Hook and Ladder 66 building on Northern Blvd that I’ll share later this week.
The Newtown Pentacle 