Journal # 7
Lower Manhattan and Governor's Island
As every class, we met @ Penn station. Mike took attendance and discussed the plan for the day: Lower Manhattan and Governor’s Island. From Penn Station we took the #3 train to the last stop in Lower Manhattan called World Trade Center (WTC). Some of the city’s most important historical sites are also located here, including the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, St. Paul’s Chapel and the Woolworth Building (ENY p.40). This walks begins on a nice summer day outside heading towards St. Johns Chapel, inside there is a tribute to George Washington and I learned that his pew box has a The Great Seal of the United States above it. Essential New York (p. 39) says “The area has historically been the seat of New York Government, and for a brief period served as the Capital of the newly formed United States of America (1785-1790).” According to Mike, this church has survive many tragedies like when the terrorist attacked the WTC in September 11, 2001, these buildings collapsed right in front of the church. All the building around this Ground Zone were damaged, but not the church. There was a sycamore tree planted in front of the church and this one protected and spared the destruction acting as a shield of the fragile church building. Amazing story, an artist used it as an inspiration to create a root like piece of art as a tribute to the sycamore tree (see picture). After the attack, this church housed many of the 9/11 recovery workers. Inside the church there is a memorial dedicated to all those workers that helped during this hard times, and you can see a collection of objects, pictures and badges on display. Even though it happened almost 13 years ago, seeing all those objects bring back sad feeling and sorrow for those who lost a family member. Next stop was the Woolworth building (1913), the tallest building for the next 17 years until it was topped by the 40 Wall Street in 1930 and later in the year by the Chrysler Building (ENY pages 35). We passed by the Tweed Courthouse, built in 1861, Italian style. Then we passed by the City Hall building, completed in 1811. Mike clarified why the bldg. was facing south Manhattan (Which always seem weird to me) because that this was the farthest north of the town. But then with union of NY, it became too small for all the workers and sought the need for a bigger structure called the Municipal Building (1914) on 1 Centre Street, which is the largest government building in the world (ENY). The Municipal Building was constructed by Mc Kim, Mead and White, which was responsible for applying the beaux-arts style through the city, because “would lead to greater moral and civic virtues among citizens” (ENY p. 32). This building also have some beautiful Guastavino’s tiles under the domes at street level.
Then we headed towards the 9/11 memorial and the Freedom tower (9/11 memorial.org). The memorial consist of two pools, where the north and east tower of the World Trade Center once stood originally. The cascades water falls into a dark center. The name of the victims are inscribed around the pools. There is also the story of a “survivor tree”, a celery pear tree, found by workers, reduced to a stump in the wreckage at Ground Zero. Such tree got rehabilitated and grew new branches, really embodies the story of survival and resilience.
We also visited the African Burial Ground (NPS.gov) located on 290 Broadway, 1st floor. What I learned is that in 1991, during the early construction of a Federal office building some workers found human burials, excavations continued for two more years and discovered 419 skeletal remains that were removed from ground to be examined by anthropologists to confirm them as African slave remains. Many community activists rallied to preserve part of the burial ground to commemorate African history and culture in NYC. The African Burial Ground National Monument is a place to remembrance and to teach us about the people and their stories, on how free and slaved Africans contributed to NYC in colonial times.
At the almost the end of the day, we visited Governor’s Island. Took the ferry at Battery Park, for a small fee of $2 covers a back and forth trip, and is totally worth it. We got there at almost closing time, Mike managed to get us a tour into the forts. I learned that it used to be a military territory, and has many rows of brick homes. On the island you can still see some cannons and there is a lot of activities and tours for the visitors during summer months. There were some red hammocks (free), so we got some relax time from all the walking around lower Manhattan and the island. We left the island at 6 pm, last ferry back to Battery Park and sought more Guastavino tiles on the ferry terminal dome. We all said goodbye to Mike and Dan and ran to catch the subway.
Then we headed towards the 9/11 memorial and the Freedom tower (9/11 memorial.org). The memorial consist of two pools, where the north and east tower of the World Trade Center once stood originally. The cascades water falls into a dark center. The name of the victims are inscribed around the pools. There is also the story of a “survivor tree”, a celery pear tree, found by workers, reduced to a stump in the wreckage at Ground Zero. Such tree got rehabilitated and grew new branches, really embodies the story of survival and resilience.
We also visited the African Burial Ground (NPS.gov) located on 290 Broadway, 1st floor. What I learned is that in 1991, during the early construction of a Federal office building some workers found human burials, excavations continued for two more years and discovered 419 skeletal remains that were removed from ground to be examined by anthropologists to confirm them as African slave remains. Many community activists rallied to preserve part of the burial ground to commemorate African history and culture in NYC. The African Burial Ground National Monument is a place to remembrance and to teach us about the people and their stories, on how free and slaved Africans contributed to NYC in colonial times.
At the almost the end of the day, we visited Governor’s Island. Took the ferry at Battery Park, for a small fee of $2 covers a back and forth trip, and is totally worth it. We got there at almost closing time, Mike managed to get us a tour into the forts. I learned that it used to be a military territory, and has many rows of brick homes. On the island you can still see some cannons and there is a lot of activities and tours for the visitors during summer months. There were some red hammocks (free), so we got some relax time from all the walking around lower Manhattan and the island. We left the island at 6 pm, last ferry back to Battery Park and sought more Guastavino tiles on the ferry terminal dome. We all said goodbye to Mike and Dan and ran to catch the subway.