Famous Ankles

On the Fourth of July, I ankled past Frances Tavern; a museum and restaurant located on Pearl Street way down south in Manhattan.

Technically, it calls itself “The Museum of Colonial & Revolutionary History”. But I have to admit the idea of a combo restaurant-museum is pretty cool. I was there too early to try the place out, but I would imagine it’s…interesting. I don’t know if I would have gone in. I went through Menupages and found it’s highly rated, but expensive: burgers are $14 and a chicken pot pie is $16. Even in Manhattan, I can find better deals.

But I have to admit, a burger from the joint that Washington bid his famed farewell to the troops in 1783, an event that led King George III to say that Washington would the the greatest man in the world (for behaving like Cincinnatus and laying down power being thrust upon him and going back to be a farmer), is a bit attractive. Maybe I will…

-H

Way down at the southern tip of Manhattan is a little fort that was built in ’bout 1811 to keep out those pesky Brits. It’s called “Castle Clinton“, apparently named after the former governor of New York.

As odd as it may seem, it used to be the sole inhabitant of a small island off the tip of Manhattan. Long ago, they did some backfilling and it’s now squarely in Battery Park. I’ve always associated the “Battery” park’s name with Castle Clinton, ’cause it was a military installation and had a number of cannon in it. I believe that’s what the openings were for originally.

It’s got a great entrance area, with some wonderfully large studded doors. Inside, it’s open to the sky, with roofing at the inner edges of the circular structure.

But mainly, it’s just a Parks center where they sell tickets to get to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. They’ve got some displays in there, but nothing that rivets my attention, at least.

Well, there is a plaque that details how Castle Clinton has fared over the years. It doesn’t seem to have ever been used in wartime, but it was a “public center” where dignitaries were received including Lafayette, Andy Jackson, and Jenny Lind. Heck, for 45 years, it was even an aquarium.

Nowadays, it’s just a little place in the corner of Battery Park. It would be great in the rain as it has covered seating and a nice little view of some of the surrounding tall buildings.

It’s just one of those little places in the park that you see and have to wander through everytime you get near it. Nothing particularly special, but it is certainly a pleasant little place.

-H

Battery Park is southern Manhattan.  That is, it’s south of everything else in Manhattan.  You can say it has several parts:  the wooded and pathway-rich park, a section of monuments including the battery itself, and the waterfront.

I don’t know quite how large it is, but it’s a very cozy park with relatively little noise and the only traffic one typically notices is the boat traffic.

Typical of NYC parks, there are lots of trees.

And some interesting statues and monuments.  The most recent one is probably “The Sphere”.

Its a remnant from the World Trade Center.  It was in the WTC’s plaza for nearly 30 years and was badly damaged at 9/11.  In 2002, an eternal flame was lit (not a good picture of that, but it’s at the lower left).

There’s a nice traditional statue of John Eriksson, the inventor of the screw propeller and the designer of the Union Ship “Monitor”, the Union’s iron-clad.  That’s a model of the Monitor in his left hand (it’s nickname was “the cheesecake on a raft”, which just goes to say that the word “cheesecake” is very different 140 years later).

The namesake of the park, the battery, is a circular structure that was being used to issue ferry tickets when I was there, so I didn’t get inside.  There are spots for the large cannon, as I recall.

There’s also a huge monument to World War II’s soldiers, sailors, and marines that died “in US Coastal waters.”  the names of those that died are listed by their military branch (Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Army-Air Force).  This picture captures only about half the monument.

Here’s a closeup of one of the stones.  You can see that it’s a lot more than just names.

In the center of this stone monument is an eagle statue.

The text at the bottom reads “1941 * * * 1945   Erected by the United States of American in Proud and Grateful Remembrance of Her Sons Who Gave Their Lives in Her Service and Who Sleep In The American Coastal Waters of the Atlantic Ocean    INTO THY HANDS, O LORD”

Now that’s an inscription!

Finally, there’s the waterfront.  It’s very nice, lots of seating, and a view worth traveling for.

Here’s the walkway.

And a couple of pictures of the view.  First, the Statue of Liberty.

And Ellis Island.

-H