New Years Resolution: 5 Things to Try
Let a Historian Tell You About Favorite New York Destinations
If your New Year’s goal is to try new things and look for new experiences, have a look at five tips from a historian who knows New York like the inside of a subway car. Yes, there are bookshelves worth of guide books—such as 111 Place in The Bronx That You Must Not Miss—but here is a handy guide for five places you can get to in the next few months. All it takes is a little planning and a sense of adventure. Each of these is tied to one of our walking tours.
1. CASTLE WILLIAMS, GOVERNORS ISLAND
As the nation prepares for the 250 the anniversary of the American Revolution, step back in time to an island that played a part. Governors Island in New York Harbor is easily accessible from ferries in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. During the Revolution, colonists kept the British at bay with artillery on this tiny island in the harbor. Not long after, the U.S. Army took control, and later built the massive Castle Williams, for harbor defense. A tour inside with a park ranger will take you up to the parapet to see sweeping views of the harbor, and also a tour of the history inside the sandstone landmark.
2. VAN CORTLANDT HOUSE, GEORGE WASHINGTON ATE HERE
Enter the oldest dining room in The Bronx, where generals Lafayette, Rochambeau, and Washington ate during the American Revolution. General Washington also spent the night here during his peripatetic Army campaign. This is Van Cortlandt House, built in 1748. It is the oldest building in the Bronx. In the 19th century the Van Cortlandt family sold the home and property to the city for a park and museum. Realizing its historic nature, the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York restored the manor in 1896, creating a museum of 18th century life. They have been the caretakers and stewards ever since, under an agreement with the New York City Parks Department. Today it’s a national landmark inside and out, and is the first historic house museum in New York City.
3. WHERE THE GREAT GATSBY WAS EDITED
The Charles Scribner’s Sons Building (597 Fifth Avenue) in Manhattan is where some extremely famous American classic was edited. In 1924 this is where The Great Gatsby came in (rough shape) by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Several months later, after the diligent editing of Maxwell Perkins, the novel was published April 10, 1925. While the book laid an egg upon publication, it caught on after World War II. Today, more than 25 million copies have been sold. Other books that came from this building are Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929), and Thomas Wolfe’s, Look Homeward, Angel (1929). This building was designed by Ernest Flagg in a Beaux Arts style, built from 1912 to 1913 for the Scribner’s Bookstore. The publisher left in the 1980s and it has been retail space ever since. Walk inside and look up and around and many architectural details are left from its heyday as the most important publisher in America.
4. BABE RUTH’S FINAL APARTMENT
100 Riverside Drive (corner of West 82nd Street) was the last home of Babe Ruth. He and his wife, Claire, moved here in 1942. The home run king’s last season with the Yankees was 1934, and he retired after a short stint with the Boston Braves the following year. In retirement, sick with cancer, went from here in 1948 to Yankee Stadium for his final appearance. At 8:01 P.M., on August 16, 1948, the Babe passed away. He was fifty-three years old. He lay in state in “the House That Ruth Built” for two days as more than 200,000 paid their last respects. Grieving fathers held up their sons and daughters for one final look. Three days later the funeral was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There were tens of thousands in the streets outside and tens of thousands more lined the funeral cortege route. At the funeral, Ruth’s old teammates were pallbearer. Claire Ruth, Babe’s widow, lived on at their apartment at 100 Riverside Drive for another 28 years until her death.
5. MEMORIAL TO THE AMIABLE CHILD
You may have to dry your eyes after visiting this one, because it is one of the saddest—but most beautiful—spots in all of Manhattan. You want to head Uptown, in the shadow of the General Grant National Monument (aka Grant’s Tomb). Look carefully around West 122nd Street and Riverside Drive, along the grassy hill beside the sidewalk. You are looking for a small black iron fence, surrounding a granite urn that resembles a grave marker. That’s what this is, all alone. St. Clair Pollock was the 4-year-old son of linen merchant George Pollock who died in 1797. The boy was buried on the family property in what was to be the family cemetery. Soon after, his father had to sell the property, and he gave the tiny plot to a kindly neighbor to watch over, with the request that it always be “enclosed and sacred.” In the 19th Century as the city grew, the property changed hands many times. Every property owner respected the tiny grave. Eventually the property became part of Riverside Park, and the spot was taken over by New York City. It is one of the few places where a grave is on city property. During the year—especially around the boy’s death anniversary on the Fifteenth of July—visitors leave flowers. And some city kids leave the young boy toy cars and action figures. Is that a tear in your eye?