Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: United States

  • Quincy – Hancock Cemetery (Ebenezer Hayden)

    Quincy – Hancock Cemetery (Ebenezer Hayden)

    Back to my visit to the Hancock Cemetery in Quincy.

    This is the grave of Ebenezer Hayden, who was the son of John and Susanna, and he was born in 1645 and died on 13 February 1717. Colonial American history doesn’t get much older than this and Ebenezer married Anna and had three children, Ebenezer jr (born 13 April 1679), Ruth (born 19 November 1681) and William (birthdate unknown, but he married Sarah Hobart on 26 December 1726). Hayden was made a freeman in Boston on 15 May 1690, but lived most of his life in Braintree (which was effectively the same place as Quincy then).

    Hayden fought in the Suffolk Troop during King Philip’s War, also known as the First Indian War, which was a conflict lasting from 1675 until 1678. It was fought between the native Americans and the colonists, and although the numbers on each side were about even, the native Americans suffered greater losses. That time in the military meant that Hayden is now seen as a veteran of the US Army, hence the circular marker by his grave.

    I do wonder what these seventeenth-century colonists would make of the Braintree and Boston areas today……

  • Atlanta – Birthplace of Martin Luther King

    Atlanta – Birthplace of Martin Luther King

    After visiting Atlanta Zoo and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, I didn’t have much hope of getting a ticket for the birthplace of Martin Luther King. So, my plan was just to go to the visitor centre and see that, but I thought I’d ask about a ticket anyway. And, good fortune prevailed, there was one ticket left for the last tour of the day. This isn’t always possible, many reviews state just how difficult it is to get a ticket to visit the property and it’s recommended to go early on in the day.

    It’s a short walk from the visitor centre to the birthplace home of Martin Luther King, one of the greatest of American political leaders. There were 15 people allowed on the tour and access is only granted to the house to those who have a ticket, which is issued free of charge.

    The plaque at the entrance to the property, which is at 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. King was born on 15 January 1929 in what was a predominantly black area at the time, living at the house with his grandparents, parents and siblings for the next twelve years. King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 and so he feels like a figure from history, but if events had turned out differently, he could still be alive today.

    Given how many people were living in the house, it’s not the largest, but the family were comfortable there. The tour lasts for around half an hour and it was led by an enthusiastic ranger who gave information about the building and the family who lived there. Photos inside aren’t allowed, which is probably for the best as there isn’t much time for the rangers to guide people around as it is.

    The building was owned by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change after his death, but the National Park Service purchased it relatively recently for $1.9 million. It’s fortunate that the property has survived, a sweeping plan to modernise the area was proposed in 1966 which would have seen its demolition, but there was too much opposition to that.

  • New York – National 9/11 Memorial (Engine of New York City Fire Department Ladder Company 3)

    New York – National 9/11 Memorial (Engine of New York City Fire Department Ladder Company 3)

    These photos are from 2015, so as another advance warning, their quality is pretty low. The fire truck belonged to New York City Fire Department Ladder Company 3 and it arrived at the North Tower of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.

    The fire truck had two crews on as they were changing shift when the call came through and it parked on West Street whilst the fire-fighters went to investigate the unfolding disaster.

    The fire-fighters got to around the 35th floor of the building and were killed when the building collapsed. The fire-fighters from this truck included Captain Patrick (Paddy) J. Brown, Lt. Kevin W. Donnelly, Michael Carroll, James Raymond Coyle, Gerard Dewan, Jeffrey John Giordano, Joseph Maloney, John Kevin McAvoy, Timothy Patrick McSweeney, Joseph J. Ogren and Steven John Olson.

    The fire truck itself was crushed when the tower fell on it and when the site was being cleared, it was moved to JFK Airport where it remained for around a decade. It was moved to the National 9/11 Memorial in 2011, where it remains today.

    This is a short documentary clip about Patrick Brown which was made by his sister, with a recording of the call he made from within the building. His call was very calm, polite and professional, a remarkable undertaking given what he must have been seeing.

  • New York – National 9/11 Memorial (Survivors’ Staircase)

    New York – National 9/11 Memorial (Survivors’ Staircase)

    These stairs, now moved into the National 9/11 Memorial Museum, were the steps that hundreds took to freedom as they escaped the damage done to the Twin Towers. They remained standing above ground after the site was cleared, another final stand, but they were nearly lost to the demolition process until their symbolic value was realised.

    A news report of the importance of the steps.

    On 18 July 2008, they shunted these stairs from their original location and lifted by crane their 65-ton weight into the site of the new museum.

    Visitors take an escalator which sits next to the 38 steps of the staircase when they arrive and leave the museum.

    There’s a video of their move here:

  • New York – Five Guys

    New York – Five Guys

    Just looking at this photo I took back in 2015 when I was in New York, I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking of when I thought that green coloured drink was a good idea…..

    I can’t even remember which Five Guys it was, but I’ve just wasted ten minutes trying to work it out. Probably the one at 316 W 34th Street, like it makes the slightest bit of bloody difference…..

  • New York – Metropolitan Museum of Art (Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze)

    New York – Metropolitan Museum of Art (Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze)

    The Met has made many artworks in their collections freely available online, so I’ll use their rather more detailed image than the one I took in 2015. I’m not exactly Sister Wendy, so there’s not much I can add about the imagery, but it is beautiful. That early US flag from the Washington-led Continental Army as they crossed the Delaware near Trenton, an important part of their winning the Revolutionary War.

    I was only reminded of this artwork when I visited the quite marvellous Kunsthalle in Bremen, as they once had a similar and earlier painting by the same artist, Emanuel Leutze. Unfortunately, the artwork was so big that they couldn’t easily get it off the wall to protect it during the Second World War, so they had to risk it. A British military attack on the city destroyed some of the gallery building on 5 September 1942, which sadly included this painting.

    The destroyed artwork was painted in 1849, the one in the Met’s collection is from 1850 and it went on display in New York in October 1851. It was purchased by Marshall Owen Roberts (1814-1880) for $10,000, a ridiculous sum of money for the time, but he could afford it with the money he had made from his transportation businesses.

    The Met’s artwork remained in the collection of Robert’s estate, before it was sent for auction at Ortgies and Company, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries for sale on 20 January 1897. It was purchased by John S. Kennedy, who promptly gave it to the Met. And here it remains, one of their more inspirational paintings.

  • New York – Metropolitan Museum of Art (Wallpaper)

    New York – Metropolitan Museum of Art (Wallpaper)

    I still haven’t found the photos that I was looking for, but I have discovered the photos from my 2015 visit to New York. And, in particular, to what I consider as pretty much the best museum in the world, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Back when I visited you were allowed to pay whatever you felt appropriate, although that system has since been heavily reformed.

    But, the above wallpaper was cleverly done and showed the scope of the collections in the American Wing of the building. It was comprised of hundreds of smaller photos which from right to left show the date of the acquisition by the museum. When material is presented like this, it shows just how large the collections of some institutions are, it’s all quite inspiring.

  • United States – Newark – Newark Penn Station

    United States – Newark – Newark Penn Station

    It’s a shame these photos were taken back in 2015 as the quality on my phone back then wasn’t great, but this is the seventh most used railway station in the United States and it has very frequent connections to New York.

    It’s just visible if clicking on the photos, but the sign above them says that the seats can only be used by ticketed passengers and then for only two hours. They enforce that as well, or at least try to. The waiting room is grand in height, but not particularly large in size for such a busy railway station.

    The railway station building dates to 1935, so is relatively recent, and was constructed during a period when railways were much more important to the transport infrastructure in the United States. It’s all about cars now, but at least this is one of the railway stations which has survived. The station was designed by McKim, Mead and White, who also designed one of the greatest railway stations in the world, Pennsylvania Station in New York. This was torn down in 1963 and was perhaps one of the worst architectural decisions made in New York, although it at least led to the creation of numerous heritage organisations.

    I can’t recall exactly what was going on here, but it looks like something that I’ve constructed.

  • United States – Newark – McDonald’s

    United States – Newark – McDonald’s

    I still haven’t found the photos that I was looking for, but I have now discovered all my photos from when I visited Newark (the one in New Jersey, not the one in Nottinghamshire).

    This was the only time that I’ve been to a McDonald’s and was asked by a staff member, and I’d add more inquisitively than in any negative manner, why I was there.  When I told her that I was just visiting she then told me to be careful, which is never a great sign about the locality. Anyway, I’m very good at keeping myself to myself when required, but the atmosphere in the McDonald’s was quite tense and they had security guards trying to monitor the situation.

    I didn’t spend long there, but I can remember thinking that the quality of the food was all brand standard and as expected, so all was well as far as I was concerned.

  • Las Vegas – High Roller Observation Wheel (Unlimited Drink)

    Las Vegas – High Roller Observation Wheel (Unlimited Drink)

    This is the 170-metre tall Observation Wheel in Las Vegas, more formally known as the High Roller. It opened in 2014 and is the tallest ferris wheel in the world, as everything in Las Vegas has to be the biggest.

    My visit here was back in 2015 and there were some special offers on, including a ticket which included a barman and unlimited drinks. So, I accidentally got that ticket.

    There’s a little exhibition area to browse whilst waiting to board the wheel. There’s only one observation capsule that has the bar set-up, so there’s a different boarding process to the other capsules.

    This is the set-up, a barman who was friendly and welcoming, all very fitting for the United States and Las Vegas.

    The drinks set-up.

    Back in 2015, I was going through a cider stage, although I’d add that I mean decent real ciders and not Strongbow or anything. I didn’t expect that they would have a stock of scrumpy type drinks in Las Vegas, but they did have this Angry Orchard and this was a more than suitable drink to start with.

    I then switched to spirits….. The whole arrangement was all generous and well-managed, the barman was fast serving, personable and was clearly enjoying his work environment. I can think of worse places to be a barman. This meant that everyone had more drink available than they could realistically comfortably drink, unless they had a real ability to binge drink I suppose.

     

    Some photos above of the wheel itself.

     

    And some photos of the views. Unfortunately, the quality of these isn’t great as these were from my phone camera back in 2015 and Google Photos has squished the image a little.

    As an observation wheel, it went smoothly and quickly, although perhaps the alcohol helped with that process. There were views over the entirety of Las Vegas, and into the desert beyond. There weren’t too many people in the capsule and everyone there was well mannered, so the environment was all rather amenable. Very lovely.