Just a little background on Staten Island, our home also known as "The Rock", straight from the Wikepedia FREE encyclopedia:
"Staten Island is one of the five
boroughs of
New York City. Situated on an island of the same name that is the most geographically separate of the city's boroughs, Staten Island is the least populated of the five boroughs."
"With a population of just over 460,000, Staten Island is often called "the forgotten borough" or "the step-sister borough", as it is much less well-known than its four sisters,
The Bronx,
Queens,
Manhattan, and
Brooklyn. It is the smallest of the 5 boroughs in population, and third largest in area, being 59 sq. mi. (approx. 130 km) . On some maps, it is completely forgotten."
Inspired by a handful of people who have either completed or are still in the process of walking their hometowns / counties or just areas they are fond of. Those people / blogs include:
Suzanne walking in New Mexico:
http://catroncountywalk.blogspot.com/Spike walking in Australia:
http://www.thisisntsydney.blogspot.com/Caleb who walked the Island of Manhattan over two years:
http://www.newyorkcitywalk.comToday marks the official first day of
Rock Walk:
Trekking Through Staten Island.In choosing the first place to start we decided to be cautious of the rain, which may I note we just missed on the way home, therefore landed ourselves in Sailor's Snug Harbor located 1.99 miles from our apartment in Silver Lake.
Presently, Snug Harbor is home of the arts including, a playhouse, children's museum, three halls for concerts, larger plays, recitals and such (The Great Hall, Veteran's Memorial Hall and the Music Hall), Staten Island Botanical Gardens, a Maritime Museum, The New York Chinese Scholar's Garden, dance, art and music studios, beautiful walkway's, hidden trails and more.
Once upon a time we rented a rehearsal studio at Snug Harbor. The catch was that we had to sound proof the walls ourselves. Well - needless to say we did a horrible job and were constantly getting busted by security for the overbearing sound coming from the small space our band called home. It didn't help that we would open our one window which happened to face The Great Hall - during some huge event.
Originally planned to be set in "rural" Manhattan, Sailor's Snug Harbor opened in Staten Island in 1833, thanks to the benefactor Robert Richard Randall.
It was the first home and hospital for retired Seamen in the United States. In the 1900s there were around 1000 men in residence.
By the 1950s that number dropped to under 200. The extensive property could not be maintained without funding and many buildings were demolished. In the 1960s the site was in danger of being bought out for new construction, however was saved by New York City's Landmark Preservation Commission, who first bought six of the twenty houses on the site and eventually purchased the entire site.
Sailors Snug Harbor moved in July of 1976 to Sea Level, North Carolina.
So...I love days like today, and days like today combined with a walk in Snug Harbor...awesome.
What I think is one of the neatest things about walking around on a warmer, autumn day, is that the dimmer light combined with the light mist makes everything a bit surreal and somehow, it puts you in touch with history - you can imagine what it must have been like on the North East Coast in the 18th and 18th centuries, and while we were walking along the grounds, some workmen were testing the mount of an old church bell. The sound of that deep ring rolling out along the grounds just added to the mood.
