Walking Tour : A Lighthouse with Celebrity on Roosevelt Island

     For 5 years as an Astorian, I spent time in Socrates Sculpture Park and gazed at the little lighthouse sitting on Roosevelt Island, amidst the East River (seen from my viewpoint above).  I've never seen it lit.  Today, I got curious about how it got there.

     I referred to the internet via my cellphone.  It was built by James Renwick, Jr..  I recognized that name as the architect of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue!  Wow!  (He also built Grace Church on Broadway.  See my blog entry about that: http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2016/02/walking-tour-of-gothic-grace-church-nyc.html )

     What was Renwick doing on that small strip of island?  

     He was building the island's smallpox hospital, circa 1856.  During the "gothic" lighthouse's construction in 1872, NYC quarantined its smallpox patients on the island for "loathsome malady treatment".  Simultaneously, the lighthouse was built with stones quarried on the island by inmates of its penitentiary.  What a combo: patients and prisoners.  Ironic that the island's first name translated into "Nice to Be Here"!

     Originally, the island was called Minnahannock (which means "It's Nice to Be Here") by the Canarsie Tribe of Native American Indians.  Canarsie is still the name of a historic area in Kings County... a.k.a. Brooklyn.  (It is alongside Kings Highway, a road from the 1700s named for the King of England.  It connects Crown Heights with New Utrecht--a neighborhood from 1652 named for the Dutch city of Utrecht). 

     When the Brits conquered Manhattan from the Dutch in 1666, they called it Manning's Island, named after the Sheriff of New York.  His son-in-law, Robert Blackwell, took it over and named it Blackwell's Island.  

     45 years after America won the Revolutionary War, NYC bought the island and made it a site for corrective institutions.  In true NYC fashion, it included a scandalous prison, a Lunatic Asylum, a workhouse, an almshouse, a pathological bacteria research lab, and the aforementioned Smallpox Quarantine Hospital.  Such a fun island.  Ergo, by 1921, the city renamed it Welfare Island.  In the 1970s, it was named after President FDR.

     As you can see below, the city (perhaps sensibly) never intended road access to the island!  The Queensboro Bridge, built in 1909, goes right over it.  (It is named for Queens County, which was created in honor of the Queen of England of 1683).

Yet, a photograph from 1917 shows the storehouse for an elevator that allowed vehicular access to the island from the Queensboro Bridge.  The elevator was dismantled in 1955, as were the streetcars that accessed the island.

Subways finally arrived in 1989 (13 years behind schedule... which is typical of our Metropolitan Transit Authority).  Otherwise, the only way to the island is the "cable car" tram.

The island's Visitor Center occupies an old Victorian streetcar station (below).  Stairs and an elevator gave access from the station to the streetcar station in the middle of the Queensboro Bridge.

Trolleys used to zip across the bridge (as seen below), until such systems were removed from America after WWII.

Nowadays, you can also get around the island by bus.

See that tower in the background?  It has its own special history!  (It's former ruins are seen below).

     The 5-story Octagon was first built in 1841 by Alexander Jackson Davis.  He was the era's most influential architect, famous for his Hudson River estates, including Lyndhurst Castle (for a former NYC mayor), and the Secret Society Skull & Bones building at Yale.  The tower was the administrative center to the NYC Lunatic Asylum.  It was so stunning that the young English novelist, Charles Dickens, praised its flying spiral staircase.  In 1894, it became the Metropolitan Hospital until abandoned in 1955.  The tower's two wings were demolished in the 1970s.  Restored in 2006, it now looks like this...

Maybe that was the inspiration for why the lighthouse is also octagonal?      If you know the TV series, "Gotham", you're familiar with its Arkham Asylum (seen below).  

It might be based on this island's hospitals and asylums.  Only ruins remain...

     But riverside properties in NYC are popular, so the 2-mile island is undergoing "gentrification".  

     Recently, smart people finally realized that the southern tip of Roosevelt Island is a perfect viewing spot for the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks!  Perhaps soon, we'll see the lighthouse shine, once again--even just as a novelty (like the illuminated bridges) to justify living costs on the "reclaimed" island.  Either way, when I peer at it from my local park, I'll have a new appreciation for it all, because I learned, there is a wealth of history in even a minor structure 50-feet tall.

An Autumn Morning

     Yesterday, I completed all my errands, laundry, housecleaning and the restocking of my bar.  Today, I awoke with Lewis--to send him off to work, whilst still in my bathrobe--and decided to enjoy an "early start" to this glorious day!  Sure, I could've loitered in bed longer, but something told me to go out and savor.  Autumn was in the air: I love that.  Leaving the curtains blowing around the open windows of my apartment, I strolled out into the breezy sunshine.  A neighbor's garden was in full late-summer bloom.  Such lusciously bright mums!

     Plucking an autumnal-colored marigold, I slipped it into the buttonhole of my Levi's denim jacket, 

and strolled along towards nourishment.  

     Instead of seeing Christmas decorations as an American indication of Autumn, I prefer to see the arrival of pumpkins and gourds.

     I sauntered to Madame SouSou.  

     Smiley faces (customers and barista) greeted me.  The Egyptian owner was there, and he complimented my attire.

     I admired the display case, chock-full of sweet & savory creations.  I selected a slice of his wife's homemade quiche.  The owner warmed it for me in the oven (not microwave), and he even gave me a complimentary canele... because he liked my smile!  As he attended to other loyal customers, I admired the newly-installed Art Nouveau metal panels that line the eatery.  Such thoughtful details make a small space enchanting.

     Taking the cutely artistic bag that my order came in, 

I walked along the sunny sidewalk...

to my favorite tea shop in the city.  

     Tea Plus Cafe is charmingly well-appointed, run by friendly/knowledgeable Fujianese owners.  (I like the baked goods from SouSou and the tea from Tea Plus).  Candle-heated "wax melts" added a Zen-like perfume to the air.  

Their rear garden umbrellas were spread open, and flowers rustled in the breeze.  Content with my pastry already, I still admired their delectable offering (in such a creative wood display case).

It was 8:38am, and I was their first customer, since opening at 8am.  The fedora-wearing owner/barista helped me choose a tea to match my mood.  We selected "Energize".  How can you go wrong with ingredients like rooibos, cardamom, ginger, juniper, and fennel?

Nestling into their cozy armchairs, I waited while my tea steeped before being served to me.  Stamping my loyalty card (I'm close to a free tea), he wished me well.

     Sauntering along 31st Avenue, I smelled sautéed onions wafting from the open door of a Balkan restaurant.  

The other eateries weren't open yet, but those guys were "advertising" their aromatic cuisine.  It made me notice an overlooked place: something new to try soon! 

(including their garden)...

     Carrying my tea and baked goods, I headed straight (literally) to the East River.  Swinging through the orange gates of Socrates Sculpture Park, 

     I admired the park's seasonally-rotating Art Installations.  It's fun to imagine what is going to be erected, as you visit the park and observe the stages of construction.  

Spotting a solar panel meant that something is going to be installed that lights up or makes sound!  I can't wait to see.

     It reminds me of the time I took a late night stroll to the park, and just as I passed the garden walls, I heard a synchronized beeping.  It was an installation of digital wristwatches--strapped to varied tree branches--to mimic bird calls.  The artist set them to beep throughout the daytime and at 10pm and 11pm.  So, I had simply been in the right time and the right place to experience that unexpected delight!
     Today, the flower beds were a bright attraction, too.

     One of the installations involved enamel-painted metal armchairs.  Designed by Lea Cetera, they're based on Modernist works by the French mastermind, Le Corbusier.  So, I climbed the park's grassy knoll and perched in one of them.  It gave me a nice view of the park, the city skyline, blue jays swerving through the nearby trees, butterflies (still enjoying the purple blossoms of butterfly bushes), jet skis in the river, and joggers on the brick paths.  

     I had wanted something hearty/savory for breakfast and was delighted to discover sausages inside my quiche!  A tasty unexpected surprise.

      As the air felt more chilled, I tossed my trash and returned homeward.  Before leaving the park, I noticed grape vines getting ready for harvest season!

     Walking along, I was amused by these cats who love their "pedestals".  Maybe they're trying to imitate statues?

     Something told me to take a different route.  Turning a corner, I encountered the Astoria Greenmarket, set up on a cobblestone plaza--looking like it belonged in Europe.  

     I loved the booth belonging to Migliorelli Farms.  They are located 2-hours north of NYC in the hamlet of Annandale-On-Hudson, in the Rhinebeck region of Duchess County.  Rhinebeck was named for a colonial Dutch landowner: Wilhelmus Beekman.  The booth had a lovely assortment of pumpkins, freshly picked apples and vegetables.  That helped me decide what to make for dinner tomorrow!  

     Snatching up some Swiss Chard, yellow kale, fennel, celery and scallions, I knew they'd be perfect for a slow-cooker soup for tomorrow's autumn night.  The aromas were earthy and so fresh!  Talk about "nature's fresh", a silk-worm dangled from my kale.  I gently placed him on a cobblestone.  The fruits smelled divine, too.  For snacking, I chose Cortland apples (named after the prominent Dutch Van Cortlandt family that influenced American society since before the Revolutionary War).  

*To see our visit to Van Cortlandt Manor, please click this link:

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2015/11/autumn-getaway-day-1.html

     Out of the ice, I plucked a half-gallon of freshly-squeezed apple cider.  I was grinning as I realized that the Hudson River Valley's apple orchards had come to me!  
     All summer, I had been disappointed by this year's crop of heirloom tomatoes.  Aside from being overpriced at $6+ per pound, none really smelled ripe to me.  Joy of joys, one of these vendors had a crate of heirlooms!  They smelled the way a vine-ripened tomato should.  $3 per pound, too.  I was so happy with that "small joy" because my patience was rewarded--just in time before summer faded entirely.

     Getting home at 11am, I felt so productive.  Playing some Quincy Jones jazz in the background, I admired my earthy bounty, and promptly rinsed the "earth" off all the vegetables.  

(Seen above, I love the garden twine that bundled each item!)

Chopping and dicing, I prepared--in advance--for tomorrow's slow cooker meal.  My kitchen smelled delightfully vegetal.  (Now, all I have to do is put them in the slow cooker tomorrow morning... and serve it when I come home).  I was done by a quarter after noontime!  Bringing a plate of tomato to my iMac, 

I decided to share my experience with you, suggesting that you enjoy your mornings, too, and listen to your hunches.  They often steer us into pleasant encounters.