I took this photo of the Brooklyn Bridge while taking a Circle Line tour of Manhattan in 2004. The tour allowed for unusual perspectives. In this case, it’s a view of the bridge from below, with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
Tag: new york
Three Bridges, NYC, September 2004
I took this photo on a beautiful Autumn day in 2004. There are three bridges in the photo- the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and the Williamsburg Bridge.
Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse, NYC, 2004
In September 2004 my wife and I spent a week on Long Island and made a couple visits to New York City. One one of the visits we took the Circle Line tour, a boat tour around Manhattan. One of the landmark+s we passed was Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse, a small lighthouse located along the Hudson River and under the George Washington Bridge.
The current lighthouse was built in 1921. The George Washington Bridge, completed in 1931, passed right over the little 40′ lighthouse. The bridge’s navigational lights made the little lighthouse obsolete and it was decommissioned in 1948. The Coast Guard had intended to dismantle the lighthouse and auction off the parts but public outcry saved the little light, largely due to fans of Hildegarde Swift’s children’s book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.
Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and was designated a New York City Landmark in 1991. In 2002 the lighthouse was relighted by the city. The little red lighthouse was operational once again.
Seneca Falls, New York
In August 2015 we visited Seneca Falls. Seneca Falls is a beautiful little town in the Finger Lakes region of New York famous for its ties to the women’s rights movement. Seneca Falls may also have been the inspiration behind Bedford Falls, the fictional town from Frank Kapra’s classic movie It’s A Wonderful Life.
The town is built along a canal linking Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake. By 1828 the canal had been linked to the Erie Canal and industry began to move to the area. The town was established in 1829 along the canal and was incorporated as the Village of Seneca Falls in 1831.
In 1848 the first Convention on Women’s Rights was held at the Wesleyan Chapel. Among the organizers of the convention was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the most famous figures of the women’s rights movement. Today the Wesleyan Chapel is part of the Women’s Rights National Historic Park Visitor Center.
Tourism has become a large part of Seneca Falls. In addition to the Wesleyan Chapel, you can visit Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s house, called “the Center of the Rebellion” by Stanton. Stanton and her family lived in the house, now managed by the National Park Service, from 1847 until 1862, when the family moved to New York.
Stanton’s presence is all over Seneca Falls. A few blocks from the Stanton House is a statue commemorating the first meeting between Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The two were introduced by Amelia Bloomer after an antislavery lecture. The beautiful sculpture is by Ted Aub.
Stanton is also among the women depicted in the First Wave sculpture in the Visitor Center. The sculpture features the women who organized the first Convention on Women’s Rights as well as a few of the men who supported the movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton is on the far left.
Finally, the Trinity Episcopal Church, along the canal, is one of the most photographed churches in the world.
Mostly True 