Name: The Wilds of Manhattan: Fort Tryon & Inwood Hill Parks
Start: 2024-11-02T14:30:00.000Z
End: 2024-11-02T19:30:00.000Z
Location: St Frances Cabrini Shrine

RSVP's begin Sunday, August 25th at 8:00pm. Additional space is set aside for new members first and second timers who land on the waiting list. Email me at hankorenstein@gmail.com to request a spot.

This guided tour is free with a voluntary contribution to your leader.

Tribeca (stands for Triangle Below Canal Street) perhaps NYC's most transformed neighborhood over the past 50 years. In the 1970's it was largely a desolate backwater home to visual artists occupying commercial warehouse spaces, the Tribeca of today is one of America's most upscale urban neighborhoods. We'll explore how this transformation occurred while enjoying the wild assortment of old and new architectural styles, interesting buildings and fascinating history.

Tribeca is one of NYC's oldest residential neighborhoods with a few houses still remaining that are 200 years old. As the city developed into a commercial and industrial hub in the mid-late 19th century, Tribeca became a a storage and distribution center for produce, textiles and dry goods such as tea, sugar and grain.

Tribeca also has several Underground Railroad sites and the first Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion church.

In the modern era Tribeca has become a destination for dining out and fine art. Also a magnet for celebrities, from long-term resident Robert DeNiro, who co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival after 9-11, to Meryl Streep, Beyonce and JayZ, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lawrence, Jake Gylenhaal and Meg Ryan.

Other draws are a nice mix of casual and fine dining, specialized shopping and strolls along the river. Pier 25 is one of the longest piers in the Hudson River Park which features a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities. We'll have a restroom stop there during the tour.

**Restrooms before the tour**: Our meeting place at Think Coffee has restrooms and there are other coffee shops with restrooms in the immediate area. Lunch in nearby Chinatown before the tour a good option too.

Cheers from Hank
646-596-3005

Exploring NYC History and Neighborhoods

Hank Orenstein

David Cohen

Mary Gould

Exploring Tribeca - The Former Lower West Side 

Think Coffee

Join us on an all-day adventure to Staten Island, NYC's least known borough, despite the fact that is more than 2x the size of Manhattan! We'll learn about its history as we visit several neighborhoods and historic sites. Staten Island has also had growing diversity and we'll underscore this as we visit and have lunch in a Sri-Lankan community.

**RSVPs open up Saturday, September 14th at 10am. Space on this tour is set aside for new members and first and 2nd timers who land on the waiting list. Email me to request a spot *after* you sign up.** **Given the length and special nature of this tour your RSVP will represent a firm commitment to attend.**

Note - the guided walk and ferry ride are free. Admission to the Alice Austen House is $5. Please bring cash for admission and also for our lunch, which I have scheduled at an extraordinary Sri Lankan restaurant which has one of the best buffet lunches you will ever experience. There are vegetarian options.

**Estimated walking distance**: 6 miles with some uphill and downhill.
**To Bring: Cash for the museum and lunch; a valid metrocard to for the city bus back to the ferry; water to drink, snacks if you like, sun protection.**

**PLAN TO TAKE THE 10:00 AM FERRY IF TRAVELING FROM MANHATTAN.** The trip takes about 25 minutes. (note: ferries run every 30 minutes in both directions - on the hour and half-hour). Be sure to check the weekend subway changes so you do not miss the 10am ferry.

**Itinerary:**

**10:00am**: Take the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan (be sure to check the weekend subway changes so you do not miss the boat).

**10:30am**: Meet inside the ferry terminal Staten Island by the Statue of Liberty Deli.
**10:30am - 12:15pm**: Strolling the St. George and Stapleton neighborhoods taking in historic houses, winding streets, unusual parks and architecture, along with some fascinating history and even street art and urban grit.

**12:30 - 1:45pm**: Lunch
The plan for lunch is the Buffet the Sri Lankan restaurant, Lakruwana:
https://www.lakruwanarestaurant.com/
**Unlimited buffet cost is $20.99 per person. *You can also order a la carte if you do not want the buffet.***

**1:45pm - 2:45pm:** Strolling the Rosebank neighborhood. Sites include the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum. The house was the home of Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci who may have been the actual inventor of the telephone. Italian revolutionary military hero Giuseppe Garibaldi came to live with Meucci in Staten Island in 1850. He contributed to Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946).

**2:45pm - 3:30pm**: Alice Austen House
https://aliceausten.org/alice-austen/
About the The Alice Austen House: This unique house museum is the historic home of American photographer, Alice Austen (1866-1952) who captured a changing New York City in more than 7000 photographs taken mostly around the turn of the twentieth century. She was one of America’s earliest and most prolific female photographers.

Austen documented her life on Staten Island and boldly ventured onto the streets of Manhattan to photograph the activities of immigrants and the working class. She was versatile and forged her own path beyond the restrictive Victorian expectations for women. Austen was a master tennis player, an early advocate for women riding bicycles, founder of the Staten Island Garden Club, and is said to be the first woman on Staten Island to own a car.

The house itself was built in the 1690's as small Dutch farmhouse. It is located along the shore of Lower New York bay. The House and its surrounding waterfront park are a nationally designated site of LGBTQ+ history, centering on the 56 year relationship between Alice Austen and her life partner Gertrude Tate, providing an important window into pre-Stonewall LGBTQ+ history.

**3:30pm - 4:00pm: Walk to Fort Wadsworth**:
Fort Wadsworth is one of the oldest military installations in the nation. The site occupies 226 acres on the northeastern shore of Staten Island, on the Narrows of New York Harbor. Rich in history and natural beauty, Fort Wadsworth affords you the opportunity to observe an important part of our nation's history, while offering magnificent views of New York Harbor. https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/historyculture/fort-wadsworth.htm

**Around 4:30pm: End of tour**: Some of you may choose to linger and wonder around the site. To return to the ferry, the S51 city bus departs from Bay Street and goes to the ferry terminal back in St. George (25 minute ride).

Cheers from Hank!
646-596-3005
hankorenstein@gmail.com
(pictured is the Alice Austen House).

A Staten Island Adventure! Sri Lankan Lunch and Visit to The Alice Austen House

Statue of Liberty Deli

RSVP's begin Saturday, October 12th at 10:00am. Space is set aside for new members first and 2nd timers who land on the waiting list. Email me at hankorenstein@gmail.com to request a spot.

This event is free with a voluntary donation to your organizer/guide.

**To Bring:** A picnic lunch, snacks, water to drink, a hat for the sun. Wear sturdy footwear. Please be fit enough to walk up and and down hills as we will encounter several steep areas in both parks. **Estimated walking distance is 6 miles.** We will have a lunch break with restrooms an an addiitonal break with restrooms later in the tour. Tour ends on Broadway at 211th Street convenient to both the A train (207th Street station), and the #1 at 215th Street. ***Optional afterparty for a drink and/or a bite after the walk.***

**Directions: Take the A train to 190th Street. Take the elevator up to Fort Washington Avenue and Cabrini Boulevard.** Once outside cross the streetand walk about one block south along the wall and to the left of the bus stop. Follow the wall until to reach the entrance to Mother Cabrini's Shrine. Address is 701 Fort Washington Ave.

**There are decent restrooms inside and I will be there to direct you.**

**Walk Description:**
After a short and informative visit to the pleasant Hudson Heights section of Washington Heights, we'll traverse Fort Tryon and Inwood Hill parks, two of NYC's most beautiful green spaces. Fort Tryon Park, features the lovely heather gardens and glorious Hudson River views and of the cliffs of the Palisades of New Jersey. We'll pass by The Cloisters, the Medieval Art branch of the Metropolitan Museum of art. The building itself is amazing: an assemblage of 13th century French and Spanish cathedrals.

Inwood Park features rugged, almost primeval terrain, caves and rock shelters once used by American Indians, and the last remaining salt marsh on Manhattan. Along the way, we’ll learn about the history and evolution of the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods which border the parks and take in some distinctive residential architecture from medieval to art deco. We'll also pass by the last remaining farmhouse in Manhattan and experience a bit of the residential section of Inwood and its art deco apartment buildings.

Cheers from Hank
646-596-3005

The Wilds of Manhattan: Fort Tryon & Inwood Hill Parks

St Frances Cabrini Shrine

Hank Orenstein's Exploring NYC History and Neighborhood

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