Governors Island

[ZippyTheChimp]

http://img115.imageshack.us/img_viewer_framed.php?loc=img115&image=govisland015mf.jpg&gal=img115/5751/govisland015mf.jpg

[yyy]

Beautiful images - as always :) I like the view of downtown Manhattan from the Governors Island.

[ablarc]

Governors Island public meeting on next steps in planning process, Great Hall, Fashion Institute of Technology, 27th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, 5pm-8pm, today, October 19th, 2005.

[ZippyTheChimp]

Thanks for the heads up.

[lofter1]

Interesting historical facts regarding Governors Island (aka "Nutten Island"):

Timeline of Palatine Immigration

1710:

The benevolent Queen Anne of England formed the design for the protection of her transatlantic frontier by establishing new settlements for displaced Lutheran and Protestant families of the German Palatine who were allies in King William's War 1684-97 ( England, Holland & Germany ) "the Grand Alliance" and Queen Anne's War "the Spanish Succession" 1700-13 against Louis XIV King of France ( Roman Catholic Church ).

... She sent 10 ships to New York and promised to settle them in the Schoharie Valley on land offered by the Mohawk Indians.

June 14th, 1710:

2,600 Palatines, driven from their homes by the ravages of two wars and religious persecution ( the Palatinate is along the Rhine river ), arrived at Nutten Island ( Governors Island ).

Huts were constructed and after a period of quarantine, they moved up the Hudson River valley 100 miles to seven camps.

More info: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyschoha/palatinetime.html

***************************************

My Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Conrad Weiser, and his family were among the first arrivals on Governors Island.


From an account of the voyage to the colonies:Early in the morning on June 13, 1710, the ship LYON (of Leith, Captain Stevens commander) drew into New York harbor with an escort, H.M.S. On board the LYON were 402 "poor Patines, among them thirteen year old Conrad Weiser" (whom Count Zinzendorf in good time was to style the Emperor of the the Iriquois) with his father and seven brothers and sisters.

It was good to see land: the sands, the Fort, the Battery outside its walls, the neat rows of houses, with rock, mountain, and forest in the back ground. It was better yet to feel solid ground underfoot when they disembarked at Nutten Island, now called Governors Island. Conrad had been on board since Christmas: some five months in English waters, where the LYON and nine other ships of the convoy had puttered about between London and Plymouth awaiting final orders; and seven or eight weeks on the ocean where Conrad lay sick and bewildered in the midst of tossing death.

The passengers were packed tightly below decks, amid smells, darkness, and vermin, with a subsistence allowance of sixpence a day per head. Poor food and bad water prepared the way for typhus, the "Palentine fever". The little children died, almost all of them, and a great number of their elders. Some two hundred souls were lost, a third of the passenger list. The ship's doctor, Thomas Benson, tells us that he "administered aid and Medicines, to about 330 p'sons which have all been sick at one time in the said passage and none but himself to assist them: during all the said time..."

Years later, after Conrad had become famous throughout the colonies, he wrote down for his children what he knew about his own early life. "I was little enough. The uprooting had been commplete, and the voyage from Plymouth to New York had interposed a dark barrier to recollection." His real life began on that Tuesday morning in mid-June of 1710...

More (from some distant cousin's website): http://www.familyorigins.com/users/s/m/e/Brent-S-Smeltzer/FAMO1-0001/d73.htm

[ZippyTheChimp]

Continue Governors Island development discussion here.

[brianac]

Governors Island Opens to Public This Saturday (http://www.observer.com/2008/governors-island-opens-public-saturday)

by Tom Acitelli (http://www.observer.com/node/36094)
Yesterday, 10:17 am


http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article-teaser/files/governorsilandAJP79.jpg (http://www.observer.com/2008/governors-island-opens-public-saturday) AJP79 via flickr

Governors Island opens to the public this Saturday and the ferry rides to the 172-acre spread are free (http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/directions.asp) from Manhattan. The island will be open every weekend through Oct. 5, and will have space for bike riding as well as will host art festivals and concerts.

© 2008 Observer Media Group,

[brianac]

http://www.govisland.com/Images/welcomelg3.gif

Governors Island will be open to the public every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 31st through October 5th. Enjoy bike riding, picnicking, concerts, art festivals, and more. The entire 92 acre National Historic District will be open to the public. The Island is open from 10 AM to 5 PM on Fridays, and from 10 AM to 7 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. The ferry ride and admission to the Island are FREE!

Governors Island has partnered with dozens of organizations to bring an unprecedented number of concerts, activities, programs, festivals, and more to the Island. For a full schedule of events, click here (http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/default.asp). For a ferry schedule, click here (http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/directions.asp).

Governors Island will be the site of future educational, non-profit and commercial facilities, as well as world-class open space. An acclaimed team, led by West 8, has been chosen to design the new Governors Island Park and Great Promenade. To learn about their ideas for these new open spaces, click here (http://www.park-centeroftheworld.org/).

To share your ideas about the future park, visit the “What’s Happening on Governors Island” exhibit on the Island, or leave your email address so we can keep you updated about the Island and its future.

Governors Island is pleased to welcome tens of thousands of visitors to the Island over the next four months. We hope to see you on the Island!

http://www.govisland.com/