I am a fan of NY history ... its political history, literary/arts/music history, native history. Everything's so concentrated here, history is in your face *everywhere you turn* provided you know what you're looking at. It's fascinating. I grew up in the south which has its own complex history, so I especially love soaking in the history up here, and thinking about the way northern and southern states have reacted (mostly differently) to social issues for centuries now.
But yeah, even though I've been up here 10 years, I still say "wowww" when I walk by a townhouse where some writer lived, or I'm strolling through Prospect Park, and I read a plaque at the very spot where George Washington hid with his troops during the Revolution...
Anyone else?
Now I'm inspired to go read that book Gotham (isbn 0195140494) -- I bought it when it first came out, and have browsed through it, but never read it from cover to cover. Maybe that will be my dead-of-winter reading project (it's about 1400 pages!)
But yeah, even though I've been up here 10 years, I still say "wowww" when I walk by a townhouse where some writer lived, or I'm strolling through Prospect Park, and I read a plaque at the very spot where George Washington hid with his troops during the Revolution...
Anyone else?
Now I'm inspired to go read that book Gotham (isbn 0195140494) -- I bought it when it first came out, and have browsed through it, but never read it from cover to cover. Maybe that will be my dead-of-winter reading project (it's about 1400 pages!)
I know what you mean about NYC history, I'm also a fan. In NYC, history is everywhere, even if you don't know it's there. I grew up in Brooklyn. Back in the 1960s, learning the history of NYC was part of the curriculum of 7th grade. It was fascinating to us. We learned about the history of the boroughs, about battles & politics, how the city was unified, etc. I still remember it to this day.
Not far from where I grew up was a home with a plaque outside - it was where Jennie Jerome had lived. She's better known as Winston Churchill's mother. The Battle of Brooklyn (or of Long Island) was fought there during the Revolution; among those buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn are Henry Ward Beecher, Boss Tweed, William Livingston, Horace Greeley, and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. Historic Richmondtown Restoration (a colonial restoration) was not far from my later home on Staten Island, and the Conference House on the South Shore of Staten Island was where a meeting was held between the British and the colonists after the Battle of Brooklyn. History abounds everywhere, especially in Manhattan.
Not far from where I grew up was a home with a plaque outside - it was where Jennie Jerome had lived. She's better known as Winston Churchill's mother. The Battle of Brooklyn (or of Long Island) was fought there during the Revolution; among those buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn are Henry Ward Beecher, Boss Tweed, William Livingston, Horace Greeley, and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. Historic Richmondtown Restoration (a colonial restoration) was not far from my later home on Staten Island, and the Conference House on the South Shore of Staten Island was where a meeting was held between the British and the colonists after the Battle of Brooklyn. History abounds everywhere, especially in Manhattan.
BookJunkie wrote:
I am a fan of NY history ... its political history, literary/arts/music history, native history. Everything's so concentrated here, history is in your face *everywhere you turn* provided you know what you're looking at. It's fascinating. I grew up in the south which has its own complex history, so I especially love soaking in the history up here, and thinking about the way northern and southern states have reacted (mostly differently) to social issues for centuries now.
But yeah, even though I've been up here 10 years, I still say "wowww" when I walk by a townhouse where some writer lived, or I'm strolling through Prospect Park, and I read a plaque at the very spot where George Washington hid with his troops during the Revolution...
Anyone else?
Now I'm inspired to go read that book Gotham (isbn 0195140494) -- I bought it when it first came out, and have browsed through it, but never read it from cover to cover. Maybe that will be my dead-of-winter reading project (it's about 1400 pages!)
