Reflection

It is hard to believe that TAH is no longer.  Last week was the culmination of what has been an amazing journey.  I have learned so much, met so many amazing and talented educators, and had an awesome time.  As tired as I was when we finally got home from NYC I have looked back over the pictures and reviewed the week and am terribly sad to think we won't have a chance to discuss any more history or read any more biographies together. Martina, Libby, Anne, Charles, Ken, and all the other great scholars you have made this experience the most rewarding and worthwhile professional development I have received in my many years in the classroom.  You have valued us as professionals at a time when teachers are under attack and I hope you understand how important and valued that makes us feel.  To other TAHers thank you for sharing your talents and skills with me.  When I finally win the mega millions I plan on opening my own school and would like to hire all of you.

I still cannot decide what was the single highlight on the tour to New York, there were just too many.  Ellis Island, the Tenement Museum, our walking tours, Central Park, the Museum of New York City, Grant's Tomb, the Cloisters, the Grange, Chinatown, Harlem, 9/11 Memorial and so many others. I still think Ellis Island was the best because of the personal connection for me.

So thank you to MHC and good bye to all the TAHers we have met over the years.  I hope all our paths cross again soon, maybe at my "School for History".

Day 5

Well another fantastic day comes to an end.  Today we journeyed north to Grant's Tomb.  The largest tomb in this hemisphere.  We all remember the old "history joke" who's buried in Grant's Tomb?  Well the answer is no one Grant and his wife are entombed in sarcophaguses they are not buried in the ground. Certainly and impressive place for an interesting man.  Once we all left this site we split up and ventured off to the museums of our choice.  Linda and I had decided we wanted to see a little of Europe in NYC and planned on heading up to the Cloisters.  But before we got there we decided to take a little detour and find "The Grange", the only home ever built by Alexander Hamilton.  What a pleasant surprise we had.  This federal style home has been moved to its third location in Harlem.  It currently sits in the St.Nicholas Park in Harlem looking out over both the East River and the Hudson River, granted today you can't see them but you could in Hamilton's day. We took a tour and learned about Hamilton's early sex scandal, his many political and economic accomplishments and of course the notorious duel.  

The Grange

Once we left the Grange we boarded the M4 bus and road up to a northern point in Manhattan and traveled back in time to the 14th century of Europe as presented by the Rockefeller Family and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Cloisters is the closest thing to 14th century Europe anyone could find in the United States. The examples of Medieval and Renaissance artwork literally transformed us back to Europe.  I often had to remind myself that I was not roaming through a Gothic Cathedral in Europe but was on the banks of the Hudson River.  The Cloisters is a display of many artifacts gathered through out Europe , transported across the Atlantic and reassembled in Manhattan. The many religious artifacts, examples of Gothic architecture, recreated gardens were just amazing.  But perhaps the most impressive display shows the Unicorn Tapestries which were truly breath taking.  It was well worth our journey from the bottom of Manhattan to the top and back again.

A Garden at the Cloisters

Day 4

For a day that was supposed to be less walking than yesterday we sure covered some ground.  We headed off to Harlem first thing this morning and traced the movement of African Americans from the lower east side up to the northern part of Manhattan.  So many signs of growth, then decay, and now a rebuilding could be seen.  We finished our morning tour at the Schomburg Center with a wonderful display of the Obama presidency.  Lunch was at Miss Maude's where we got to experience real southern food from southern fried chicken that was out of this world, to collard greens, cat fish, corn bread and finished it all off with peach cobbler.  I could barely walk to the subway stop to make our connection to Central Park.  Ed provided much information about the various sights throughout the mid section of the park.  Because the park is so large and we were running out of time and steam some of us took a cab to our final museum of the day the Museum of the City of New York.  A most pleasant lady who coincidentally taught at Husson College in Bangor gave us a most informative tour of "The Grid' which traced the planning and development of the island of Manhattan.

From there five of us hurried down to Time Square and TKTS booth.  We arrived with minutes to spare before they closed but were able to get tickets to our first choice, War Horse.  We then rushed off to Lincoln Center and saw a moving play with life size horse, duck and bird puppets set during the First World War.  Just breath taking.  Well worth all the rush and certainly the highlight of our free time in New York.

Day 3

Wow, what a full day.  We headed out this morning off to the Tenement Museum in the lower east side of New York City.  This was a place I had only seen in vintage historic pictures showing Hester Street and the many immigrants with their pushcarts trying to make a living. I had read about "The Bend" or Mulberry Bend and Cherry Street but to stand there and see where these photos had been taken was humbling.  These were the places where the many immigrant groups that came from Ellis Island had come to live in the close and meager accommodations that tenements provided for immigrant families.  I couldn't image living in such a dark, dingy, and unhealthy set of rooms.  Three rooms for a family. Four families per floor through five floors.  Dark and narrow hallways and stairs, no running water until the 20th century, out houses out back with the water pump right beside.  Wow, when you think of all this it is amazing that anyone survived with their health.  Dave our guide was a wealth of information and stories which brought the families who had lived there to life.  After leaving we walked along Delancey Street and Ed pointed out the many images in the architecture indicating the many ,ethnic changes that have taken place in the lower east side.  From Protestant Church to Catholic, some then into synagogs ands some even onto Buddhist temples.  The buildings in the lower east side tell the story of the immigrants of America.  One group out and then next one in, and this has been happening since the first immigrants the Dutch, arrived.

We had lunch at the famous Katz Deli, only in New York can you get a corned beef on rye piled so high. Amazing.  We spent some down time roaming around Chinatown looking at all kinds of unique gifts. And then finished our visit to Chinatown with dinner at Joe's Ginger.  Authentic Chinese food, not much like the stuff we have in Maine.

We capped off our packed day with a subway ride to Brooklyn and a sunset walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  I took amazing pictures that I can use to show my students what I have only been able to describe to them before.  The huge Steel Cables that hang the road itself.  The various views of Brooklyn and the New York Skyline, all this as the sun set and the city lite up.  Just beautiful! Now to rest and get ready for tomorrow. Harlem, CEntral Park and the Museum of New York City.  Hopefully we can also get theatre tickets to see something on Broadway.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that there are still some good seats at the TKTS Booth.

Day Two in NYC

Liberty Island

The Main Registration Hall on Ellis Island

Wow what a busy and full day.  We got an early start today heading out through the old seaport area along the East River heading south towards Battery Park and the ferry out to Ellis Island.  Ed was a wealth of interesting information that certainly makes the trip more meaningful.  Once we arrived at Battery Park we boarded the ferry for the short ride out to Liberty Island were we got some great pictures of the Statue of Liberty.  She certainly is an amazing sight to see.  We continued on to Ellis Island where again Ed provided background and then we were off to follow in the footsteps of so many immigrants that arrived on our shores looking for the American Dream.  This had been the leg of the trip
that I was most looking forward to.  I couldn't help but picture my great-grandmother, Roslia Fazio, a young 17 year old woman arriving at the island with her mother, Francesca, and four younger siblings, Guiseppi, Gracia, Michela, and Alphonso .  The year was 1901.  They had just spent two weeks traveling from Santa Caterina Sicily and they had finally arrived in the Land of Promise. I could feel their excitement and fear as they climbed the stairs to meet the medical inspectors, then on to register, answering so many questions-- what is you name, your age, can you read and write, what is your occupation, how much money do you have, are you meeting anyone in America, do you have a job, what is your final destination, do you have a ticket, who bought the ticket for you?  They had all the correct answers, yes Rosalia could read and write, they did not have a job, they had $30 between all of them, they had a ticket on a boat that would take them on to Boston where they were meeting Rosalia's father Guiseppi.  They had made it IN. And then the rest is my family. Rosalia married another immigrant Gaetano Guttadauro, they would raise eight children who would all live the American Dream. My grandfather, Michael was the oldest.  Rosalia lived to the ripe age of 97 and until the end she always spoke in her broken English which most of us could barely understand, she could cook amazing Italian food and loved to have her family close.  She was an amazing woman who came alive for me again at Ellis Island.

The Standard Oil Building (SO -- ESSO--Exxon)

When we returned to Manhattan we continued our historic walk through the lower end of Manhattan.  Past the Standard Oil Building, the Customs House, the site of the first capital and location of Washington's Inauguration.  Then Wall Street and onto Broadway finally making it to Trinity Church and St. Paul's Chapel.  The emotions of seeing all the memorabilia from 9/11 brought tears to my eyes. We continued down to the Grown Zero, 9/11 Memorial.  So hard to believe the horors of what happend there.

9/11 Memorial Pool

Our First Day

 We have arrived in Brooklyn and stopped by Charles' on Green St.  Soooooo New Yorkish.  We had a wonderful time just relaxing and socializing.  The perfect start to a fantastic trip.  The flowers were in bloom, the weather warm, the company  outstanding.  Some of the crew even completed with some excavation and gardening work to help Charles out.  We had walked around Brooklyn stopping in Fort Greene Park.  Charles and Edward gave us the low down on some of the local history which is always interesting to hear.  We had a chance to skype with Martina and Julianna which was great and we all really wished Martina was here with us.  

A group of us ventured back to Manhattan by ourselves and feel like old pros on the subway.  Nate, Kym and I stopped at a sushi restaurant near the hotel for dinner and then decided to hit the pillow early.  Tomorrow is a big day off to Ellis Island followed by the 9/11 Memorial.  So much to see in so little time.                                                     

Interesting Blogs from Interesting Colleagues

First follow the journey of an English teacher turned history buff as she weaves her way through Gotham City! bryantsbios.blogspot.com

 Next you can trace the antics of a father on the loose in Gotham without his kids tagging along. Hilarious and heart wrenching. natesblogofawesomeness.blogspot.com