In New Amsterdam, the Half Moon Drops Anchor at the Battery, and Other Events of NY400 Week
From Fall 2009 |
NY400 Week, a celebration of Holland on the Hudson, continues through September 13, Harbor Day.
• SHIPS: The Half Moon (above), a replica of Henry Hudson's ship and operated by The New Netherland Museum, docked at the Battery yesterday. This week students will take part in the 10th annual Fall trip that recreates Hudson's voyage up the Hudson. See official website for more. In nearby waters, two Dutch naval vessels are also engaging in special activities related to the 400th anniversary of Hudson's "discovery" of New York, and sailboats in the Flying Dutchman class are racing around the harbor. These ships and boats will join others in the Holland on the Hudson flotilla on Harbor Day.
• EVENTS: The New Island Festival gets underway today on Governor's Island. See page at NY 400, the official website of the Government of The Kingdom of the Netherlands for the celebrations of NY400. Another eagerly-awaited event is the New Amsterdam Market, Sunday, September 13, on South Street, between Beekman Street and Peck Slip, with a serious group of quality vendors. See official website. More NY400 Week event info at nycgo.com.
• IMAGES: See more moody and atmospheric WOTBA pictures of the Half Moon, along with plain ones of the New Amsterdam Village, a temporary Dutch Village set up on Bowling Green, in this set on Flickr WOTBA. The village is open daily through September 14, 2009 from 11 until 7 p.m.
• NEWS: A 13-year-old Dutch girl wants to be the youngest person to sail around the world solo. The government thinks she's too young. Read the story (Yahoo News).
• MAPS: Click on this link, http://marinetraffic.com/ais/, to see a fascinating map with live views of marine traffic, created by the University of the Aegean. Note the busy ports of the Netherlands, especially near Rotterdam. (Thanks to NewYorkology for sharing the link)
"There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs - commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme down-town is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.
Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall northward. What do you see? - Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries."- Chapter i - Loomings, p. 1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Image of the Half Moon. The Battery, New York. September 9, 2009 by Walking Off the Big Apple.
Comments
I love that early passage from Moby Dick. It's so evocative of the deep feelings we have for the island, the river, the harbor, and the sea.
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