The Cloisters

One of the lesser known museums in New York City can be found within the Hudson Heights' section of Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan. Known as The Cloisters, it is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and only holds medieval European works, which mostly belonged to American sculptor George Grey Barnard.
The original collection was purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., soon after he commissioned the planning of Ft. Tryon Park in 1917, though construction of the museum did not start until 1934.

Overseen by architect Charles Collens, parts of five French abbeys (Sant Miquel de Cuixà, Sant Guilhèm dau Desèrt, Bonnefont-en-Comminges, Trie-en-Bigòrra, and Froville) were transported - brick by brick - and reconstructed to make up most of the museum, from 1934 to 1939.

By the time the museum was finished, Rockefeller donated the land to the city of New York, as well as a large portion of his medieval art in addition to the Barnard acquisitions, including the famous "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestry of 1495.
While the five French abbeys (listed above) consist much of the architecture of The Cloisters, there are also a number of chapels within the building, such as the Gothic chapel of the church of Saint Leonhard (from Austria, Spain - dated 1340)...

...to the Fuentidueña Apse (dated 1175), which was part of the San Martín church at Castile-León, Spain.

Besides the architecture, there are about five thousand works of art (from the 12th to 15th Centuries) to be found throughout the museum - including statues...

...jewelry...

...stained glass, manuscripts, tapestries, paintings, religious items...

...and a number of tomb effigies.

The museum also has a library, which is only one of Metropolitan Museum's thirteen, and it holds 15,000 books, as well as the original museum glass lantern slides, dealer and scholars records, and plenty of old maps,
Though closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, The Cloisters is open daily, 10am until almost 5pm, and there is only a suggested donation, but do be generous.

Quester I (Calvert Vaux Park) and the Coney Island Parachute Jump

There isn't much to see in Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, Brooklyn, but if you happen to be in the area, do check out its shoreline. The park's ground was created out of sand, and rock, trenched from the construction of the Verazanno-Narrows Bridge, and while it holds a few baseball diamonds, and a soccer field, the real reason those who visit this blog would want to stop by would be to check out the remains of Quester I, an abandoned submarine.

In 1966, a Brooklyn Navy Yard ship worker named Jerry Bianco had the idea to build a small submarine to raise the wreck of the SS Andrea Doria, which shipwrecked off the coast of Nantucket Island on July 17, 1956.
After finding a handful of investors, he, and his two sons, began construction the following year, using mostly salvaged metal.

By 1970, he had finished his dream, and created a 40 ft (12 m), 83 ton (75 metric ton) submarine, painted with yellow zinc chromate. It passed Coast Guard and Navy inspections, and was ready to launch on October 19, 1970.
Sadly, when lowering it into Coney Island Creek, the crane operator did not listen to Bianco's instructions, and the sub tipped sideways making it unusable.

Then docked, Jerry worked on the submersible for another year or so, but investors - already weary from its poor launch - backed out, and, without funding, the Quester I just sat there for years.
A storm in 1981 loosened it from its posts, and it became lodged in the muddy banks of the creek, where it has sat since.
If you're into dystopian landscapes, or have a case of cacophilia, keep walking along the shore of the park, and you will see sights that will certainly delight you.

If you're on the Coney Island side of the creek, you can still see the Quester I submarine from Kaiser Park, though nowhere near as close as if you were on the Gravesend side.

Still, being on this side of Coney Island Creek does have its advantages, such as seeing the old Parachute Jump up close.

Originally constructed for the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens, the now-defunct ride was moved to Coney Island in 1941, as part Steeplechase Amusement Park. It is the only ride, and part, of that park still around today.
Built by the Life Savers candy company for $15,000, two passengers were strapped into one of twelve seats under a closed parachute, then lifted by a cable to the top. There, a latch system would open, dropping them, with their descent slowed by the chute. Each two-person seat took three people to manage, making the ride rather expensive to operate, though it cost adults only 40¢, and children 25¢.

Steeplechase Park bought the tower for $150,000, and the complete ride was disassembled, and moved to its current location.

While the park closed in 1964, the Parachute Jump was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and New York City recognized it as a landmark in 1989.

In 2004, Leni Schwendinger Light Projects was commissioned to create LED lighting for the Parachute Jump. Using 8,000 LED lights, the project debuted in July of 2006, with six computer-programmed animated lighting scenarios.
There were other parks in the area, such as Astroland (1962 - 2008), but, like Steeplechase Park, many of its rides were taken down a little after closing, though some stayed for much longer.

In 2013, the current funfair, Luna Park, was evacuated because one of the last remaining rides from Astroland, the Astrotower (aka Tower to the Stars), began swaying. Within days, the gyro-tower was gone, and Coney Island's scenery changed once again.

Houdini's Grave

In Glendale, Queens there is a necropolis known as the "Cemetery Belt"; a large group of graveyards pushed there due to the need for space thanks to the Rural Cemeteries Act of 1847. Among them (not too far from the J train, walking north on Cypress Hill Street) sits a small a Jewish mortuary called Machpelah Cemetery.

Most of the memorial park is abandoned, and unkempt, with even the office buildings being empty - one of which was bulldozed in 2014. Walking around, one can see why this funerary ground has many dubbing it the creepiest grave site in the city.

There are few sights to see here, besides two graves of note, both of which are in the same family plot.

Here lies Eric Weiss, who - at 17 years of age - changed his name to Harry Houdini.

On Halloween of 1926, world famous magician, and escape-artist, Houdini died of peritonitis, due to a ruptured appendix, because two days before some idiot unexpectedly (and purposefully) punched him in the stomach several times, as he was reclining in recovery from a broken ankle.
In pain, Houdini went on to perform his last show at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, MI. After his death, his body was returned to New York, and buried on November 4th, with over 2,000 in attendance.
Though the crest of the Society of American Magicians adorns his family's plot...

...many locals were upset when a bust of his likeness was added the following year, because images of the dead are not allowed in Jewish cemeteries.

This has not stopped vandals from either destroying or stealing it, as it has been desecrated four times between 1975 and 1993. The Society of American Magicians gave up replacing it, and even stopped care of the grounds. In 2011, the Harry Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA, replaced the bust, and decided to pay for someone to take care of the grave site.

The other distinguished burial here is of Ferenc Dezső Weiss, who was Houdini's younger brother, and was also a magician and escape artists, billing under the name Theodore Hardeen.

Hardeen was the first to perform escape stunts in view of the audience, over hiding behind a curtain. He had also starred in a few movies, such as the Warner Bros short Medium Well Done, and the hilariously bizarre 1941 film Hellzapoppin'.
At 69 years old, he died of complications during surgery, only a year after he founded the Magician's Guild.
If you are thinking of visiting, I would suggest any day of the week, besides Saturdays when the gates are locked due to Shabbat, as well as Houdini's death anniversary of Halloween, because of the deluge of fans, and the curious, plus there tends to be a heavy police presence.

African Burial Ground National Monument

In 1991, a $275 million project began for the construction of a federal office building at 290 Broadway in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan. In October of that year, the General Services Administration announced that intact burials from the largest colonial-era cemetery for freed and enslaved Africans had been discovered during excavations. Though an Environmental Impact Statement was commissioned upon purchase of the site, archaeological surveys predicted no remains would be found, due to the long history of development in the area.
As the GSA attempted construction and excavation at the same time, the African-American community felt the graves were not receiving proper respect, and the area required a more thorough archaeological study, as well as a plan to protect the remains.
In 1992, they halted construction, and a fund was set up to handle further excavations. In total, 420 burials were found, but historians estimate 15,000 to 20,000 were buried during the 1700s, in what was called the "Negroes Burial Ground", which is New York's earliest known African-American cemetery.
While the site became a National Historic Landmark in 1993, and the Ted Weiss Federal Building was soon finished, an area was set aside to rebury the remains. Congress approved the funds for a memorial in 2003, and it was made a National Monument in 2006, though the monument was not completed until 2007.

Made of granite, from South Africa and the United States to symbolize both coming together, the 25 ft (8 m) shrine holds, within an area named the "Circle of Diaspora", a map of the Atlantic ocean known as the Middle Passage, where slaves were transported from Africa to North America. One may enter the circle via the Ancestral Libation Chamber, through "The Door of Return", which is in reference to "The Door of No Return" (a name given to West African ports involved in the slave trade). The mounds located before the monument's door are where the remains were reinterred .

In 2010, a museum was opened inside the Ted Weiss Federal Building, to give visitors a history of the finds, as well as of the site. Within the permanent exhibit, "Reclaiming Our History", Amaze Design and Studio EIS created a life-size depiction of African immigrants performing a funeral for an adult and child. There is also a wall with all 420 photos of the remains found...

...as well as artifacts of those inhumed, including money, jewelry, clothing and tools, plus a replica of the wooden Ghana reburial coffins where the deceased were re-entombed.

Once done with your visit there, you can walk a few blocks over, just behind 1 Police Plaza, to also see the last remnant of the Rhinelader Sugar House that was believed to have once been used as a prison by British forces during the American Revolutionary War.

Just off Duane Street, the window is embedded into a wall of a small utility building behind the New York Police Department Headquarters, and dates to 1763. The sugar shack / sap house was replaced by an eleven-storey loft building called Rhinelander Building in 1892. That multi-unit home was demolished in 1968 to make way for the NYPD HQ.
If you'd like to see more of the old Rhinelader Sugar House you'll have to visit Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, which holds a large section of the building, but I'm saving more on that stop for another post.

The Rarely Seen of Central Park

I don't often cover highly trafficked spots here, but if you're stuck with a group who wants to go to Central Park, why not show them to what often goes unnoticed in Manhattan's largest natural ground?
With over 40 million visitors per year, there are a few areas often not trampled by tourists, though sites like the Alice In Wonderland statue are definitely a sight to see.

Commissioned by philanthropist George Delacorte, created by Spanish sculptor José de Creeft, and cast by Modern Art Foundry of Long Island City, the bronze statue was dedicated in 1959, and contains seven bronze plaques with the lines from the poem The Jabberwocky.
Otherwise, we'll begin in the northwestern section of the grounds, and work our way around, starting with Blockhouse No. 1, which is the second oldest structure in Central Park.

While the foundation dates back to the time of British occupation, the fort that now stands there was finished in 1814, for the War of 1812, two days before the Treaty of Ghent was signed.

Assembled by volunteers out of red sandstone blocks carved from the Manhattan bedrock, under the direction of General Joseph Gardner Swift, the station was built awaiting a British invasion that never came. It was later used for storing ammunition, and then as a location to celebrate patriotic holidays.
While continuing south, one can stroll through the North Woods for some bird-watching, and find themselves in The Ravine, which holds many wonderful man-made waterfalls that flow from the stream known as The Loch. Created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the area was planned as an escape from the urban environment, and is one of the few spots in the park where you cannot see the city.

The area also has Huddlestone Arch...

...and Glen Span Arch.

Walking the  west side of the park, the next stop stems from 89th to 81st Street, and is called Seneca Village.
Nearly 200 years ago, it was the largest community of free African-American property owners in New York City, after Andrew Williams and Epiphany Davis purchased land there in 1825. By 1855 the area had 250 residents, and held 70 houses, but public acquisition of the land began the following year. The New York State legislature authorized the use of eminent domain, and moved out the close to 1,600 people who lived within the range zoned for the creation of Central Park.
After public interest grew, archaeologists and scholars began excavation of the site in the late 90s, with the founding of The Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History in 1998. One of the foundations of the homes can be seen just south of Mariner's Gate Playground, near West 84th Street.

Now going into a section of the park known as The Ramble (also part of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's 1857 "Greensward" plan), it is another section of the park meant to be a getaway from the bustle of city life. There you can find the Ramble Cave.

Originally discovered filled with fertile soil, the cave was soon emptied. Though opened as a popular attraction near the Ramble Arch, the entrance was sealed off in the 1930s. Along the public path, one can still see the steps leading to the cave's opening.

Throughout The Ramble (as well as much of the park), you can also see many of the 450 million-year-old boulders pushed here by the Wisconsin glacier about 12,000 years ago.

The next location is normally kept secret, so it's for serious hunters only: the Central Park Bolt.

Found north of 65th Street, in line with The Dairy, the survey bolt is believed to be one of the only left from John Randel's city grid, known as The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811.
Heading back north, and on the eastern side of the park, we come across the King Jagiello Monument.

This statue is of of king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Władysław II Jagiełło. Built for the 1939 New York World's Fair, by Polish sculptor Stanisław K. Ostrowski (commemorating the Battle of Grunwald in 1410), it originally stood at the Fair's entrance. The bronze monument was a replica of a memorial in Warsaw, but that one was converted into bullets by Germans after the occupation of their capital during World War II. The replica was moved to Central Park in July of 1945, and unveiled by Polish Count Józef Kazimierz Krasicki.
Just a few steps north, and behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art is an obelisk from Heliopolis, Egypt. It dates to the time of the 18th Dynasty of Thutmose III (1479 - 1425 BCE), and actually has nothing to do with the reign of Cleopatra.

You can read more about the oldest, man-made object, found outdoors in New York City, as well as see other photos, in an earlier This Hidden City post here.
Keep walking north on the park's east side, and you will come to the Conservatory Garden, designed by Gilmore D. Clarke, landscape architect for Robert Moses. The entrance is the old Vanderbilt Gate, that previously allowed access to the courtyard of Cornelius Vanderbilt II's chateau on 58th Street and 5th Avenue. While this is a nice break on this walk, I'm more interested in letting you know about the remains of the 1842 Academy of Mount St. Vincent, now known as McGowan’s Pass.

The Academy closed in 1850, and was replace by a hotel, as well as a museum, and a tavern. The first tavern burned down in 1881, and another (McGown’s Pass Tavern) was built in its place. While torn down in 1917, the original foundations are still there, but Central Park Conservancy uses much of the field for the production of mulch and compost.
Right nearby is Fort Clinton, and its two cannons - one of which is 230 years old, and was recently (2013) found to be fully loaded.

The once-armed weapon was from a sunken British ship in the East River. It was donated to the park in 1865, and moved around, until finally installed at Fort Clinton in 1905. Removed in 1996 by the Central Park Conservancy to protect it from vandalism, workers cleaning it found it was still loaded. The gunpowder has since been removed, but the cannonball is still within the chamber.
For jazz fans, the last item of note is for you, and while it may seem outside the boundaries of Central Park, it is considered part of it. It's a small circle plot on the very northeast corner, known as Duke Ellington Circle (formerly named Frawley Circle), at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue, and it holds a 25 ft (7.6 m) tall, bronze statute of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, and his piano, held up by nine nude caryatids.

The memorial was created by Mexican sculptor Robert Graham, and erected in 1997, thanks to the Duke Ellington Memorial Fund.