from the film THE BRAVE MAN
I’m just back from a week in my home town of New
York, and while it’s pretty far East to be the West by some standards, it all
depends on where – and when – you are sitting.
In the time of DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, the Mohawk River was the West, and the Mohawk is a
tributary of the Hudson River, which runs through New York City.
The Old Stone House
Anyway, I was surprised and delighted to learn that
August 27th of 2013 is the 237th Anniversary of a crucial
fight in the War of Independence
known as The Battle of Brooklyn, and
further, that the anniversary will be marked by several events this week – if you
are in or near New York, I urge you to attend!
The Old Stone House
In the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, on 3rd
Street, between 4th and 5th Avenues, surrounded by brownstones,
sits a one-block park known as Washington Park.
An old house sits in the center, surrounded by playgrounds. When I was growing up in the 1960s, I knew
there was something historical there, but the neighborhood was so tough, and
the park so drug-ridden that you didn’t even drive slowly by it. Now the area in gentrified and welcoming, and
the park is clean and attractive, and most importantly, the Old Stone House is
accessible. The Old Stone House was
built by a Dutch farmer, and was already nearly a century old when, in 1776, it
became a fortified British Army position.
Map from the Old Stone House website
Shortly after the July 4th 1776 signing
of the Declaration of Independence, 32,000 British and Hessian soldiers –
German mercenaries – sailed to The Colonies.
In the area of New York they launched a series of lightning attacks on
the Americans, and overran their outer defenses, poising the Continental Army
on the brink of collapse. Against the
thousands of British troops were 400 American soldiers. To quote from the Old Stone House pamphlet, “In
a feat of sheer heroism, General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) organized
several companies of Maryland and Delaware soldiers and attacked the British
positions at The Stone House. This
provided a brief window for the Americans caught behind enemy lines to escape
across the Gowanus Creek to the safety of the American fortifications in
Brooklyn Heights. Two nights later, under
the cover of darkness and fog, General Washington effected his legendary
retreat across the East River, saving his army to fight another day.”
The Old Stone House had been allowed to deteriorate
and nearly disappear, until it was rebuilt, largely with the original stones,
during the 1930s, as a project of the W.P.A.(part of President Roosevelt’s ‘New
Deal’ program, the Works Progress Administration).
Among the activities of the week-long observance, a
display of 85 Revolutionary War Flags and their histories will be open now
through Sunday, August 25th, at Green-Wood Cemetery, 5th
Avenue at 25th Street, in Brooklyn.
On Wednesday, August 21st, at 6pm, you can ride a canoe in
the Gowanus Canal and learn about this infamous escape route for American
soldiers (learn more here: www.gowanuscanal.org).
The Arch at Grand Army Plaza
On Friday, August 25th, from 5 – 7
pm you can enjoy the Battle of Brooklyn neighborhood walk, led by Hunter
College Archeology Prof. William J. Parry.
It starts at the northwest corner of the entrance to Prospect Park at
Grand Army Plaza (a beautiful locale, which honors not the American Revolution
but the Civil War – Grand Army Plaza as in Grand
Army of the Republic). Wear
comfortable shoes and bring twelve bucks – learn more here: 718-768-3195 info@theoldstonehouse.org. Also on Friday, 8:30 at the Old Stone House
Dorothy Fennel and Concrete Timbre perform The
Age of Pain(e), based on the writings of Thomas Paine (they perform part
two at the same time on Saturday).
Also on Saturday, at 10 a.m. sharp, a Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial Ceremony will
be held at the Martyrs Monument at Fort Green Park. 718-499-7600. From 11am to 3 pm you can Learn To Cook Like a Soldier at the
Vander Ende-Onderdonk House (ten bucks, info at 718-456-1776, ridgewoodhistoricalsociety@gmail.com,
http://www.onderdonkhouse.org/). From 11 am to 4 pm witness The Great Escape With Reenactors from
General John Glover’s Marblehead Regiment at Main Street/Brooklyn Bridge
Park (718-768-3195, www.brooklynbridgepark.org).
There’s also a Scavenger Hunt at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, more music and
monologues, and from 5 to 9 a Revolutionary War Cocktail Party at the Old Stone
House.
On Sunday, August 5th from 10 am until
after 2 there will be the Battle of
Brooklyn Commemoration at the Green-Wood Cemetery, which will include
trolley tours (reservations required), lectures, living history, reenactments,
period games and period food, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley as guest
speaker, and the reading of the names of the Maryland 400.
The Old Stone House is open every Saturday and
Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm, and you can learn more at their website, www.theoldstonehouse.org. You can also enjoy an 8 part audio/video tour
about the Battle of Brooklyn, narrated by John Turturro, here: http://theoldstonehouse.org/battle-of-brooklyn/tour/
.
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER HOME LOCATED
I attended NYU Film School in the 1970s, which is in
the downtown Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village. The heart of the Village was 8th
Street, and if you crossed 4th Avenue, 8th Street would
change its name to St. Mark’s Place for two blocks, before dead-ending at the
start of Alphabet City, starting with Avenue A.
I used to pass an old steam- bath called the St. Marks Baths, and on
their wall was a plaque identifying the building as the former home of novelist
James Fenimore Cooper, who fascinated readers with his Leatherstocking Tales, the most famous of them being LAST OF THE
MOHICANS.
As one of the most popular and influential and
talented Western writers of the nineteenth century, I wanted to get a picture
of the plaque for the Round-up. My
friend Jonathan and I marched up and down the two-block street, but the plaque
was nowhere to be seen. The Baths is
gone, just like Cooper, but I was fairly sure that I knew which building it
was, and snapped a picture. Jon’s
research confirmed this – apparently the former Cooper manse is now the Trash
& Vaudeville Boutique. I’ve dropped
a line to the James Fenimore Cooper Society website, and perhaps they’ll have
more info.
Pretty sure this was Cooper's home,
but where's the plaque?
THE WRAP-UP
That’s all for this week’s Round-up – as I said, I’ve
been out of time, and have some catching up to do.
Have a great week!
Happy Trails,
Henry
All Original Contents Copyright August 2013 by Henry
C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
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