Governor's Island: Taken from NYC Harbour, July - 2008.


From May 31st until October 12th, Governors Island is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, the Island is open from 10 AM to 5 PM; on Saturdays and Sundays, the Island is open from 10 AM to 7 PM.

HISTORY:

The Native Americans of the Manhattan region referred to the Island as Pagganck (“Nut Island”) after the Island’s plentiful hickory, oak and chestnut trees. Its location made the Island a perfect fishing camp for local tribes and many residents of the area used the Island seasonally. In June of 1637, Wouter Van Twiller, representative of Holland, purchased Governors Island from the Native Americans of Manahatas for two ax heads, a string of beads, and a handful of nails. Though he was a representative of the Dutch Government, Van Twiller purchased the Island for his private use. The Island, thereafter known as Noten Eylant or Nutten Island, was confiscated by the Dutch Government a year later.

In 1664 the English captured New Amsterdam, renaming it New York, and took Nutten Island, which had been left unfortified by the Dutch. The Island, however, switched hands between the British and the Dutch over the next 10 years until the British regained exclusive control of the Island for the “benefit and accommodation of His Majesty's Governors.” Although it was not officially named until 1784, it thus came to be called Governors Island.

The Island’s strategic location resulted in its use as a military facility by British and American forces for over 200 years. Following the British evacuation of New York in 1776, Americans fortified the Island in fear of further advances by the British navy. When fighting broke out in August, the English overpowered General George Washington and his men, and American forces retreated from Long Island and Governors Island. After the Revolution, the Island reverted back to New York State, and remained inactive for several years. In 1794, with the country in need of a system of coastal defenses, construction began on Fort Jay, on high ground in the center of the Island. In 1800, New York transferred the Island to the United States government for military purposes. Between 1806 and 1809, the Army reconstructed Fort Jay and built Castle Williams on a rocky outcropping facing the Harbor. During the War of 1812, artillery and infantry troops were concentrated on Governors Island.

The Island continued to serve an important military function until the 1960’s. During the American Civil War, it was used for recruitment and as a prison for captured Confederate soldiers. Throughout World Wars I and II, the Island served as an important supply base for Army ground and air forces.

Physically, the Island changed greatly during the early twentieth century. Using rocks and dirt from the excavations for the Lexington Avenue Subway, the Army Corps of Engineers supervised the deposit of 4,787,000 cubic yards of fill on the south side of Governors Island, adding 103 acres of flat, treeless land by 1912, and bringing the total acreage of the Island to 172. In 1918, the Army built the Governors Island Railroad, which consisted of 1-? miles of track, and three flat cars carrying coal, machinery and supplies from the pier to shops and warehouses. Six years later, a municipal airport was proposed for the Island. Instead, Liggett Hall, a large structure designed by McKim, Mead & White, was built and became the first Army structure to house all of the facilities for an entire regiment.

With the consolidation of U.S. Military forces in 1966, the Island was transferred to the Coast Guard. This was the Coast Guard’s largest installation, serving both as a self-contained residential community, with an on-Island population of approximately 3,500, and as a base of operations for the Atlantic Area Command and Maintenance and Logistics Command as well as the Captain of the Port of New York.

Over the years, Governors Island has served as the backdrop for a number of historic events. In 1986, the Island was the setting for the relighting of the newly refurbished Statue of Liberty by President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, President Reagan hosted a U.S.-U.S.S.R. summit with Mikhail Gorbachev on Governors Island, and in 1993 the U.N. sponsored talks on the Island to help restore democratic rule in Haiti.

In 1995, the Coast Guard closed its facilities on Governors Island and, as of September 1996, all residential personnel were relocated. President Clinton designated 22 acres of the Island, including the two great forts, as the Governors Island National Monument in January 2001, and on April 1, 2002, President George W. Bush, Governor Pataki, and Mayor Bloomberg announced that the United States of America would sell Governors Island to the people of New York for a nominal cost, and that the Island would be used for public benefit. At the time of the transfer, deed restrictions were created that prohibit permanent housing and casinos on the Isl

The cable was used to lower ore from the mine to the bottom of the wash.

This photo appeared in the following ideotrope albums:

Biking the Mojave Fall 2007 - Introduction
I biked through Death Valley in October 1996. It was 109°F at Furnace Creek. The area is beautiful, but it was way too hot at that time of year. I knew I wanted to come back on my bicycle when it was cooler. This year it worked out to take about 3 weeks after Thanksgiving. I ended up spending 18 days to cycle from Palm Springs to Las Vegas. I spent about half of that time in Death Valley NP. In Baker I met a group of cyclists on racing bikes with a support vehicle. They were cycling from Palm Springs to Las Vegas in 2 days. I saw a lot more desert than they did.
Coachella Valley and Joshua Tree National Park
I crossed the Coachella Valley on Ramon Rd. It was over 70°F, probably the warmest day of the trip. It wasn't 'til I turned onto Thousand Palms Rd. that I felt like I was heading out into the desert on my own. The San Andreas Fault system runs along the northern end of the Coachella Valley. The faults allow groundwater to rise to the surface resulting in a number of California fan palm oases. It's wonderful to see oases in the desert.
It was a 1300m climb on Berdoo Canyon Rd. to the Coachella Valley-Pleasant Valley saddle in Joshua Tree NP. I didn't see a single person or vehicle in Berdoo Canyon. Climbing out of Pleasant Valley I saw the first person, a fellow adventurer. Patrick was walking solo across Joshua Tree NP from west to east. That's a heck of a trek. That park is huge and has only one known spring. Patrick had set up two water caches before his trip.
Amboy Road and Mojave National Preserve
I bought enough food in 29 Palms to last 4 days to Baker. Heading east on the Amboy Rd. I met the only other touring cyclist of the trip. He had come down from Bishop through Death Valley NP, Baker, Kelso, Amboy - much the same route I was planning to take. When I met him, he had run out of food. I shared some almonds with him but didn't have much sympathy with his plight. The reason he didn't buy food in Baker was because there wasn't a health food store! Well, I told him there was a grocery store in 29 Palms, but it might not be up to his standard.
One of the things I was looking forward to on this trip was experiencing the transition zone between the Sonoran Desert (lower, farther south) and the Mojave Desert (higher, farther north). Creosote bushes grow in both, but most other flora is limited to one ecosystem or the other. In the transition zones you can see a mix of vegetation. What I saw ended up being less dramatic than Washington County, Utah where the Colorado Plateau, the Basin and Range country, and the Mojave Desert all come together. Joshua Trees were the main ecosystem indicator for me. I knew I was climbing high when I started to see them.
I was surprised how much traffic there was on the Amboy Rd. It wasn't much, but a lot of the paved roads that I was on during the trip would have one car every 10-30 minutes and perhaps none all night. The only truly busy roads were the road north out of Baker (on a Saturday morning) and the Pahrump-Las Vegas superhighway which has a wonderful bicycle lane.
I climbed Sheep Hole Pass to get into the Amboy Valley. It was in the Amboy Valley where I became accustomed two aspects important to cyclists in the Mojave:
Distances are deceiving. You can see really far. It takes much longer to cross these valleys that it appears that it would.
The slight inclines up alluvial fans or other fill climb a lot more than they appear to. In Colorado I'm not accustomed to seeing the whole climb since there are usually canyon climbs here. Leaving Amboy, for example, I climbed over 3000 ft. on a slowly rising alluvial plane. It took hours.
I enjoyed time off the bike to walk out to and up Amboy Crater. The following day I climbed to the top of the Kelso Dunes. And one day later I climbed one of the cinder cones east of Baker. I enjoyed having a diversion each day. Each of those areas is beautiful in its own way. The creosote bushes in the Amboy Valley are particularly green because of the shallow water table. Kelso Dunes are simply fantastic, and the cinder cone area with over 30 cinder cones and not another person felt like another planet.
In Baker I bought enough food to last 10 days and ate at the Mad Greek at my brother's recommendation. I had taken a rest day the previous day because of rain, and Baker was a bit flooded. Folks were out pushing water around with brooms. At the store the locals were telling each other how much their roofs leaked.
Death Valley National Park
Heading north of Baker the saddle that separates the Silurian Valley from Death Valley is only about a 50' climb. From there I left the pavement and stopped at Saratoga Springs to see the incredible wetlands in the desert. I had