| Wednesday, November 26, 2008 |
17:32 - A little history with your tea and crumpets
http://www.lohud.com/article/20081125/NEWS03/811250389/1019/RSS0102
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This was pretty cool to see yesterday evening:
During the late 19th century, Evacuation Day was celebrated annually in New York City - a sort of Fourth of July afterthought, with parades, bands and reenactment of the tearing down of the British flag in Battery Park.
For years, bonfires were lit on high ground along the Hudson to mark the day, just as they had been for signaling during the war. This year, a dozen 2,000-watt spotlights - five in New York and seven in New Jersey - will create a 110-mile chain of lights from Beacon, along the Hudson River, to Princeton, N.J. They will include one at Bear Mountain. The lights will be lit at 5:01 p.m. and operate until 9 p.m.
Four huge floodlights swiveling around from the top of Bear Mountain into the misty frozen sky. (This also explains the giant floodlit flag hanging above the middle of the bridge span.) I wish I'd been able to get photos, or that they'd have come out even if I had; Google Earth to the rescue to help picture it:
Very cool that they're calling attention to a little-known anniversary. I knew of the day; I just didn't know what the actual date was.
A private reenactors group, the Brigade of the American Revolution, will stage a mock ceremony in which a British officer gives the key to New York City to one of Washington's officers.
While that didn't actually happen, the little drama symbolizes the transfer of power that ultimately ended the war, two years after Washington's victory at Yorktown, said park service spokesman Michael Callahan.
Reenactors also will lay wreaths at the graves of Alexander Hamilton, Declaration of Independence signer Francis Lewis and Continental Army officers buried in nearby Trinity Church.
One thing I'm unabashedly enjoying about living here is the history, the stories you unearth just by turning over rocks. Fascinating to think of how many of these roads and waterways are essentially the same as they were 250 years ago; El Camino Real in California is one thing, but this is like having one of those running through every downtown.
This, though, is hardly surprising, I guess:
"The event is not about the war but about who served, regardless of what uniform they wore, including the Germans who fought with the British, the French, the civilians, the African-Americans, all have a story to be told," Callahan said. "It is really about reconciliation."
Of course it is. Sigh.
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Brian Tiemann
