NEWYORKSTATE QUADRICENTENNIAL EVENTS Hudson River Panorama: 400 Years of History, Art & C ulture at the Albany Institute of History and Art. Information at www.albanyinstitute.org. "New Amsterdam, Island at the Center of the World" exhibition at So uth Street Seaport Museum in N ew York City, 12 Sep tember - 7 Jan uary 2010 . Th e exhibit will show over 60 historic documents, cards, and maps of New York. On display will be rhe original 1626 letter Pieter Schaghen wrote to the "Staten Generaal" about acquiring Manhattan in exchange for goods wo rth 60 guilders, on loan from the Dutch Archives in The H ague and never before exhibited in the United States . (www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org)
HalfMoon recreating Henry Hudson's Voyage of Discovery. The expedition will fo llow, as closely as possible, the original route on the actual dates from 400 years ago . (www.halfmoon.mus.ny.us/schedule/2009/schedule.htm) Historic Ship Festival, 4-5 Sept., and the 17th Annual Running of the Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition, 6 September. (www.workingharbor.org) Floating exhibition of more than two dozen historic vessels traveling the waters of Lake Champlain, the Champlain Canal and Hudson River. Participating vessels include: 1907 tug Pegasus, 191 4 wooden-covered barge Lehigh Valley, and 193 1 fireboat]ohn j. Harvey. Don't miss the tour of the famed barge canal m otorship, the 256-foot Day Peckinpaugh. For schedules, events, and more info rm ation on participating vessels, visit: www. workingonwater.org.
Launch of Onrust One night in November, 16 13, Dutch fur trader Adriaen Block and his crew were put in a desperate situation when their vessel, Tijger, was destroyed by fire off the southern tip of what is now the Battery in Manhattan . The stranded men, with the help of the local Lenape Indians, immediately began building a new vessel, completing and launching the vessel the fo llowing April. Block named her Onrust (Restless) and soon set off exploring and charting the coastline and inland waterways between the Delaware River and Cape C od. Onrust is once again plying the waters around N ew York. O n 20 M ay 2009, a reproduction of Block's vessel was launched into the Mohawk Rive r in N ew York State by New Netherland Routes, Inc., On rust a non-profi r organization. The new Onrust rook three years to build. The vessel design was based on 17thcentury records and extensive archeological research on Dutch shipwrecks in rhe Netherlands, and her 2 1st century builders used 17thcentury boat building rechniques, in the same style and with similar materials as the original vessel. (www.theonrust.com) ANSWERS TO TRIVIA QUESTIONS FROM PAGE
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W'hy is New York the ''Empire State, "and if the Hudson River is the ''North River, "what is the South River? The story of how New York became the Empire State is said to go back to George Washington's tour of the colonies following the revolutionary war. H e was riding with New York Governor George C linton at sunset when they came upon a particularly beautiful vista, and the general was moved to observe: "Truly this is the seat of empire" (o r wo rds to that effect). So he meant the phrase in an aes theti c rather than a political or economic sense. Interestingly, some historians have placed the location somewhere along the Bronx River, perhaps in the borough of the same name. As ro the Norrh, South , and East Rivers: H enry Hudson's river was known to m ariners as the North River since the 17th centu ry, since it flows almosr directly out of rhe north at leasr as far north as Fort Edward. The Delaware River, the next major watercourse south of N ew York was called the So uth River by early Dutch and English settlers. On the East side of M anhattan Island , the Easr River flows north and south but rums East through H ellgate to Long Island Sound, New England, and points East. - D r. Joseph F Meany, Sea History Editorial Advisor and NY State H istorian Emeritus
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