Maybe we lucked out, perhaps it was off season, as we approached Annapolis we called the Inns of Annapolis and got a reservation at what turned out to be one of a our favorite finds.. a room at the inn…it was comfortable, charming, spacious and in a perfect location….
Did you know….Woodrow Wilson, James Madison, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jimmy Stewart, Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Bradley, Steve Forbes, Queen Noor of Jordan, Ralph Nader, Meg Whitman, Michelle Obama, Jeff Bezos, David Petraeus, Brook Shields, and Sonia Sotomayor are all Princeton alum?
Loaded with tradition and history….
Nassau Hall was, at the time of its completion in 1756, the largest stone building in the colonies. It was much admired and provided the inspiration for other college buildings, notably Hollis Hall at Harvard, University Hall at Brown, Dartmouth Hall at Dartmouth, and Queens Hall at Rutgers.
“We do everything in the plainest and cheapest manner, as far as is consistent with Decency and Convenience, having no superfluous Ornaments,” President Aaron Burr, Sr., wrote a benefactor in Scotland, and this was the guiding principle in the design of Nassau Hall. The trustee minutes mention a plan by William Worth, a local stonemason, and another plan by Dr. William Shippen of Philadelphia and Robert Smith, a carpenter-architect who later designed Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. No doubt Dr. Shippen contributed to the design of the building, as William Worth may have done in addition to the considerable contribution he made to its execution, but the major responsibility must have been Smith’s, since an account of the College published by the trustees in 1765 declared that Nassau Hall was “designed and executed by that approved architect, Mr. Robert Smith, of Philadelphia.”
The trustees originally voted that “the College be built of Brick if good Brick can be made at Princeton and if sand can be got reasonably cheap,” but they later changed their plans and “the College” was built of a light brown sandstone from a nearby quarry. That it was good stone and that it was well and truly laid by William Worth, the mason, is substantiated by the fact that the exterior walls, which were twenty-six inches thick, withstood the extraordinary shocks and strains the building had to endure: the depredations it suffered during two years of military occupation in the Revolution, devastating fires in 1802 and 1855, and disturbances of rebellious students, who on one occasion exploded a hollow log charged with two pounds of gunpowder inside the main entrance, cracking the adjacent interior walls from top to bottom.
It took two years to erect this building and even before it was completed the trustees voted to name it for the governor of the Province, Jonathan Belcher, who staunchly befriended the College in many ways. “Let BELCHER HALL proclaim your beneficent acts . . . to the latest ages,” they wrote the governor, but, “with a rare modesty,” as President Maclean later noted, the governor declined the honor, and at his suggestion the building was named Nassau Hall in memory of “the Glorious King William the Third who was a Branch of the Illustrious House of Nassau.”
taken from: http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/nassau_hall.html
Nassau Hall (or Old Nassau) is the oldest building at Princeton University in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.[3] At the time it was built in 1756, Nassau Hall was the largest building in colonial New Jersey and the largest academic building in all the American colonies.[4] The University, then known as the College of New Jersey, held classes for one year in Elizabeth and nine years in Newark before the Hall was completed in 1756. Designed originally by Robert Smith, the building was subsequently remodeled by notable American architects Benjamin Latrobe and John Notman. In the early years of Princeton University, Nassau Hall accommodated classrooms, a library, a chapel, and residential space for students and faculty. It housed the university’s first Department of Psychology, for example.
During the events of the American Revolutionary War, Nassau Hall was possessed by both British and American forces and suffered considerable damage, especially during the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. From July to October 1783, Princeton was the capital of the early United States and Nassau Hall hosted the entire American government. The Congress of the Confederation met in the building’s library on the second floor. According to Princeton University, “Here Congress congratulated George Washington on his successful termination of the war, received the news of the signing of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, and welcomed the first foreign minister—from the Netherlands—accredited to the United States.”[5]
At present, Nassau Hall houses Princeton University’s administrative offices, including that of the university’s president. Old Nassau refers affectionately to the building and serves as a metonym for the university as a whole. The U.S. Department of the Interior designated Nassau Hall a National Historic Landmark in 1960, “signifying its importance in the Revolutionary War and in the history of the United States.”
taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassau_Hall
Following the untimely deaths of Princeton’s first five presidents, John Witherspoon became president in 1768 and remained in that office until his death in 1794. During his presidency, Witherspoon shifted the college’s focus from training ministers to preparing a new generation for leadership in the new American nation. To this end, he tightened academic standards and solicited investment in the college.[16] Witherspoon’s presidency constituted a long period of stability for the college, interrupted by the American Revolution and particularly the Battle of Princeton, during which British soldiers briefly occupied Nassau Hall; American forces, led by George Washington, fired cannon on the building to rout them from it.
taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_University
The Albert Einstein House at 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States[3] was the home of Albert Einstein from 1936 until his death in 1955.[4]
The house “was probably built in the 1870s or 1880s. The house is a simple pattern-book cottage and in itself is of no particular architectural significance”.[5]:2
Albert Einstein reportedly requested that this house not be made a museum, and the family did not want it to be recognized as such. Nonetheless it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and further designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.[1][2][5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein_House
The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University‘s gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1882, it now houses over 72,000 works of art that range from antiquity to the contemporary period. The Princeton University Art Museum dedicates itself to supporting and enhancing the university’s goals of teaching, research, and service in fields of art and culture, as well as to serving regional communities and visitors from around the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_University_Art_Museum
So amazing that this outstanding collection belongs to a University Art Museum ….just another amazing for Princeton….
If you are familiar with the Cleveland Museum of Art collection, the Princeton collection includes several similar, and not so similar pieces by the same artists.
This version of the Charles Wilson Peale’s George Washington at Battle of Princeton, similar but very different…
Hermes uses 75,000 uniquely ‘Hermes’ custom colors to create their legendary, heirloom quality, silk scarves, one of fashion’s most coveted accessories.
In their demonstrations at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the experts from Lyon, France talked the enthusiastic audience, of men and women alike, through the actual making of a scarf from start to the fine finish. 
Henri meticulously places and paints with a separate screen for each and every color in every scarf. Each and every shade of every color couldn’t be more perfect and matching the screen to the print exactly… every time ..is a talent. The spectacular colors take your breath away!
Pricey…or….Priceless!
Did you know…the Marine Corps Marathon is the 3rd largest race in the US and the 8th largest race in the world? 2013 was its 38th running? It is run the last Sunday in October before the US Marine Corps birthday on November 10th? It is called the ‘People’s Marathon’ because anyone over the age of 14 is welcome to run, it is the largest marathon without prize money and it draws 30,000 runners?
Georgetown Autumn in the Air…..
Dupont Farmers Market…couldn’t resist
A Halloween Stroll……
The Carnegie Museum of Art hosts it’s annual International exhibit as a collection from 35 artist participants from 19 different countries. It captures your eye and attention from afar upon approach as well as sprinkling the work throughout the entire collection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_International
The Carnegie International is the oldest North American exhibition of contemporary art from around the globe. It was first organized at the behest of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on November 5, 1896 in Pittsburgh. Carnegie established the International to educate and inspire the public as well as to promote international understanding and peace. He intended the International to provide a periodic sample of contemporary art from which Carnegie Museum of Art could enrich its permanent collection. The work of thousands of artists has been exhibited in the Carnegie International, including that of Winslow Homer, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Rodin, Willem de Kooning, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Alberto Giacometti, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke, and William Kentridge.
http://ci13.cmoa.org/artists/phyllida-barlow
Phyllida Barlow, installation view of Tip, 2013, timber, steel, spray paint, paint, steel mesh, scrim, cement, fabric, and varnish
Phyllida Barlow is known for her use of scrappy materials and rough construction techniques that contradict and undermine the grand scale of her works, resulting in an ambitiously “anti-monumental” aesthetic.
Notice anything..?
…the people in these photographs are walking with us down this hallway of photos….
My favorite is the Hall of Architecture where Andrew Carnegie’s mission in 1907 was to:
“bring likenesses of European masterworks to the people of Western Pennsylvania. “If they cannot go to the objects, which allure people abroad,” he stated in 1895, ”we shall do our best to bring the rarest of those objects to them at home.” Containing over 150 individual plaster casts of sculptures and monuments from all over the world..”
taken from the 2013 Carnegie International Guide Book
Artist Gabriel Sierra, as part of the exhibit repainted the walls a rich purple:
.. and adding discrete sculptural elements-is a conceptual and witty approach to the history of the storied space
taken from the 2013 Carnegie International Guide Book
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/new-york-walking-tour-2/
It’s not as if Manhattan needs a marketing maven to designate it the cultural capital of the world. But in 1978 some clever curators came up with the moniker Museum Mile for the stretch of Fifth Avenue from 105th Street to 82nd Street that houses no fewer than nine world-class museums, most with shops and cafés.
http://www.ny.com/museums/frick.collection.html
The Frick mansion was designed by Carrere and Hastings, the same architects who worked on the New York Public Library, and was built to “make Carnegie’s place look like a miner’s shack.” Preserved on Millionaire’s Row, the mansion is a grand setting for an incredible collection of European painting and decorative arts. The enclosed inner courtyard is a perfect place for weary art lovers to take a rest.
1 E. 70th St. (btw Madison & 5th Ave)
Ahhhh…the Met!
Look at this cute couple resting?….They found just the place to take 5 (and maybe a little people watching while they’re at it?) ? Looks easy enough except in reality you walk until your legs won’t take you another step only to realize there is no relief in site…one more step, one more block, one more place…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States, and one of the ten largest in the world, with the most significant art collections.[6] Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments.[7] The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile, is by area one of the world’s largest art galleries. There is also a much smaller second location at “The Cloisters” in Upper Manhattan that featuresmedieval art.[8]
6,464 views 8 months ago
I had a couple of hours on the last morning of my visit to New York and wanted to spend it in Central Park taking pictures. As luck would have it, a couple passing by offered their assistance with directions. Thank goodness for small favors! The gentleman was a Central Park docent and ended up walking and talking me through a private tour. Central Park went from being an amazing place to me to a cherished connection. it’s history is legend and there is a story behind every turn.
Did you know that 38 million people a year visit the park with a budget of $38 million dollars a year — with only 15% coming from city funding? The rest is driven by fund raising.
The Park is divided into 42 section, each having it’s own gardener and each gardener having their own team of volunteers.
Every picture, statue, carving, and motif has been carefully hand made by an artisan with tender loving care on behalf of the story behind. There is no end to the lore behind every detail.
By the way, Central Park has it’s own staff of docents with docent tours. Their official website is:
http://www.centralparknyc.org AND http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/tours/guided-tours/
The Official Website of Central Park – Bethesda Fountain
Rising from Bethesda Terrace is Bethesda Fountain, with the famous Angel of the Waters statue atop. The statue references the Gospel of John, which describes an angel blessing the Pool of Bethesda and giving it healing powers. The fountain commemorates the Croton water system, which first brought fresh water to New York City in 1842. The angel carries a lily in her left hand — a symbol of the water’s purity, very important to a city that had previously suffered from a devastating cholera epidemic before the system was established. The piece is the only statue that was commissioned for the Park. Created by Emma Stebbins, it also marked the first time a woman received a public art commission in New York City.Bethesda Fountain is the central feature on the lower level of the terrace, constructed in 1859-64,[1] which is enclosed within two elliptical balustrades.[2]
I just found some fascinating (I find it fascinating?) information in Wikipedia about Emma Stebbins. She was of interest to me because we are familiar with Harriet Hosmer from having one her best works at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I always introduce her (Harriet) as one of the first recognized American female artists. Interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Stebbins
Emma Stebbins
Emma Stebbins
Emma Stebbins (1 September 1815 – 25 October 1882) was among the first notable American woman sculptors.
Stebbins was born and died in New York City. Raised in a wealthy New York family, she was encouraged by her family in her pursuit of art from an early age. In 1857, sponsored by her brother Col. Henry G. Stebbins, head of the New York Stock Exchange, she moved to Rome where she moved in with sculptor Harriet Hosmer, who had established herself there in 1852. She studied under John Gibson an English neoclassicist working there at that time. In Rome she fell in love with actressCharlotte Saunders Cushman, and quickly became involved in the bohemian and feminist lesbian lifestyle, which was more tolerated there than it would have been back in New York.[1]
Cushman was confident, strong, and charismatic, and recently recovering from a break up following a ten-year relationship with the actress Matilda Hays. Cushman and Stebbins began traveling together, immediately taking a trip to Naples. Upon their return, they began spending time in a circle that included African American/Native American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, many celebrities, and fellow lesbians that included Harriet Hosmer. In this environment, the women flourished without regard for showing outward affection for one another.[1]
One of Stebbins’ early commissions was a portrait bust of Cushman between 1859-1860. In 1869, Cushman was treated for breast cancer. Stebbins devoted all her time during that ordeal to nursing her lover, ignoring her work during the next two years. The following year, the couple returned to the United States. Cushman died of pneumonia in 1876 at the age of 59. Following the death of Cushman, Stebbins never produced another sculpture. She released the correspondence, Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life in 1878. Stebbins died in New York in 1882, at the age of 67.[1
Stebbins best known work is the Angel of the Waters (1873), also known as Bethesda Fountain, located on the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, New York. According to Central Park historian Sara Cedar Miller, Stebbins received the commission for the sculpture as a result of influence from her brother Henry, who at the time was president of the Central Park Board of Commissioners. Henry was proud of his sister’s talent and hoped to have many examples of her art in Central Park.
‘Angel of the Waters,’ created to celebrate the clean healthful water from New York’s Croton Aqueduct, completed in 1842, with an oblique reference to the biblical “healing waters of Bethesda.” The fountain complex is widely considered to be one of the great works of nineteenth-century American sculpture.
Her bronze statue of educator Horace Mann was installed outside the State House in Boston in 1865.
Emma Stebbins and her brother Henry are buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.
It all started with the reservoir. In 1800 there were 60,000 people living on the southern tip of the island where it was founded by the Dutch. By 1850 that number had grown to a half million people and the living conditions, not having kept up with the growth, were deplorable. The area that is now the park was depleted by prior ravaging for wood and resources used for survival and war.
It was carefully decided to create a reservoir for water that could be channeled to improve the quality of life. the project and result was a tremendous success and was the start of what we know as Central Park today. Every stone, carving, path, plant, bush an area was created by the human effort.
My daughter Margaret tries to run around the reservoir every day. The run is about 1.5 miles and oh my goodness, the reward as much mental as physical!
One of our favorite things ….. to walk to the park..to the boathouse..to the bar..for a before dinner martini (by the time you get there, you’ve earned it?!?).
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/great-lawn/loeb-boathouse.html
Boating on the Lake has been a popular pastime from the Park’s earliest days. Six rustic landings originally dotted the water’s edge, and a number of shack-like buildings served as boathouses. Passengers could hire rowboats, gondolas and even multi-seat water buses for ten cents a ride.
As interest in rowing grew, the Lake needed a proper boathouse. In 1874, Park architect Calvert Vaux designed a formal building on the eastern shoreline to provide covered space for docking and storage. With its charming Victorian touches, the building also featured a second-story terrace that afforded beautiful views of the Ramble. A popular draw for more than 80 years, the boathouse fell into disrepair by 1950 and was soon torn down.
The iconic Loeb Boathouse that New Yorkers and visitors know so well today opened at the Lake’s northeastern tip in 1954, financed by philanthropist Carl M. Loeb. From beneath the green patina of the boathouse’s copper roof, visitors can rent rowboats and bikes; hire an authentic Venetian gondola; or dine overlooking seasonal views of the Lake at the Loeb Central Park Boathouse Restaurant.
The Boathouse also serves as the unofficial headquarters for birdwatchers who record their sightings in a two-inch loose-leaf notebook. Kept on a table inside the Boathouse, the hand-written compendium of bird life has become a cherished Park community tradition. Stop by to record your own observations, or read the entries of others.
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/north-end/untermyer-fountain.html
Completed before 1910 in Germany, Walter Schott’s Three Dancing Maidens depicts a circle of three young women whose dresses cling to their wet bodies as if they were perpetually in the fountain’s spray. One larger jet of water is featured in the middle of their dance, while two smaller jets appear on either side of the oval pool. The circle of the sculpture and base and the ellipse of the pool complement the slightly oval-shaped garden itself.
The sculpture came to Central Park in 1947 after the death of Samuel Untermyer. It is a cast of the original. Just how Untermyer acquired the sculpture from the Berlin original or had the cast made remains a mystery.
Today the fountain is a joy to those who visit the Conservatory Garden, especially in spring amidst the tulip display, in early May, and in the fall when the Korean chrysanthemums bloom.
The Official Website of Central Park – Alice in Wonderland
Alice and her cast of storybook friends found their way to Central Park in 1959, when philanthropist George Delacorte commissioned this bronze statue as a gift to the children of New York City. Inspired by the zany characters of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland, the sculpture was also meant as a tribute to his late wife, Margarita, who read Alice to their children. Engraved around the statue are lines from his nonsensical poem, The Jabberwocky.
The sculpture is a favorite among children, who love to climb atop it and explore its varied textures and hiding spaces. Through the years, thousands of tiny hands have literally polished parts of its patina surface smooth.
Created by the Spanish-born American sculptor José de Creeft, the piece depicts Alice holding court from her perch on the mushroom. The host of the story’s tea party is the Mad Hatter, a caricature of George Delacorte. The White Rabbit is depicted holding his pocket watch, and a timid dormouse nibbles a treat at Alice’s feet.
Last but not least, you can’t visit the Park without a visit to Brow Bridge. The Bridge has been a magnificent setting for many films including Manhattan, The Way We Were and Keeping the Faith. As a matter of fact, if you look closely, they were filming while I was there…
http://www.centralparknyc.org/visit/things-to-see/great-lawn/bow-bridge.html
This handsomely designed cast-iron bridge measures a total of 87 feet and spans across 60 feet of the Lake, linking the flowering landscape of Cherry Hill with the sprawling woodland of the Ramble. The first cast-iron bridge in the Park (and the second oldest in America), the bridge is named for its graceful shape — reminiscent of the bow of an archer or violinist.
When the Park was first planned, the commissioners requested a suspension bridge. The designers compromised with this refined, low-lying bridge. Today, Bow Bridge is quite possibly New York’s most romantic setting for lovers — and certainly a muse for photographers. You might recognize it from its starring role in many movies, television shows, and commercials.
Rising from the bridge are eight cast-iron urns, installed by the Central Park Conservancy in 2008 as replicas of the originals that had disappeared by the early 1920s. Almost a century later, the Board of Directors of the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy took up the challenge to restore the urns. A skilled team of Conservancy craftsmen used historic images and took cues from an urn thought to be an exact model of those that originally adorned the Bridge.
Farmers’ markets are a wonderful treat…..I get such a thrill, each and every visit, from the atmosphere, the energy and the extraodinary effort by the dedicated vendors matched equally by the enthusiastic shopper. And…..there is so much more than meets the eye:
http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket
GREENMARKET FARMERS MARKETS
Greenmarket was founded in 1976 with a two-fold mission: to promote regional agriculture by providing small family farms the opportunity to sell their locally grown products directly to consumers, and to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to the freshest, most nutritious locally grown food the region has to offer.
What began over three decades ago with 12 farmers in a parking lot on 59th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan has now grown to become the largest and most diverse outdoor urban farmers market network in the country, now with 54 markets, over 230 family farms and fishermenparticipating, and over 30,000 acres of farmland protected from development.
This unique relationship between farmers and city residents has not only changed the face of regional agriculture; it has revitalized rural communities and urban spaces, improved consumer health, provided fresh and nutritious food to those most in need through our EBT/Food Stamp and Youthmarket programs, supported immigrant farmers, encouraged crop diversity, educated school children and city residents about the importance of regional agriculture, provided a wholesaleopportunity for medium sized farms, inspired new culinary trends, and influenced chefs and eaters in one of the culinary capitals in the world.
Union Square Greenmarket in NYC is the “Grand Daddy” of them all.
During peak seasons, the Greenmarket serves more than 250,000 customers per week.[2] More than one thousand varieties of fruits and vegetables can be found at the Greenmarket.
From NY Magazine by Steve Fishman:
