SAVE OUR SEAPORT WEEK'S EVENTS

The Pier 17 shopping mall closes after today, with demolition to follow.

The SOS Seaport Watch continues… more hands are needed!

Tuesday, September 10th (that's tomorrow!) at 1:30pm, meet outside Key Food at 55 Fulton Street, from there we’ll move on to The Blue School on Water Street, for an hour or two of leaflets, talking with our neighbors, and bringing people on board for the fight to Save Our Seaport!

The next evening, Wednesday, September 11th at 6:30pm we will have a Save Our Seaport public meeting in the meeting room at St. Margaret’s Center (Map).

At our last meeting, we resolved to increase our activity in the District, plan regular SOS meetings, announce a “Seaport Watch” to take part in (see above), and a rally at the end of the month.

There is much to talk about. We will certainly discuss the disturbing information in this Downtown Express article.

Important meeting dates:

• Our next SOS meeting, September 11, 6:30pm, St. Margaret’s (Map).
• Community Board 1 Seaport meeting on September 17 (Details to follow).

Please join us!

P.S. If you don’t already follow us on Twitter (@SaveOurSeaport) and Like us on Facebook (facebook.com/SaveOurSeaport), please do – these are the best ways to keep up with the latest developments!

Passage of Time

In 1900 New York City military surplus dealer Francis Bannerman purchased Pollepel Island in the Hudson River, south of Poughkeepsie. Over the next 17 years he built a castle-like structure as a combination summer home and storage warehouse. After Bannerman’s 1918 death the structure underwent a series of destructive incidents, including an explosion and later a fire, that destroyed the interior. In 1967 the family, who had continued living there during the summers, sold the building to New York State.

Last winter I was returning from Manhattan by train on a wintry day and took these pictures out of the passenger car window, which due to conditions turned out to have an almost abstract look.

















Then, this past December, the New York Times reported that two thirds of the eastern tower and a third of the adjacent wall had crumbled, due to over a century of poor weather.

So, there’ a slightly smaller portion left to see today. Still, worth a look, if you get a chance.

© 2010 David Minor / Eagles Byte

RECENT NOTE

A Preservation News Story on Banerman's Castle can be found at

www.preservationnation.org/magazine/story-of-the-week/2010/end-of-a-fairy-tale.html