Friday, December 08, 2023

The Rocky Coast of Southern Maine

 

I visited son and his wife in Portland, Maine this past weekend and they took me to the beautiful area South of the city, including Higgins Beach, Cape Elizabeth, Two Lights and the Portland Head Light lighthouse, which I can now add to my survey of favorite lighthouses. Many believe that Longfellow, who grew up in Portland and spent a lot of time at these sites, was thinking of it when he wrote his 1849 poem "The Lighthouse". I've included the text of the poem beneath the photos. 
















THE LIGHTHOUSE by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
  And on its outer point, some miles away,
The Lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
  A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day. 

Even at this distance I can see the tides,
  Upheaving, break unheard along its base,
A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides
  In the white lip and tremor of the face. 

And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright,
  Through the deep purple of the twilight air,
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light
  With strange, unearthly splendor in the glare! 

Not one alone; from each projecting cape
  And perilous reef along the ocean's verge,
Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape,
  Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge. 

Like the great giant Christopher it stands
  Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave,
Wading far out among the rocks and sands,
  The night-o'ertaken mariner to save. 

And the great ships sail outward and return,
  Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells,
And ever joyful, as they see it burn,
  They wave their silent welcomes and farewells. 

They come forth from the darkness, and their sails
  Gleam for a moment only in the blaze,
And eager faces, as the light unveils,
  Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze. 

The mariner remembers when a child,
  On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink;
And when, returning from adventures wild,
  He saw it rise again o'er ocean's brink. 

Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same
  Year after year, through all the silent night
Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame,
  Shines on that inextinguishable light! 

It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp
  The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace;
It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp,
  And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece. 

The startled waves leap over it; the storm
  Smites it with all the scourges of the rain,
And steadily against its solid form
  Press the great shoulders of the hurricane. 

The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din
  Of wings and winds and solitary cries,
Blinded and maddened by the light within,
  Dashes himself against the glare, and dies. 

A new Prometheus, chained upon the rock,
  Still grasping in his hand the fire of Jove,
It does not hear the cry, nor heed the shock,
  But hails the mariner with words of love. 

"Sail on!" it says, "sail on, ye stately ships!
  And with your floating bridge the ocean span;
Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse,
  Be yours to bring man nearer unto man!"

Wednesday, December 06, 2023

A Peek Inside the General Theological Seminary



Most New Yorkers have walked the perimeter of the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea and wondered what was inside. Occupying the entire block between 20th and 21st Streets, 9th and 10th Avenues, the imposing complex is not open to the public, and has the look of a cloister. That look is intentional, of course, as it’s where the Episcopal Church has trained clerics for nearly two centuries. On December 5 (Krampusnacht, no less) your intrepid reporter had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the interior on a special tour sponsored by the GTS and Untapped Cities, and jointly led by the Dean of the School Michael W. DeLashmutt and Clement Clarke Moore expert Pamela McColl.

DeLashmutt center, McColl Speaking 

The occasion for this rare tour is the upcoming bicentennial of the publications of Moore’s poem, usually known by the title “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”. What’s the connection? you may wonder. The entire neighborhood of Chelsea was once the Moore family’s farm; the area now occupied by the GTS was the apple orchard. Moore’s father was a Bishop in the church and for a time President of King’s College, which later became Columbia. The seminary opened at its present location in 1827. Clement Clark Moore taught there for many years.

The Close

In 1878, Dean Eugene Augustus Hoffman expanded the campus, with a grand design that arranged building around a quadrangle in the manner of the Quad at Oxford. The impressive Chapel of the Good Shepherd opened to worshippers a decade later. 

Chapel Interior 

New construction and expansion continued throughout the 20th century. The present era finds the institution on a time of consolidation and retrenchment, the most obvious illustration of which is the High Line Hotel, which is in a building sold by the GTS in 2010. 

Benediction and Dismissal


Monday, October 23, 2023

A Visit to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Thanks to the Great Neck Historical Society and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Museum for participating in Open House New York this weekend, allowing me a sneak peek into the confines of the Academy, which I have been wanting to do since moving to the community five years ago. My agenda was multiple of course -- I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the Jazz Age celebrity homes I believed to have been swallowed up by the campus over the decades. No soap there, but I was just as grateful for a glimpse of what they were offering, which was a tour of the Museum, located in the former mansion of millionaire inventor William Slocum Barstow, and a tour of the administration building, formerly the estate of Henri Willis Bendel, founder of the eponymous department store, later, of automobile magnate Walter P. Chrysler. Coming from Rhode Island as I do, I am a major nautical buff, and (as reported here) had even previously toured the inside of a Liberty Ship, which is just the kind of thing one learns about in the museum (the Merchant Marine in wartime, as well as the history of shipping in general). There will be more on this theme in a few days on my primary blog Travalanche. Til then, some snaps I took on my tour, which was led jointly by the Academy's Dr. Joshua Smith and architectural historian Andrew Cronson. 














Some pile o' bricks, huh? 


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Saturday, October 14, 2023

Images of War Time Great Neck

A few shots from around my town, which is 3/4 Jewish, a week after the loathsome and vile sneak attack by Hamas last week. May the guilty be brought to justice and the innocent be protected. 







Monday, September 04, 2023

The Woodstock (CT) Fair

Labor Day weekend is always the time of the Woodstock Fair in Connecticut's "Quiet Corner". My mother was from that area and I went a few times as a child. It was a larger event than our local fairs in Rhode Island, though I'm sure much tinier than what folks in most parts of the country are used to. In any case, I rated it as one of the few exciting live events I attended as a child. So I was ecstatic when my son and I found ourselves in the area this year, just in time to catch it. Here are some snaps I took. 






















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