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?