Fort Wadsworth (Staten Island, NY), and Moumouth Battlefield State Park, Manalapan, NJ

We finally managed to get inside Ford Wadsworth (usually it's closed and one can only get in during a tour with a park ranger). This fort was an important part of New York harbor fortifications in the 19th and early 20th century. Behind is the Verrazano bridge.

Cannons inside the fort point to the harbor - they protected against attack from the water

Sam earned a new junior ranger patch - the light blue one he is holding in his hand. For this he had to complete 6 pages of activities at 3 different sites on Staten Island (Fort Wadsworth, Miller Field and Great Kills Park.  It took him 3 separate trips to complete all the activities. This was probably the hardest patch to earn so far!

Monmouth Battlefield State Park. A reenactor is explaining how people used to bind books with strings.

An important battle happened here on Monmouth Battlefield on June 28, 1778.

Tour of the battlefield

Hanging out

Castle Clinton and African Burial Ground, New York, NY

Snack with a view of the Statue of Liberty :)

Learning about the different historical flags at Castle Clinton. This "Castle" is actually a fort which was used for several centuries to defend the New York harbor

This is what lower Manhattan looked like in 1615. The island that is sticking out is Castle Clinton. It is now surrounded by land and park

Battery Park Dioramas inside Castle Clinton

Outside of the fort. The sign says "Castle Clinton National Monument"

African Burial Ground. This is the site of a 17th and 18th century burial ground of free and enslaved blacks who lived in New York. It was thought to be lost, until the cemetery was discovered in 1991 during a construction of a new federal office building. A memorial was built on the first floor of the building.

Exhibits about the types of labor that slaves did

Trying out moving a barrel up to a ship - very heavy work that many slaves had to do when loading ships on docks

Receiving a junior ranger badge at the African Burial Ground

Checking out the City Hall park - fun even in the rain!

Governors Island, New York Harbor

A map of Governors Island (doesn't it look like an ice cream cone?)

View from the ferry - lower Manhattan

Exhibit on the history of the island

Castle Jay

 

Showing his junior ranger badges to park rangers

Getting a junior ranger badge

Miller Field and Staten Island Museum (Staten Island, New York)

Historic Miller Field (it used to be a military airport in the early 20th century).

Picnic on the (slightly rainy) beach - Midland Beach

Beach with the view of Verazzano bridge in the back

Staten Island Museum - exhibit of birds native to the area

Sam really enjoyed the insects display - he knew what some of them were from his rain forest project

A museum educator showed us a piece of meteorite (this one fell in Arizona)

A rock with real dinosaur footprints!

Matching the New York sights with their place on the map

New York harbor (near the Staten Island ferry terminal)

After all these adventures, zzzzzz......