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| This is one of the newest national parks, located in Paterson, NJ. This town was a place where a lot of industry developed in the 19th century. It was also one of the first places in the US to use hydro-electric power (the waterfall seen in the pictures below) |
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| A park ranger volunteer is giving us a personal tour (what, no other crazies like us go to national parks on a rainy day?) |
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| Enough parks.... zzzzzz..... |
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| 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. |
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| Cannons inside the fort point to the harbor - they protected against attack from the water |
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| 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! |
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| Monmouth Battlefield State Park. A reenactor is explaining how people used to bind books with strings. |
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| An important battle happened here on Monmouth Battlefield on June 28, 1778. |
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| Tour of the battlefield |
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| Snack with a view of the Statue of Liberty :) |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Battery Park Dioramas inside Castle Clinton |
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| Outside of the fort. The sign says "Castle Clinton National Monument" |
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| 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. |
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| Exhibits about the types of labor that slaves did |
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| Trying out moving a barrel up to a ship - very heavy work that many slaves had to do when loading ships on docks |
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| Receiving a junior ranger badge at the African Burial Ground |
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| Checking out the City Hall park - fun even in the rain! |
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| A map of Governors Island (doesn't it look like an ice cream cone?) |
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| View from the ferry - lower Manhattan |
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| Exhibit on the history of the island |
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| Castle Jay |
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| Showing his junior ranger badges to park rangers |
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| Getting a junior ranger badge |
