“Sometimes you will never know the value of the moment until it becomes a memory”~Gemma Collins.
New York is one of those states, like Ohio, that I don’t remember when exactly I first visited. I know one of the trips to Lake Erie included a visit to Niagara Falls because I remember The Maid of the Mist, the boat tour that took you under the falls. How old was I and when did that happen? I have no idea, but probably in the late 1950’s. New York becomes a “real” state for me the summer of 1967 when my parents and I loaded my two horses in a horse trailer and drove them (and me) to a camp outside Poughkeepsie where I spent the summer working as a counselor and riding instructor. My New Jersey post already mentioned the friends I made from Jersey City and my first drive down the Taconic Parkway and into The City. That summer introduced me to my two best memories of New York, the Hudson Valley and NYC. But before I talk about those two places let me mention two other New York notables.
Thanks to my husband Harold I visited Cooperstown a couple of times. He was an avid Red Sox fan, but his love of baseball extended beyond the Red Sox. On the visits to Cooperstown he would spend hours going through the Hall of Fame. Home | Baseball Hall of Fame That left me with hours to explore the residential streets and lakefront park of the pretty town. Cooperstown New York — Otsego Lake, Lakefront Park, Hyde Hall (visitingcooperstown.com) A non lover of baseball need not despair over a trip to Cooperstown, there is plenty to see and do just walking and rocking by the lake. My second New York notable is Seneca Falls which is a lovely and historical place to visit, especially if you are interested in the history of women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery. Seneca Falls is also near the Finger Lakes where there are vineyards to explore, one such example being found here Ventosa Vineyards – Estate Winery, Finger Lakes, NY .
But my great loves in New York are the Hudson Valley and the City. I can’t begin to do NYC justice in the space of a short blog. Dr. Johnson said something like he who tires of London has tired of life. If someone tires of New York City they have tired of life as well. My daughter loves NYC as much, or perhaps more, than I do and I could post her many photos here and tell you of the places she has discovered “off the beaten path.” You must explore the city in your own way at your own pace. My most recent trip was shortly after my husband’s death in January 2019, at which time I paid my first visit to the September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan. That trip to the memorial brought home to me the loss of the towers and the significance, in terms of my memories, of the picture posted at the beginning of this blog. Words cannot describe the emotional impact of the September 11 Memorial. There are many memorials throughout the world, but few have moved me the way this one did. Homepage | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org) . NYC recovers still from 9/11 and now the pandemic, but I am confident that it will always be a place to which one should travel and make memories, even as it changes and evolves into something new yet again.
Finally — the Hudson Valley, a place that truly fascinates me. In light of my love of all things Roosevelt, I have visited Hyde Park and more importantly, ValKill, Eleanor’s home. Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) The Roosevelt home and the Vanderbilt home next door provide insight into the moneyed classes between the wars and how they lived amidst their shrinking fortunes, but ValKill provides a glimpse of a woman’s vision for the future and her hopes for mankind.
My most recent visit to the Hudson Valley occurred in July 2021 and it focused more on art than the Roosevelts. I traveled to Olana, the New York State Historical Site and the area that was home to Frederick Church and the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. https://www.olana.org/ My daughter and I also rented a small cabin in the Catskills near the town of Fleischmann, named after the yeast man. We traveled around the Hudson Valley touring various sites, from a winery in Chatham to the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge in Poughkeepsie. And of course, we made a return trip to ValKill and Hyde Park, a place my daughter had never visited. The bronze statue of FDR and Eleanor remains, but due to COVID much had changed. Neither place was open for interior tours and the number of visitors on the sites was minimal. Nevertheless Wallace, my Scottish terrier, enjoyed his return visit even though he didn’t make it to Fala’s gravesite. The Hudson Valley remains to my way of thinking a wonderful and underappreciated place to visit.
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Before I leave New York, I will mention one other spot I have never visited, but plan on visiting soon. I just learned of the wonderful Frank Lloyd Wright homes and buildings in the Buffalo area. Of course growing up in the Pittsburgh area, I know the Kaufmann home at Fallingwater, but the Martin House was news to me. https://martinhouse.org/ I included the reference to that upcoming visit because it highlights what I love about New York State. You can travel there many times and still find new and interesting things to see — it is not always about the Empire State Building and Times Square. There is much to see and do there and always something new to learn. It fits with New York’s motto, Excelsior, representing the desire to always reach for higher goals. https://www.wise-geek.com/what-is-the-state-motto-of-new-york.htm#:~:text=The%20state%20motto%20of%20New%20York%20was%20adopted,for%20higher%20goals%20through%20hard%20work%20and%20persistence.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 