This week we’ve had some new adventures including a tour of a small historic museum, a jaunt over to Roosevelt Island, time in Central Park with our younger granddaughter, and even a film. All food for body and mind as some days we’ve racked up 20,000+ steps!
HOUSE MUSEUM
Mount Vernon Museum and Garden is a former carriage house for a large house across the street. When the main house was destroyed by fire, the carriage house became a day hotel for seven years from 1826 to 1833. Today you can tour the house with a guide and see both furnishings and art from that early period. 
Most visits begin with a 12 minute video which explores the history of New York City and New York State in the 1820’s and 30’s including the building of the Erie Canal. The video is very well done and really gives a sense of all that was happening then. The population of New York during that time grew to about 300,000, but was all centered below 14th Street. The hotel at E. 61st Street was in the country and offered an escape from the noise and busyness downtown.
ROOSEVELT ISLAND
So near yet so far. Roosevelt Island is officially part of the borough of Manhattan, but it’s a world apart. Quiet, pastoral in parts, with few shopping and dining amenities. But it’s also the site of Cornell University’s new tech campus, and the coming influx of graduate students will undoubtedly bring new energy and new eateries.
The island is connected to the city by a stop on the F subway line, but the more fun and picturesque way to arrive is by the tram from 59th Street. Hovering above and alongside the Queensboro Bridge, it offers stunning views of the bridge itself, the city skyline and the water below. The ride is just 4 minutes and is the price of one subway ride. 
We went over by tram on a lovely afternoon and enjoyed walking the river promenade, admiring the lingering cherry blossoms, scouting out baby goslings in Southpoint Park, and surveying Cornell’s striking new buildings. The small visitors’ center also sells an informative map for just $1.
We saw only a few other pedestrians and even fewer cars or trucks. We would have liked to explore the Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park at the far end, but it’s closed on Tuesdays and it was Tuesday. 
A couple of historic buildings remain such as the shell of the Smallpox Hospital built in 1854 and the handsome and restored Strecker Laboratory (1892), now a power substation for two subway lines. I definitely recommend this as a most pleasurable afternoon’s outing—a short jaunt away from Manhattan’s hustle and bustle!
WATER AND MUD
We spent a recent morning in Central Park with our two-year old granddaughter experiencing the Brooklyn Forest program for toddlers. Developed in Brooklyn initially, it’s a gentle program that lets children play with sticks and stones, make mud pies in pails, and drop leaves, twigs and stones into a small stream. Snacks take the form of apple slices, red tea, and warm bread.
The activity takes place in several different parts of the park (The Ramble) and ends with a round of songs with hand motions. Two teachers lead, but in a very non-directed way so that the children (about nine of them this time) with their parent or nanny discover things at their own pace.
WESTERN FILM
The Rider is a beautifully photographed film set in the vast expanse of North Dakota. It’s the story of a young rodeo rider, Brady, who suffers a serious head injury which prevents him from doing what he loves best. A blend of fact and fiction and feeling like a documentary, it stars the real Brady and his own father and mentally challenged sister. There are some lovely scenes of Brady training a young horse as well as scenes of him with his cowboy friends around a campfire. We see his recovery, his frustration with his physical limitations, and his efforts in a new job stocking shelves in a supermarket.
I did not realize until after the film was over that it wasn’t actors playing the key roles, but Brady and his family taking on this version of themselves. Interestingly, the director is a woman, Chloe Zhao, from Beijing. The beginning is a bit slow as the scene is set and everyone introduced, but then it picks up.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington.
