“[The beauty of the park] should be the beauty of the fields, the meadow, the prairie, of the green pastures, and the still waters. What we want to gain is tranquility and rest to the mind.”
Frederick Law Olmsted, 1870
— posted by Roger W. Smith
June 2024
One of New York City’s best kept secrets.
photographs by Roger W. Smith
photographs by Roger W Smith
posted May 2024\
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— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 15, 2024
See Word document below, containing an excerpt from:
Elizabeth Barlow, “The Campfires of Inwood Hill” IN The Forests and Wetlands of New York City (Little, Brown and Company, 1969)
Elizabeth Barlow, Inwood Hiil Park
photographs by Roger W. Smith
— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 2024
William P. Chappel (1801–1878), a tinsmith and amateur painter, depicted scenes of early nineteenth-century New York City. His oil paintings were featured in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Posted here are my photographs of same.
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a personal note:
My maternal grandmother’s great-grandfather, Captain Gamaliel Hart (circa 1791/92-1834), captain of the whaleship John Willis out of New Bedford, moved to New York City late in life, where he had a lumberyard. (The name Gamaliel is from the Hebrew, meaning God.) New York City directories from this time indicate that Gamaliel Hart’s widow Ann (his second wife) was living at 56 Centre Street shortly after his death, which may have been the residence of Gamaliel and his wife before he died; and, if not, it provides an indication of where they lived. It was probably not far from where City Hall is located today.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
July 2023
Adult Funeral Procession
Baker Pears in Duane Park
Baptism
Bathing Party
Berg’s Ship Yard
Bull;s Head Tavern
Buttermilk Pedlar
Chimney Sweeps
City Watchman
Fighting a Fire
Firemen’s Washing Day
Fly Market
Hot Corn Seller
House Raising
Infant Funeral Procession
Militia Drilling
Old Ferry Stairs
Strawberry Pedlar
Tea Party
Tea Rusk and Brick House
The Water Pump
The Baker’s Wagon
The Boot Black
The Dog Killer
The Garbage Cart
The Lamp Lighter
The Sewer
Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide!
Frolic on, crested and scallop-edg’d waves!
Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the men and women generations after me!
— Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Many of these photos were taken by me from the Staten Island Ferry. And from Battery Park.
The harbor is my favorite..
— posted by Roger W. Smith
May 2023
photos by Roger W. Smith
photographs by Roger W. Smith
— posted by Roger W. Smith
April 27, 2023
I feel the ship’s motion under me, I feel the Atlantic breezes fanning me,
— Walt Whitman, “A Song of Joys”
I myself felt the delicious cool breezes blowing on me as I crossed and recrossed the harbor on the Staten Island Ferry last evening.
A great end to a splendid day.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
March 25, 2023
It was Sunday afternoon, March 5, and I was at my favorite pub, on Seventh Avenue, engrossed in a weighty book of literary criticism.
Time to leave, I thought. I called my wife and told her, I’m leaving the bar, but I don’t want to go home. I think I will go downtown and take the ferry.
Good idea, she said, My wife is an affirmative person.
I just made the 5 p.m. ferry to Staten Island, and took the ferry going back. I took the photos shown below.
It was a perfect sky on a late winter day.
— Roger W. Smith
Roger Smith's New York 