Good morning. It’s Thursday. Today we’ll look at a new walking tour — and accompanying app — that seeks to highlight New York City’s important role in the Revolutionary War.
“Here’s where the American Revolution began,” Peter-Christian Aigner said, describing an alley off Gold Street in Lower Manhattan. No shots fired here were heard ’round the world, because no shots were fired here. The redcoats used bayonets to push through an angry crowd, severely injuring several dozen colonists. Aigner maintains that theirs was the first blood shed in the Revolutionary War. But no one died, so the skirmish “doesn’t get the fame.” The Boston Massacre, which does, wouldn’t have unfolded the way it did if not for the earlier encounter in Lower Manhattan, he says. “Everyone knows the Boston Massacre,” he said. “New York has this insanely rich history, and yet we do almost nothing with it.” But in a there’s-an-app-for-that world, there’s now an app about New York in the Revolutionary War. Aigner, the director of the Gotham Center for New York City History, created the app, NYC Revolutionary Trail, with Ted Knudsen, who teaches history at Queens College and is finishing his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. The app is built around a 90-minute walking tour of New York City sites that figured in the Revolutionary War. The tour covers everything from colonists chafing under the Stamp Act in the 1760s — the taxation-without-representation spark that ignited revolutionary anger — to “liberty poles” put up to provoke British soldiers quartered in the city after the fighting started. Spoiler alert: The last stop is Federal Hall, where George Washington was inaugurated president of the new nation. Aigner and Knudsen devised the app with an eye to the nation’s founding 250 years ago next year — and to the Freedom Trail in Boston, a 2.5-mile loop that connects 16 significant sites. Knudsen knows the Freedom Trail well. “I’ve probably walked the thing 35 times,” he said, recalling childhood summers spent with grandparents who lived an hour from Boston. “It’s one of those remarkable cultural institutions. Every schoolkid goes.” That trail was laid out in the 1950s and, he said, put Boston on the map for historical significance. “Until then,” Knudsen said, “Boston was an afterthought about the Revolution. Philadelphia was the main place people went to to feel old-timey American.” And in Boston, where he said 300,000 people a year visited the historical sites before the Freedom Trail opened, the trail became a destination for several million annually. Aigner said that he and Knudsen saw the 250th anniversary as a “1 in 50 chance for New York to establish its place” alongside Boston and Philadelphia. That, Aigner said, is because Americans in general and New Yorkers in particular pay attention to history around big anniversaries of milestone years like 1776. “That’s the way Americans consume history,” he said. For historians looking to draw attention to, say, New York’s importance in the Revolutionary War, “you have to catch these waves when they come. You have to talk about these things over July 4 or Memorial Day. Otherwise, people tune you out.” But not always. The app is getting a boost that does not depend on the calendar: The Alliance for Downtown New York, the business improvement district in Lower Manhattan, is promoting NYC Revolutionary Trail with brochures in hotels and signs in stores. So why was New York important in the Revolutionary War? “The stock answer, if you asked historians 10 or 15 years ago, was military,” Knudsen said. “New York was the major military target of the British, and the major thing Americans wanted to defend. Both built their strategies around capturing or keeping New York City and the Hudson River Valley. The idea was it would cut the colonies in two if the British could grab it.” And they did, in what Aigner refers to as the Battle of New York, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Long Island. No matter what it is called, it was the biggest battle of the Revolution. But the colonists’ defeat helped their side win the war: Washington’s retreat across the East River is credited with saving his army and the cause he and his soldiers were fighting for. The British held thousands in horrific conditions in prison ships anchored where the Brooklyn Navy Yard is now. Aigner said that for every death on the battlefield, three or four more died on the prison ships in New York. That catastrophe was far in the future when the redcoats and the angry mob headed into Eden’s Alley, which is still an alley, as it was then. But as historic sites go, it’s rather raffish.
“There’s giant piles of garbage,” Aigner said. “It’s like the perfect metaphor for the way New York treats its revolutionary heritage.” WEATHER Expect a partly sunny day with a high near 92 degrees and a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low near 74. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until Aug. 3 (Tisha B’Av). The latest New York news
The race for mayor
And also …
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. METROPOLITAN DIARY Upstairs, downstairs
Dear Diary: It was the 1980s. I was in my 20s and living in Park Slope. I spent many afternoons at Farrell’s Bar in nearby Windsor Terrace. One afternoon, after enjoying a couple of containers of Budweiser at Farrell’s, I headed home to watch “The Morton Downey Jr. Show” on my brand-new 19-inch Sony television with the volume turned way up. After about five minutes, I heard a loud banging at my door. I looked out my peephole but saw no one. Then I heard a voice shout: “Sonny, Sonny.” I opened the door and saw my upstairs neighbor. I asked how I could help. She said she could hear the TV in her living room. I asked if I could go upstairs with her to hear for myself. Upon entering her apartment, I saw that it was a bit of a shambles. I felt like Pip going into Miss Havisham’s house in “Great Expectations.” The paint on the walls and ceilings was peeling badly. There was little furniture and no TV. I told her to hold on and that I would be right back. I went downstairs, unplugged the TV and brought it upstairs. I put it on a table in the living room, plugged it in, turned it on and told the woman to enjoy. I went back downstairs and passed out. When I woke up the next morning, I went into the living room and remembered what I had done the night before. I soon heard a banging on the door and a familiar voice: “Sonny, Sonny.” I opened the door and saw my upstairs neighbor. She handed me an envelope with a thank-you note inside. Seeking comfort, I headed back to Farrell’s knowing I had nothing else to give away. — Timothy Dwyer Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Luke Caramanico and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
|
