Day 770

Today’s route — 16.5 miles

February 7th, 2014

Day 770

For Sailors of All Nations

February 7th, 2014



This plot at the Evergreens Cemetery was opened in 1853 for burials of "friendless mariners" from around the world who died while in port here in New York. As of 1893, some 1,200 sailors or more were estimated to have been interred here, with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland the most common nationalities, followed by the US and the British Isles, respectively. The monument above was originally much more prominent; the globe was perched atop a 50-foot-high column that was reportedly damaged when the monument was moved in the 1950s.

Day 770

George Hall

February 7th, 2014



Mr. Hall was the first player in major league history to lead his league in home runs, swatting five homers (including two in one game — another first) in the National League's inaugural season of 1876. He would never hit another major league home run, however: after the following season, in which he went homerless, he and three teammates were banned from the league for life for conspiring to throw games. According to one baseball historian, this was the sport's "greatest scandal until the Black Sox in 1919."

Day 770

Bam

February 7th, 2014


Day 770

ЯƎHTOM YM

February 7th, 2014



MY WIFE

Day 770

Union Field Cemetery

February 7th, 2014



This is another of the 17 cemeteries clumped together near the middle of the Brooklyn-Queens border.

Day 770

Portal of the day

February 7th, 2014



We're now in Mount Judah Cemetery, yet another burial ground in the Brooklyn-Queens cemetery belt.

Day 770

Victor David Brenner

February 7th, 2014



You probably don't recognize his name, but Mr. Brenner is the creator of one of the world's most reproduced works of art, with nearly half a trillion copies made since 1909. If you live in the US, you're extremely familiar with this work, and your eyes have likely passed over his initials countless times without ever seeing them.

Day 770

Wintry walkways

February 7th, 2014



in Highland Park

Day 770

Highland Park, buried in snow

February 7th, 2014


Day 770

Welcome, friends

February 7th, 2014



As if this wall in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel & St. Joseph, a Discalced Carmelite monastery, weren't high enough, they've also gone to the trouble of embedding shards of broken glass along the top of it.

(Here's a bird's-eye view of the monastery.)

Day 770

Highland Boulevard

February 7th, 2014



An enclave of massive houses at the northern edge of greater East New York

Day 770




As you can see in this terrain map, Highland Boulevard runs along the edge of the Harbor Hill Moraine; the ground drops off sharply behind me down to the outwash plain of southeastern Brooklyn.

Day 770

Long way home

February 7th, 2014


Day 770

Descent

February 7th, 2014



Looking down Miller Avenue from the heights of the Harbor Hill Moraine. If you zoom in, you can even see Jamaica Bay and the Rockaway Peninsula way off in the distance.

Day 770