Douglass Statue Run 1

Weather: Intermittent Clouds, 32°F (feels like 19°F), 50% Humidity, Winds ENE @ 14 mph.
Route: 11 miles; south through Highland Park, past Mt. Hope Cemetery, through UR River Campus, into downtown past War Memorial at Blue Cross Arena, thru East End.
Time (Pace):  Approx. 1:39.45 (9:03 min/mile)

Close-up of  Douglass statue location map
from Frederick Douglass: No Soil Better.

While "quarantined" in our home for the foreseeable future, I am trying to make my four times weekly runs more interesting by routing them through some interesting community "landmarks". During long slow weekend runs in the past, I have often found myself passing (and noting) the locations of a number of the Frederick Douglass statues that pepper our city of Rochester, New York.

This morning, with a leisurely 10-or-so-mile run on tap, I decided to make it "official" and planned to pass as many of the statues that run south of the city that I could find. Never much of a social runner, self-guided tours at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning definitely allow for appropriate social distancing while offering reprieve from at home isolation. (BONUS: flights of fancy such as this also gives me something to blog about, thus keeping my writing "chops" active.)

The locations of each of the 13 statues, actually replicas of the original made by local sculptor Olivia Kim, is available at the excellent Frederick Douglass: No Soil Better. I used this well curated website as my personal guide while pre-planning a loose running route, with some promising results...

"999 South Avenue, currently the site of Anna Murray Douglass Academy
 (School #12) This is the former site of the Douglass Family farm." (No Soil Better)

Frederick Douglass Monument by sculptor Stanley Edwards at Highland
Bowl. While not part of the set, worth checking out.

"Washington Square Park bordered by Woodbury Blvd., Court Street,
St. Mary’s Place and S. Clinton Avenue Site of Civil War “Soldiers and
Sailors” monument." (No Soil Better)

“300 Alexander Street, at the corner of East Avenue. Near the site
of Douglass’ first home in Rochester at 297 Alexander Street.” (No Soil Better)

While I picked-up three this morning (plus one extra at Highland Park Bowl), three elusive beauties remain unlocated for now. A few loops through Highland Park and onto the eerily empty UR River Campus both came up empty, though contributing to my overall mileage and supplying some beautiful scenery. Another statue reportedly located at intersection of Alexander Street and Tracy Street, the site of the Seward School, attended by Douglass’ children, also was undetected as I jogged by. Though a slightly less picturesque detour, it is always interesting to turn down slightly less familiar streets to get a flavor of neighborhood. Though I have (yet) to see the Douglass statues located therein, I'll count each count each missed opportunity as "wins"... and look forward to picking each up eventually.

Roadie: Women's Rights National Historic Park

The Wesleyan Chapel, site of the First Women's Rights Convention in 1848. (10/8/18)

Though less than a sixty minute drive from our home in Rochester, New York, Anne and I had never been to the Women's Rights National Historic Park. During last October's Columbus Day long weekend, we took our day off from work to drive out to nearby Seneca Falls where the "park" is located. As (relative) locals, and residents of the hometown of suffragist Susan B. Anthony, it is easy to overlook local historic sites in one's own backyard, even those with such significance to Unites States History. More a series of interconnected museum displays than a traditional "park" (no hiking shoes required!), there is quite a bit to take in over relatively short square footage that comprises the Visitor's Center and nearby sites. The town of Seneca Falls, the basis for Bedford Falls from It's A Wonderful Life, includes a quaint Main Street with other tourist sites to investigate.

Inside the restored Wesleyan Chapel. (10/8/18)

Declaration Park lies between the Wesleyan Chapel and Visitor's Center. (10/8/18)

The Waterwall on which the entire text of the Declaration of Sentiments 
and it's signers are inscribed. (10/8/18)

Green space at Declaration Park. (10/8/18)

Entrance to the park Visitor's Center at 136 Fall Street
 next to the Wesleyan Church. (10/8/18)

Juliette Gordon Law (right), founder of the Girls Scouts of America. (10/8/18)

Display depicting the history of Girl Scouting. (10/8/18)

Replica of The Declaration of Sentiments. (10/8/18)

(10/8/18)

The First Wave statue exhibit inside the entrance of the visitor's center. (10/8/18)

Me with statues of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass. (10/8/18)

Displays leading to the second floor of the Visitor's Center.(10/8/18)

A myriad of images, artifacts and media representations 
documenting Women's Rights Movement. (10/8/18)

(10/8/18)

One of many engaging pieces for clarifying
necessity for equity. (10/8/18)

Incredible photography capture reality that these
historic events are not really ancient history. (10/8/18)

These pictures taken during our trip do little justice to the scope and power of the displays and sites at the Women's Rights National Historic Park. Each display includes quite a bit of great reading offering a wide range of perspectives on the Women's Rights Movement from both participants and those impacted. Having recently read and analyzed the Declaration of Sentiments with my students, it really is incredible that it took another 70+ years for women to fully gain the right to vote nationally. The images, statues and site at the Women's Rights park serve as powerful reminders of how far our nation has come relative to delivering equity, and in light of recent political environment, how far there is yet to go.

Roadie: FDR Presidential Library & Museum

The FDR Presidential Library & Museum located in Hyde Park, New York. (9/3/16)

On Labor Day weekend, my wife and I once again made our way to New York City. Four years ago it was an anxious train ride to deliver my stepson to Columbia University for his freshmen year; this year, his final one as an undergraduate, was a much different trek. Having spent the summer in New York City, the majority of his belongings were already there, and rather than escorting him to campus, as he departed our home in Rochester, my wife and I left by car. When he arrived in town to settle in in on Saturday afternoon, we were arriving in Poughkipsee, New York, for some sightseeing before taking the train to visit the following day.

At this point Gregory really doesn't require much help moving, but we wanted to see his new dorm and decided to make a weekend out of it. Having Gregory go to college in New York City has provided Anne and I with many opportunities to visit a number of the historical sites in and around New York City, and this final September journey was no different--except that we were not solely in Gotham.

A National Historic Site, The Frederick Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, operated by the National Park Service, is located on the grounds of Springwood, the Roosevelt family estate in neighboring Hyde Park, New York. With Poughkipsee only a manageable two-hour train ride from New York City, its location was ideal as a base of operations for a day trip to the FDR National Park prior to heading to NYC. We would have liked to have spent more time in Hyde Park, as the four hours we did spend visiting was only enough to see a small part of the park's offerings. The library was built under the President's personal direction in 1939-1940, and dedicated on June 30, 1941. It is one of the thirteen presidential libraries under the auspices of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Close-up of FDR bust outside museum. (9/3/16)

Given their four terms in office, it is not suprising how quotable
President Roosevelt and his wife turned out to be.

Not a recreation, but FDR's working study in the museum during his life. (9/3/16) 

The President's desk from his time in the Oval Office. (9/3/16)

Busts of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt welcome visitors to the museum. (9/3/16)

Picturesque park land immediately outside the museum. (9/3/16)

Looking back through these images from our visit to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, I am struck by how poorly they reflect how incredibly entertaining and educational this historic site is. As someone with not nearly as deep an understanding of U.S. history as he should, while visiting places I am often more focused on taking the displays in than capturing the experience on "film". In addition to the few displays seen above, there are also six-minute films for viewing prior to each section of the museum. Each included archival footage and were thoroughly engaging. Ranging from FDR's childhood and early political life to an exploration of his lasting influence on the world, narrated by President Clinton, taken as a whole they provided wonderful context and background.

When we met Gregory the following day in New York City, both Anne and I highly recommended that he take some time to visit the FDR Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park.

Roadie: South Street Seaport Museum

The Peking at the South Street Seaport in New York City. (6/19/16)

Friday evening, my wife and I watched In the Heart of the Sea (2015) directed by Ron Howard and based upon the (far superior) novel by Nathaniel Philbrick. Despite lacking the passion of the book, and including some very odd camera angles intended (I think) to suggest some sort of artistic vision, one thing the movie did do very well is to recreate the Essex, the whaling ship that serves as the initial setting. Similar to our shared earlier film experience with Peter Weir's excellent 2003 historical drama Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on Dan O-Brien's novels, much of our viewing of the at-sea scenes were punctuated with comments such as "There is no way I could survive on a ship like that" or "I would definitely puke my brains out!"

It was during these scenes that I recalled we had indeed been on a boat not too dissimilar to that depicted in the movie... well, maybe not really, but it was an older vessel and we had toured it while it was moored to  a pier. Last month while visiting my step-son in New York City, one of the historical sites we found ourselves wandering into (in addition to the National September 11 Memorial and Hamilton Grange) was the South Sea Seaport. While there, we took in the South Street Seaport Museum and one of its display, the Peking. Neither a whaling ship nor war ship, the Peking was "one of the famous 'Flying P Liners'... [e]mployed in the nitrate trade..." The vessel was "made famous by the Irving Johnson film Around Cape Horn which documented her 1929 passage around the southern tip of South America in hurricane conditions." As part of our admission to the museum we were given a fairly self-guided tour of the ship.

Just as with the two aforementioned movies, touring the Peking reminded me how extremely unlikely it would be that I could survive at sea with fifty other people during an extensive voyage. I am more than well-equipped, however to tour interesting museums which permit an up-close experience with real history, a quality the South Street Seaport Museum has plenty of.