Revolutionary War Historical Sites

We made a quick stop at Morristown, New Jersey on our way to Karen's house in Pennsylvania. Morristown is where George Washington and his troops spent the winter of 1779-80. Washington and his officers stayed in the Ford Mansion in Morristown while the majority of the troops built a cabin city about 5 miles outside town on the Wick farm. Though the winter at Valley Forge has been remembered because of the high number of deaths among the troops, the winter at Morristown actually had more severe weather, and the troops had very little to eat. Their experience at Valley Forge had taught them how to build a more sanitary camp, however, so despite the harsher conditions, fewer men died at Morristown than at Valley Forge.

Our second Revolutionary War site was Federal Hall in New York City (on Wall Street in NYC). This is where George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States, and the building served as the first capitol of the United States until about a year and a half later when the capitol was moved to Philadelphia. The building that stands there now was built after the original Federal Hall fell into disrepair and was demolished. The new building was used as a customs house and federal treasury.

A room in the Ford Mansion where Washington's officers slept. Officers slept in the camp beds, which had stuffed mattresses and canopies for warmth.

The bedroom where Washington (and Martha Washington, when she came to visit) slept.

Washington's personal office in the Ford Mansion.

Front view of the Ford Mansion.

A view of what the soldier's cabins would have looked like. Each cabin slept 12 men.

Unlike Valley Forge, the Morristown cabins were built on hills. This meant that rainwater ran past the cabins to lower ground, and did not puddle in the cabins. Standing water spread disease at Valley Forge and was responsible for many deaths.

An officer's cabin - each side served as a personal bedroom for an officer.

Inside one of the real cabins.

This won't be a surprise for anyone from the East Coast, but the forests there are very different from those in the west - because the trees let so much light to the forest floor, the floor is much more densely packed with plants and bushes. This is part of the reason Washington chose to station his troops in this area - this forest would have been very difficult for an invading army to hack through quickly.

Federal Hall, New York City.

George Washington, standing in about the spot where he was inaugurated.

Inside Federal Hall. The doors to the right and left of the columns were the entry into the vaults where money was stored.

This stone was taken out of the balcony where George Washington would have stood during his inauguration.

A diorama of what the original Federal Hall looked like during the inauguration.

Close-up of George Washington taking the oath of office.

I had fun going to these sites - you don't get a whole lot of cool old places like this in the west with so much history behind them. 

St. Patricks Cathedral, Chelsea Market, and a few more things...

St. Patrick's Cathedral was amazing. I love cathedrals anyway, and you don't get too many really cool big cathedrals in the US, so I was happy to see this one. We also stopped by the American Girl store (which totally reminded me of my childhood), where I found out that they have retired my doll! Sad day. We went to Chelsea Market, which is an old industrial building that has been converted into a food market. It was pretty fun place (especially since I love food and cooking so much), made even more cool by the fact that Food Network has their studios and offices upstairs. That's where the Food Network test kitchens are, and (we think) where the Iron Chef stadium is (cool!). The High Line, which is right next to Chelsea Market, is an old elevated train track through the city that has been turned into a park. It was really cool - I loved the landscaping of the park. We hit up some great NYC food places - Gray's Papaya for hot dogs and Levain Bakery for HUGE cookies. Seriously, they were 6 ounces a piece - almost half a pound. Crazy.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, main altar

"Our Lady of Guadalupe" altar - all the flowers were put their for Mother's Day

Looking from half way up the cathedral back towards the entrance.

Can't get enough of the stained glass.

American Girl Place!

Apparently, I was the "Girl of the Year" in 2007.

Doll beauty parlor. That doll is getting her legs rubbed down with special cream, and after that she'll get her hair nicely brushed out and styled. Look at the cute little beauty parlor chairs!!

Seriously, the cutest public restroom I've ever been in. Certainly the cleanest in NYC.

A view of Chelsea Market... it's really hard to get a sense of it because it's so long. It was really fun, though.

Chelsea Market map. It was this cool 3D scrapbook-like map.

Food Network studios up there!

The High Line.

Old train tracks still visible in some places.

Pretty housing in the West Village where Karen and I went to see a comedy show.

Huge cookies!! It took me three days to finish these. SO good, though. Each cookie cost 4 bucks, but it was worth it.

Gray's Papaya. Not a great picture, but I had to get it since it features in one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail"!

Skype-ing with Matt and Owen from our Upper West Side apartment. Miss those boys!

Rockefeller Plaza, NYC

These pictures are all from our trip to see Rockefeller Center, home of NBC. We went to the 'Top of the Rock' to get a great view of the city, and played with the light room at the top. It was awesome. What a beautiful complex of buildings - each building has beautiful interiors filled with marble and art. Later on, we took a tour of Radio City Music Hall, which is part of Rockefeller Center. It was great!

Radio City Music Hall.

Looking uptown towards Central Park from the Top of the Rock.

Empire State Building.

Looking downtown. Liberty Island is visible off in the distance to the right.

Beautiful decoration on the building.

Karen and me with uptown NYC in the back.

What a beautiful city!

Playing in the light room at the Top of the Rock. You were assigned a color when you came in, and that colored light would follow you around the whole room. We had WAY too much fun with it.

Karen's green for right now.

Trying to confuse the light.

Can you see our colors on the ceiling??

The lights in the elevator shaft going up to the Top of the Rock.

The beautiful lobby of 30 Rockefeller Center.

Pret was my favorite deli in London... I was so excited to find it here!

30 Rockefeller Center.

30 Rock!

"Diagon Alley" at the Lego store.

Tower Bridge at the Lego store.

Awesome dragon hanging from the ceiling at the Lego store.