Five unknown sights of New York State

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

New York is so popular and loved by tourists that, it seems, there are no places left that would not be known to travelers and residents, but historian Eugene Ushomirsky found at least five unknown sights of New York State.

1. Boscobel Restoration

In 1808, an estate was built in the city of Montrose Boscobel. According to archival documents, it is there, in Montrose. But today, if you want to visit it, then you have to go to Harrison, which is located in 25 km from the original construction site. But this is not a mistake and not mysticism. The story began during the American Revolution.

Chief Quartermaster of the British Army, Brigadier General Sir William Erskine, recruited 20-year-old American colonist Morris Dickman, son of the owner of the tavern, as his assistant. Black Horsewhich then was located in the place where today Central Park adjoins 5 Avenue and 105 Street. In 1778, Erskine received a promotion to major generals, and in 1779, on call, he returned to London, where his work is considered in connection with an enrichment attempt during hostilities. And for good reason. Smoke without fire. The general was engaged in buying valuable antiques, both in America and in London, with some interest “dripping” into Dickman's pocket. Therefore, the general asked his assistant to go with him to London. Dickman returned to America only after 10 years, then went back to London, where he received an inheritance after the death of General Erkins. In 1803, the very wealthy Dickman finally returned to America.

In 1803, he begins to build a house in Montrose, the house that he designed in his head long before that. In 1806, at the age of 50, Dickman died without seeing his house. The family and his descendants lived in this house until 1920. Then the period of decadence begins and by the 50 years the house is decided to be demolished. All valuables, antiques, furniture, dishes are sold at auctions. But there were not indifferent people who, for 35 dollars, bought the house already ready for demolition from the contractor.

Have you noticed that his name is not a house, not an estate, but Boscobel Restoration - restoration, the house was restored. By whom and when? Why such an unusual definition for a building?

Founder of the magazine Reader's Digest DeWitt Wallace and his wife Leela anonymously gave 50 thousands of dollars for disassembly, relocation to another location, assembly at a new location and repurchase of everything that was squandered. Leela personally found all the buyers and all the auctions and she managed to buy back almost everything that used to be in the house.

That sounds just incredible. The house was disassembled on dostochki, bricks and bars. Every detail of the house was marked, everything was transported to 25 kilometers to Harrison and assembled to a building, a brick to a brick exactly as it was in the old place.

Therefore not mansion - estate, and restoration - recovery. In 1961, New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller attended the opening of the house.

Boscobel In Italian, it means beautiful forest, and it is open to the public.

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

2. Bomb shelter Iron mountain

A hundred miles from New York there is the town of Livingstone. If you find yourself in it, do not ask how to find Iron mountain. Almost no one can explain to you, the residents do not even know about this object, and you cannot get there: triple security, 28-ton (the second largest in the world) entrance door ...

It all began with the arrival in America in 1936, the German immigrant Hermann Knaust, who learned about the empty iron ore mine. Ore in the mine Burden began mining at the beginning of the 18th century. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Andrew Carnegie, with his successful business, drove this mine out of the market, and it closed. Hermann Knaust bought a mine to implement an idea that had been drilling into his brain for a long time - growing mushrooms. Iron mountain - this is what Knaust, who received the nickname of the mushroom king, calls his brainchild. Knaust supplied 25% of the country's total mushroom harvest from his New York mine.

After the end of the Second World War and the aggravation of relations between the United States and the USSR, Knaust took the nuclear threat from the Bolsheviks seriously, therefore he closed the cultivation of the mold and in the year 1949 arranged a bomb shelter.

It became known as Iron Mountain Atomic Storageand business began to grow. Many companies began to urgently take space in rent. When the level of danger decreased, Knaust went even further.

“Should I suggest that companies store their important documents in a safe place?” he thought.

And from 60's at a depth of 400 meters, at 7 levels, in 220 storages ranging from 8 to 1600 cubic meters first hundreds, and then thousands of companies began to store everything that should be preserved “in case of what ...”.

Over time, the business went beyond the state of New York, so the first corporation in the world appeared, which bought other companies of this kind, and several more similar storages were equipped. And it's all called now Iron Mountain Record Management Corporation, whose services are now used by 220 of thousands of companies from 37 countries of the world.

In addition to bank files, you can find the original records of Frank Sinatra, the testament of Princess Diana, the testaments of Charles Dickens and Darwin, and Otto Bettmann File. What Otto Bettmann File? German immigrant Otto Bettmann has collected 11 millions of photos in his long life. This archive was bought by the company Corbis, which was founded by computer guru Bill Gates. It was Gates who placed this gigantic collection of photos in an underground vault.

The company, once founded by a mushroom picker immigrant, earned $ 2016 billion in net profit in 3.5 year.

Since the repository is not for public viewing, you can not put his photo, but you can look at the truck company.

3. Opus 40

Few in which guidebook of the state of New York you will find mention of an object called Opus 40. A stone structure built by one person over 38 years.
Harvey Fite did not know why he came to this world. After school, and he lived in Woodstock, he studied lawyer, but it did not work. On the advice of the pastor, he moved to the theological faculty of another college. Again it did not go. Carried away by art, began to play in the theater troupe. Not that again. Finally, he becomes a sculptor and teaches at a college as a professor.
In 1938, while walking through the forest, he came across an abandoned quarry where copper sulfate had previously been mined. Continuing to teach, Fayt begins to build a structure out of stones alone. To be closer to the construction site, he moves to Highwoods. Harvey works with common tools: a hammer, a chisel, a drill, and uses a truck. And all the calculations are done by a brilliant self-taught engineer, his neighbor, whose name remains unknown. Several tens of thousands of tons of stones were placed in the structure by Harvey Fite, and he found the monolith located in the center of the structure in the river. The weight of the monolith is 9 tons.
At the beginning of the 70s, after the 30 years of operation, it is time to give the brainchild a name. Composers in this regard do not bother: Opus 1, Opus 2 etc. opus - this is work. Harvey estimated that it would take him 40 years to complete the structure. So I came up with the name - Opus 40.
In 1976, Harvey was 72-th year, and it was 38-th year of his titanic work on the construction. That day, as always, he worked with a stone, stood on the stairs, could not resist and fell. The sculptor died instantly. Dust Faith was scattered over the monumental work of his life.

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

4. Olana - fairy tale house

This beautiful and very unusual name for the Anglo-American sound came from the ancient Greek or Persian chronicles. The fortress house where the treasures were kept was called Olane.

Hudson River School - an association of 19th century artists who were so delighted with the beauty of the Hudson River Valley that their entire lives were spent traveling along the river in search of landscapes for their paintings. And I didn’t have to search for long. In the valley of this river there are hundreds of places that can decorate the canvas of any aesthete. Frederic Church was one of them.
Like other artists of this school, he settled on the bank of the river, in a beautiful and picturesque place, on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. He ordered his small country cottage to the architect Richard Morris Hunt, who is famous for creating the magnificent architecture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and virtually all the Vanderbilt palaces in several US cities. In the 1868 year, returning from a trip to Europe and the Middle East, overflowing with the impressions of Eastern architecture of the Moors and Persians, Church conceives the construction of a new, much larger house. And the name will be Olana.
This time he invites architect Calvert Vox, who is better known for his works on landscape design, but initially he was engaged in architecture. Church was very active in creating his home, and together with Vox in 1872, they built an eclectic creation that was amazingly beautiful.

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

5. House of Artists Jasper Cropsi and his gallery of paintings Newington-Cropsey Foundation

These houses are located nearby and are located in the city of Hastings-on-Hudson. Both houses are open only on weekdays. The internal architecture of the gallery is very interesting. But shooting inside buildings is prohibited, therefore only outdoor views are available to you. In the gallery from June 5 there will be an exhibition of morinist artists.

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

Photo: Facebook / Evgeny Ushomirsky

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