WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:04.240 Welcome. This is Rebecca Shore for Radio Eye and to 2 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:09.480 day I will be reading from Smithsonian Magazine presents America 3 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:14.400 at two fifty The Revolutionary Spark. It's a special edition 4 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:19.480 celebrating our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. As a reminder, 5 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:22.719 Radio I is a reading service intended for people who 6 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:26.120 are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult 7 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:30.679 to read printed material. Please join me now for the 8 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:35.719 first part of the article titled America's original travel Influencer 9 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:40.399 drew up a revolutionary itinerary two hundred years ago. There 10 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:44.280 is still plenty to see along the way. Follow along 11 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:47.439 as we retrace the route one journalist laid out in 12 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:51.280 the Fashionable Tour from New York City to Niagara Falls, 13 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:54.679 when memories of the fight for Independence were still fresh. 14 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:01.159 By Tony Parreta. Last summer, I made a pilgrimage to 15 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:03.880 the rare Book Division of the New York Public Library 16 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:07.840 in Midtown, Manhattan. Taking a seat at a polished wood 17 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:12.719 table in the austereily silent, windowless chamber, I requested several 18 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:17.959 near forgotten texts, original surviving copies of the Fashionable Tour, 19 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:22.079 which qualify as the earliest practical travel guide books to 20 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:26.560 the independent United States. The first edition, published in eighteen 21 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:30.159 twenty two, was a pocket sized volume with a battered 22 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:35.040 brown leather cover and stained brittle pages. A more detailed 23 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:39.359 second edition in eighteen twenty five had trimmed pages and 24 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:44.359 a secure binding, and later editions included alluring illustrations of 25 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:49.719 America's natural and historic attractions. The publication timing is what 26 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:54.120 attracted me. On July fourth, eighteen twenty six, a year 27 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:59.200 after the second edition appeared, Americans celebrated the fiftieth anniversary 28 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:03.920 of the duckl of Independence with parades, banquets, and fireworks. 29 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:09.080 By coincidence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died that day, 30 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:13.319 but patriotic travelers who wanted to mark the country's coming 31 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.240 of age that summer knew where to go, thanks in 32 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:20.120 part to the fashionable Tour. By the time it was circulating, 33 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:24.680 an incipient American tourist trail had been established north from 34 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:29.479 Manhattan through the Hudson Valley to the spa town Saratoga Springs, 35 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.080 then west to Buffalo and the country's most renowned natural wonder, 36 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:39.879 Niagara Falls. This American Grand Tour, which took shape during 37 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:43.400 a period of national unity that a Bostonian newspaper man 38 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:47.159 dubbed the Era of Good Feelings was deeply appealing to 39 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:50.960 the first generation to grow up in the independent United States. 40 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.919 After their victory over Britain in the War of eighteen twelve, 41 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:59.960 Americans were finally becoming confident that their democratic experiment, which 42 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.680 which many observers feared might fragment, would survive and even thrive. 43 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:09.400 By the eighteen twenties, the Industrial Revolution was gaining pace, 44 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:14.439 creating a budding urban middle class with disposable income, time 45 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.080 to travel, and to desire for locally grown attractions and 46 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.680 artistic creations rather than European imports with their fusty old 47 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:27.800 world air. It was a historic convergence, said Jonathan Palmer, 48 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:31.719 the historian for Green County in the Catskill Mountains, when 49 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.000 I met him in an archive in the Hudson River 50 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:38.960 Port town of Kingston. The invention of the steamship transformed 51 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.000 our relationship with the natural world, he said. Travel used 52 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:48.240 to be prohibitively expensive or time consuming for most Americans. Now, 53 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:51.560 for the first time in history, humans could go faster 54 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.199 than horses could carry them or wind move them. It 55 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:59.199 was a technological leap as dramatic as the invention of 56 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.800 the first past passenger jets, said Palmer. Then, in eighteen 57 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:07.120 twenty five, the completion of the Erie Canal opened a 58 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:11.280 new and comfortable route west of Albany to magical Niagara. 59 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:15.599 The Fashionable Tour offered advice each step of the way. 60 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:20.480 It was written, appropriately enough, by a self made entrepreneur 61 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.319 who was part of the pioneer tourist class to whom 62 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:27.839 he was appealing. The journalist Gideon Minor. Davison was born 63 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:31.079 in Vermont and worked with the publisher in Manhattan before 64 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.879 settling around eighteen eighteen in Saratoga Springs, which was emerging 65 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.839 as the epicenter of the fledgling New World travel industry. 66 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:44.399 There he founded the Saratoga Sentinel and had a sideline 67 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:48.519 printing bibles. Eventually he made a fortune in real estate. 68 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:53.000 Hardly a household named today. Davison is one of the 69 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:58.120 country's great unsung travel innovators, according to historian Richard H. 70 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:01.959 Gassen in the Birth of America and Tourism for the 71 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.600 eighteen twenty two edition, Gasen writes, the thirty one year 72 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:10.519 old Davison organized his entries geographically, and he quote pulled 73 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:14.000 the reader along a very specific route quote by using 74 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.120 quote an omniscient, even commanding tone. Go here, then see 75 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.360 that end quote for the first time. Gassen ads practical 76 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:28.120 travel tips, schedules, prices, hotel recommendations were combined with edifying 77 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:33.759 stories from American history, particularly the Revolutionary War. The first 78 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:37.639 edition was cheap, disposable, and sold only in the reading 79 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:42.560 room Davison had founded in Saratoga Springs, but his eighteen 80 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:45.519 twenty five edition made it to book stores in New 81 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:49.600 York City, and later editions, at least six over fifteen 82 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:55.560 years spread beyond that. Soon luxury steamers were plying the Hudson. 83 00:05:55.959 --> 00:06:00.519 New hotels were sprouting in the Catskills in Niagara, copy 84 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:04.240 cat guide books flourished, and aristocrats were complaining of the 85 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:10.040 Haipuloi flooding upstate enclaves like Hyde Park. By the eighteen thirties, 86 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.879 scenes from the trail were printed on Staffordshire's china for 87 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:19.279 American homes in the library's windowless room. Last summer, with 88 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:23.160 the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of seventeen seventy six approaching, 89 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:27.519 I pored over the fashionable tour and yearned to escape 90 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:31.480 the air conditioned archives and recreate the journey a traveler 91 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:35.120 might have taken for the fiftieth Jubilee in eighteen twenty six. 92 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:40.319 Apart from a few short seasonal tourist jaunts, commercial passenger 93 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.920 boats no longer service long distance routes along the Hudson 94 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.800 River or the Erie Canal, but you can follow Davison's 95 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.879 classic trail by car on back roads through upstate New York. 96 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.560 I also dropped messages to members of New York's maritime community, 97 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:02.040 including shipbuilders in Buffalo. I'd heard handmade a replica Erie 98 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.800 Canal boat from eighteen twenty five. Along the way, I 99 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:10.240 planned to explore the forests, mountains, lakes, and waterfalls that 100 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.600 bewitched the first travelers in the eighteen twenties, and to 101 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:19.319 visit the inspiring revolutionary battlefields and memorials. The excitement of 102 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:23.879 that era I hoped could be recaptured today for travelers. 103 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:28.959 In eighteen twenty six, the itinerary inspired adventurous wanderlust, so 104 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:33.000 two hundred years later, I set out with anticipation to 105 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:38.519 see how Davison's directions have held up. My grand tour 106 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.680 started in downtown Manhattan and several of the era's attractions 107 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.680 survive among the glass sky scrapers of the Financial District. 108 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:50.360 I strolled from City Hall quote one of the most 109 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:54.480 beautiful edifices in America end quote, according to Davis's guide Book, 110 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:59.480 to Trinity Cemetery, where the marble plinth of Alexander Hamilton 111 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:04.040 still receives attention from tourists thanks to the hit musical Hamilton. 112 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:08.639 From there, I navigated the jumbled seventeenth century streets to 113 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:12.680 Battery Park, where New Yorkers gathered in seventeen seventy six 114 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.959 to hear the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. 115 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:19.720 But for travelers in the eighteen twenties, the goal was 116 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:23.600 the Cortland Street Wharf, the berth for steamships running up 117 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:26.720 the Hudson River, where they would dodge pushy touts and 118 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.480 purchase a three dollar passage equivalent to about one hundred 119 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.440 dollars to day to Albany including meals. Recalling the hubbub 120 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.240 now is an active imagination. The wharf closed in the 121 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:43.039 nineteen thirties, and in the nineteen sixties and seventies it 122 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:46.679 was buried under landfill for the World Trade Center, but 123 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:50.120 a few steps north of the site, a moored vintage 124 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:53.799 schooner is now a sun soaked bar and oyster restaurant 125 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:57.840 called Grand Banks. Taking a seat by the rippling waters, 126 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.200 I watched local ferries shuttle back and forth across New 127 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.879 York Harbor. The next day I was ready to start 128 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:10.559 my own revolutionary expedition. To maximize daylight hours for sight seeing, 129 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:15.159 The Fashionable Tour recommended a six a m steamship departure, 130 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.039 so I chose the same time to head north in 131 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:22.320 my rental car. Navigating up the West Side Highway, I 132 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:27.799 squinted to imagine the eighteen twenties experience. Back then, cigar 133 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:31.600 shaped Manhattan Island was still settled only as far north 134 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:35.519 as to day's Greenwich Village, leaving the rest green and lush, 135 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.960 the scenery becoming more majestic as travelers steamed past the 136 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.840 cliffs of New Jersey's Palisades on the Hudson's Western Bank 137 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:49.559 toward Forest's teeming with bird life. By mid morning, travelers 138 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.480 approached one of the first great revolutionary sites, at the 139 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.159 River narrows of West Point, where a military academy had 140 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.559 sprung up in eighteen o two. Around Fort Putnam, a 141 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.159 mold ring ruin Davison told his readers, though it was 142 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.159 only half a century old, it was here. Davison explained 143 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:11.399 that General Benedict Arnold plotted to betray the Continental Army 144 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:15.600 in seventeen eighty by passing its defensive layout plan to 145 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:19.679 the British agent Major John Andre, before Andrea was captured 146 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:25.279 by a trio of American rebels down river in Tarrytown, exposed, tried, 147 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:28.840 and hanged as a spy. To day, daily tours of 148 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:32.639 West Point are conducted in small buses by guides who 149 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:36.559 likewise recount the dramatic saga of Benny as he's known 150 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.320 at the Academy, or at least as he's known to 151 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:42.440 my guide, Glenn Goldman, who liked to take in a 152 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:47.559 reverent tone. Passing a field where the Continental Army garrison 153 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:50.759 camped out, the fort itself was too small to house 154 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:54.279 all the troops, we disembarked at a headland with a 155 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:58.320 spectacular view of the river. This was the most important 156 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:01.159 piece of dirt in the entire North Northeast during the 157 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:06.360 Revolutionary War, said Goldman. A West Point graduate, George Washington 158 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:09.399 called the Hudson River the key to the continent, and 159 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:13.879 West Point commands its most strategic stretch, with its narrowest 160 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:18.720 passage and a squirreling current. Goldman indicated a statue of 161 00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:24.080 General Thaddius Kazushko, a brilliant Polish engineer who organized the 162 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:28.240 fort's defense, including the deployment of an enormous chain laid 163 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:32.200 on rafts across the river to block British shipping. As 164 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:35.480 for the fate of the British agent, Andre Goldman took 165 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:39.919 an ironic view of his heroic apprehension by Patriots. Three 166 00:11:40.039 --> 00:11:43.559 drunk New York militiamen basically mugged him, and they found 167 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:45.960 the West Point plans when they were stealing his boots. 168 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.639 The scenic portion of an eighteen twenty six river trip 169 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.440 began in earnest by late afternoon, when the steamship pulled 170 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:58.200 into the river port of Katskill, a tidy town where 171 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:02.000 many old farmers still spoke Dutch. After a night at 172 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.279 a local inn, travelers would take a stagecoach for one 173 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.759 dollar up into the Catskill Mountains. The winding twelve mile 174 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:13.960 road could induce quote an unwelcome degree of terror end quote. 175 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:18.559 Davison warned. On steeper stretches, passengers might be forced to 176 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.720 get out and walk. The effort was rewarded when they 177 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.120 arrived at the edge of a two hundred foot high 178 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:29.159 cliff to lay eyes on The Catskill Mountain House, America's 179 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:33.320 first rural luxury resort, which opened in eighteen twenty four. 180 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:38.159 Built in Greek Revival style, the grandiose hotel had a 181 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:43.120 whitewashed exterior and a panoramic porch with thirteen Corinthian columns, 182 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.960 one for each of the original states, though when it opened, 183 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:50.360 the flag flapping over the hotel had twenty four stars, 184 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:56.120 a consequence of the nation's expansion. Inside were glittering chandeliers, 185 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.519 piano music, and the happy chatter of more than two 186 00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:03.480 hundred guests, who dined at tables that groaned with lobsters, 187 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:08.519 fish and meats ferried by liveried waiters. Brandy was served 188 00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:12.240 at a busy bar. The Mountain House was the crown 189 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:16.080 jewel of the Hudson Valley. Palmer told me Americans had 190 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.799 never seen anything like it. You could go up to 191 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.840 a remote cliff side and have a five course meal 192 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:29.159 and enjoy sumptuous accommodations. It also provided unprecedented access to nature. 193 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:33.799 Every morning, staff knocked on doors to wake guests for sunrise, 194 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:38.399 which Davison assured them was quote more enchantment than reality. 195 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:43.360 Mist filled the valleys, creating a dawn gloaming, then burned 196 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:47.399 off to reveal as one anonymous eighteen twenty six visitor 197 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.440 raved in the Boston Recorder and Telegraph, quote, a distant 198 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:55.559 Eden flooded with light. The same visitor marveled at the 199 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:59.759 sheer scale of the vista, quote, an area wide enough 200 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:03.039 for the territory of a nation lies beneath you, like 201 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:06.440 a picture, with the Hudson winding through like an inlaid 202 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:11.879 vein of silver. Guests hiked through gnarled forests to the 203 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:15.960 novel and romantic Catterskill Falls, where a viewing platform had 204 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.799 been installed to observe the two hundred and sixty foot cascades. 205 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.799 To reach the site of the mountain House. To day, 206 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:26.879 I parked by a lakeside trailhead in Catskill State Park 207 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:30.279 and hiked up the same steep switchbacks used by the 208 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:34.240 old stage coaches. Passing through the stone remains of the 209 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.840 once grand entry Gate. I emerged onto a cliff top 210 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:42.000 plateau with views that are still jaw dropping. Although the 211 00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:46.279 beloved hotel has now vanished, The wooden structure fell into 212 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.840 decay in the nineteen fifties when local kids would break 213 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:53.840 in and throw its antique porcelain plates like frisbees, and 214 00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:57.240 in nineteen sixty three rangers burned it down because it 215 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:00.679 was a safety hazard. Still, a note on the notice 216 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:04.879 board reminds visitors that the view before you was for 217 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:09.080 many years the most famous in America, while a nostalgic 218 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:14.120 plaque boasts that President Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland, and Theodore 219 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:20.360 Roosevelt were guests at the hotel. Arguably the earliest influential guests, however, 220 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.799 were the novelist James Fenimore Cooper and the English born 221 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:29.039 aspiring artist Thomas Cole, later the founder of the Hudson 222 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:33.360 River School of Painters. Their work would secure the Hudson 223 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:39.039 Valley's reputation as the quintessential American landscape. It was a 224 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:43.399 one two punch combining art and literature, Palmer said. In 225 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.799 novels like The Pioneers and the Last of the Mohicans, 226 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:52.759 Cooper told historical tales about specific Hudson Valley locations. Then 227 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:56.000 Cole came along with his paintings. It was like an 228 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:03.120 accidental marketing campaign. For upstate travel. Beginning in eighteen thirty three, 229 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.240 art loving travelers could even pay a visit to Cole himself. 230 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:11.159 While down in Catskill, the artist moved there full time 231 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.080 as a tenant on the property of a Federal style 232 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:18.039 manor called Cedar Grove. Three years later, he married his 233 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:22.799 landlord's daughter, Maria Bartow, and graduated to residing in the 234 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.960 Cedar Grove mansion itself, turning it into Upstate New York's 235 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:31.000 first private art gallery, with his wife managing sales and 236 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:35.759 his sister's giving tours. Today, the Cedar Grove House is 237 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:39.200 preserved as a charming museum on the grounds of the 238 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:44.679 Thomas Cole National Historic Site, displaying original landscapes and an 239 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:49.840 audio visual presentation using the artist's words. Cole grew up 240 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.720 in Lancashire at the time of the Luddites the anti 241 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.759 industrial movement. Jordan Shook, a staff member, told me, as 242 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:59.600 we wandered from the blue painted entrance hall to the 243 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:04.240 upose stairs family bedrooms. Here in America, he was awe 244 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.519 struck by the Hudson Valley landscape, but he saw the 245 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.880 dangers of what he called the ravages of the Axe, 246 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:15.759 and became a pioneer preservationist. We are still in Eden 247 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:19.799 was one of his typical declarations. She added, nature has 248 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:23.160 spread for us a rich and delightful banquet. Shall we 249 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:28.519 turn from it? Cole's timing was impeccable. After his first 250 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:31.920 steamboat trip up the Hudson in eighteen twenty four, the 251 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.039 self taught artist placed three oil landscapes in the window 252 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.799 of a friend's gallery in Manhattan and was surprised to 253 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.200 find that they were immediately snapped up, followed by a 254 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:47.160 rave review in the New York Evening Post titled another 255 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:52.000 American Genius. When Cole showed his first Hudson paintings in 256 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:56.359 New York, everyone lost their minds. Palmer said, here was 257 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:02.400 an American landscape that embodied the full checklist of European Romanticism. 258 00:18:02.920 --> 00:18:07.000 This local vision of what Davison and other esthetes called 259 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.799 the sublime showed the hand of God at work in nature, 260 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:16.680 inspiring later devotees of the Hudson River School. Cole soon 261 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:20.480 met the best selling novelist Cooper on a visit to Manhattan, 262 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.799 and the two became fast friends and collaborators. By eighteen 263 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:28.480 twenty six, travelers could see Cole's painting of a scene 264 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.559 from the Last of the Mohicans in the dining room 265 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:37.480 of the upscale steamship Albany. Whether offering luxury and art 266 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:41.720 or budget cabins. Hudson's steamships ended their routes in the 267 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:46.119 state capitol Albany, but few travelers dallied in the city. 268 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.160 Some made excursions to the nearby Shaker community to admire 269 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.960 the quote order, neatness and cleanliness end quote of their 270 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:59.799 unworldly celibate community, or to the imposing mansion of the 271 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:05.759 last Dutch patroon, a semi feudal landowner that loomed at Rensselaerswick. 272 00:19:06.599 --> 00:19:09.599 History buffs would call in at the river front waterve 273 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:14.680 Arsenal's handsome brick and stone buildings, built in eighteen twelve 274 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:20.559 and functioning as an informal Revolutionary war museum, with muskets, bayonets, 275 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.039 swords and pistols arranged with great taste and kept in 276 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:30.119 fine order. Davison wrote, visitors could admire captured British cannons 277 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:34.559 and French rifles donated by Louis the sixteenth, whose ornamental 278 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:39.640 brass shafts were engraved with Latin mottoes. But the majority 279 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:43.519 quickly climbed aboard one of the daily stage coaches nine 280 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.799 a m And two p m fare two dollars, that 281 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.960 whisked them from the dock in Albany, some thirty five 282 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:54.519 miles north to Saratoga Springs. Thanks to its healthful mineral 283 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:58.039 water springs, the town had become the most popular tourist 284 00:19:58.119 --> 00:20:02.359 destination in the U S, the answer to refined European 285 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:08.000 spa resorts like Badenbaden in Germany. Checking into splendid hotels 286 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:11.559 such as the Pavilion and Congress Hall, which each charged 287 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.319 a hefty eight dollars a week for bed and board, 288 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:18.720 the voyagers swapped their traveling clothes for the elegant formal 289 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:23.200 outfits stashed in their trunks to attend balls, piano concerts, 290 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.279 art shows, and the theater. In a self promotional flourish 291 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:32.000 Davison also recommended visiting his newspaper office for its quote 292 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:36.079 large and airy end quote reading room with one hundred 293 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:40.039 newspapers and maps, and a second floor of mineralogy Museum. 294 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:44.319 On my visit to the town, I strolled Broadway in 295 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.759 search of the address at number four seventeen and was 296 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:51.400 delighted to find that it still exists. It's a three 297 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:56.039 story town house with large upstairs windows on enclosed balconies. 298 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.160 The ground floor now houses a bar called Bluntly the 299 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:04.720 Wine Bar. A tiny metal plaque by its steps even 300 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:08.920 commemorates Davison's residence here, although it is nearly hidden by 301 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:14.799 electric wires. But Saratoga's Reisondetre was its twenty one mineral 302 00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:19.440 water springs, most still protected by ornate pergolas as they 303 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:23.519 were in the eighteen twenties. Every spring had its own 304 00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:27.599 medicinal property, and physicians would recommend which one was good 305 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:31.759 for your skin or back pain or gastrointestinal problems, said 306 00:21:31.799 --> 00:21:35.400 Lorne Roberts, the county historian, when we met on the 307 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:39.079 sunny porch of the Saratoga Arms Hotel, which dates to 308 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:43.920 the Gilded Age. Several springs are in Leafy Congress Park, 309 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:48.640 where Davison described little urchins dispensing the waters in cups 310 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:52.559 to a varied crowd. While noting that doctors admired the 311 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:56.119 water's fuzziness, which could quote sparkle with the life of 312 00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:00.079 a good champagne, Davison warned that the first taste is 313 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.119 quote frequently unpleasant. As I cupped my hand to taste 314 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:08.519 the waters. His warning rang true. The salinity was something 315 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:12.319 of a shock. Congress Park is also home to an 316 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:17.000 old majestic casino turned history museum, where hidden high in 317 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:20.440 a corner, I spotted a dark and murky oil portrait 318 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:26.759 of Davison himself. Eleven miles southeast of Saratoga Springs was 319 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:31.599 another attraction, a battlefield where two engagements in seventeen seventy 320 00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:36.480 seven together referred to as the Battles of Saratoga, decisively 321 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:41.160 changed the course of the War of Independence. For vivid Insight, 322 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:46.920 Davison recommended seeking out a then octagenarian Continental Army veteran 323 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.039 named Major Ezra Buel, who lived on site and gave tours. 324 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:55.440 Quote his memory is still good quote. The guide book 325 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:59.279 went into great detail about the actions at Freeman's Farm 326 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:03.720 on September nineteenth and Bemis Heights on October seventh, which 327 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:06.799 led to the surrender of General John Burgoyne and his 328 00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:11.359 seventy four hundred strong army, the greatest British military defeat 329 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:15.599 in history at the time. The Continental Army's forces swelled 330 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:19.160 from around nine thousand to more than eleven thousand during 331 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.279 the engagement. The upset victory was so shocking that it 332 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:26.960 persuaded the French to enter the war on America's side, 333 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:31.240 turning a remote colonial struggle into a global conflict that 334 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:37.359 sprawled across the Caribbean and Europe. Today, the battlefield site 335 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.440 is a serene pastoral setting with rolling flower filled fields 336 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:46.079 fringed by forests, and can be toured by car. Davison 337 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:50.240 singled out for a poetic reverie the picturesque hilltop where 338 00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:55.240 the mortally wounded British General Simon Fraser asked to be buried, 339 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:00.240 delaying the British Army's retreat with disastrous results. My own 340 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:04.079 tour ended at a surreal monument depicting a sculpted boot 341 00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:08.079 unveiled in eighteen eighty seven. It was a tribute to 342 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:11.039 the general who led the Americans to victory and was 343 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:14.160 wounded in the leg on the spot none other than 344 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:18.119 Benedict Arnold, who, because of his later treason, was not 345 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:22.920 named or identified in any way. While earlier generations knew 346 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:25.799 the story by heart, I learned about it at stop 347 00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:29.839 seven on the National Park's audio narration on the ten 348 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:35.079 mile Battlefield Tour road. The decisive moment for the final 349 00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:39.519 stretch of the Grand Tour, American engineering took center stage. 350 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:43.559 The Erie Canal's eighteen twenty five completion was a three 351 00:24:43.640 --> 00:24:47.920 hundred sixty three mile triumph that transformed transportation in the 352 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.759 United States by connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie, 353 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:56.160 and thus the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes overnight. 354 00:24:56.319 --> 00:24:59.319 A journey that had been the province of intrepid adventure 355 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:03.000 travelers willing to endure two weeks by stage coach along 356 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:07.319 difficult roads, could be completed in five relaxing days for 357 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:12.119 less than eight dollars, including meals. Sightseers could choose from 358 00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:14.960 an array of new boats that were pulled by horse 359 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:18.920 teams on land, a gentle pace that continued day and night. 360 00:25:19.880 --> 00:25:22.799 In fine weather, they could bring chairs on to the 361 00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:25.880 roof to take in the scenery and marvel at the 362 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:29.559 workings of the eighty three locks that changed the canal 363 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:34.799 level en route. Although the Erie Canal fell into disuse 364 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.119 in the twentieth century, you can follow its length by 365 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:41.960 car through drowsy hamlets north of the Finger Lakes, a 366 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:46.759 region whose temperate microclimate now makes it a fertile wine district. 367 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:50.480 I broke the journey at Aurora on the eastern side 368 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:54.440 of Cayuga Lake, where boats loaded with peaches stopped while 369 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:58.400 sailing to the canal. The village is near intact from 370 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:01.720 the early nineteenth century and has been restored as a 371 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:06.160 unique collection of lodgings called the Inns of Aurora. At 372 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:10.000 its heart an eighteen thirty three Federal style tavern built 373 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.880 by E. B. E. Morgan, the wealthy co founder of 374 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.160 the New York Times and the first president of transport 375 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:21.240 company Wells Fargo. In a quirky architectural success story, the 376 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:25.160 string of historic structures was saved and renovated over the 377 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:29.200 past two decades by Pleasant T. Rowland, the founder of 378 00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:33.519 the American Girl Doll Company. For an experience of the 379 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:37.359 canal itself, I arranged a rendezvous at its end point 380 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:42.160 in Buffalo. After driving through industrial back blocks, I met 381 00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:45.519 members of the city's Maritime center at the ruins of 382 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.240 the canal's western terminus, where the seventy three foot long 383 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:53.240 wooden replica of an eighteen twenty five canal boat called 384 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:57.279 the Seneca Chief, painted canary yellow with green and brown trim, 385 00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:01.920 was moored. Davison found Buffet Quote a beautiful and thriving 386 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.440 village destined to become one of the most important ports 387 00:27:05.480 --> 00:27:09.440 of the state. He was right. The city did boom. 388 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:12.759 To day, it is scattered with stunning Art Deco civic 389 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:17.279 structures and Tudor style mansions, and the water front exploded 390 00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:20.680 into a red light district catering to sailors from the 391 00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:24.559 Great Lakes and canallers, as canal boat crews were known. 392 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:28.880 The district has since been renovated as Canal Side, with 393 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:33.839 the promenade, outdoor cafes and bars moved along by a 394 00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:37.000 push boat. The Seneca Chief left the dock and entered 395 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.359 the canal proper at the village of Tonawandah. Like any 396 00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:45.000 good eighteen twenties traveler, I sat on the Chief's roof 397 00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:48.799 and watched the verdue press in on either side of 398 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:53.160 the canal, while flocks of Canadian geese passed overhead as 399 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:58.200 we glided. John Montague, the Maritime Center's President emeritus, talked 400 00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:02.759 about the center's history. This concludes readings from the Smithsonian 401 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:07.039 Magazine for today. Your reader has been Rebecca Shore. Thanks 402 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:09.119 for listening, and have a great day.