New York is full of wonders. Here is a short selection of
places around town that are worth a visit.
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The Strangest Gravestone in Trinity Church: From 1846 when
it was built, until 1890, Trinity Church was the tallest building in New York.
Reaching to a height of 280 feet, it was finally overtaken after over 40 years
by the New York World Building. The church is built adjacent to New York’s oldest
graveyard, containing the oldest carved gravestone, that of Richard Churcher.
The five-year-old died in 1681. Not far from Churcher is the city’s strangest
gravestone, that of James Leeson. He was an innkeeper and mason, and died in 1794.
His stone is carved with mysterious symbols across the top. It was many years
before anyone could figure out what those weird markings symbolized until someone
finally understood that the markings were written in obscure masonic “pigpen”
cypher. The mystery was solved and the inscription simply reads, “REMEMBER
DEATH.”
Meet the Real Winnie the Pooh: In the Children’s Center of
the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue is something special to anyone who
has ever been, or still is, a child. The real Winnie the Pooh, the stuffed bear
purchased by A.A. Milne for his son Christopher is on display, along with his
companions Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Tigger. Pooh Bear was bought in Harrods in
London in 1921, and then presented as a gift to the library by Milne’s American
publisher E.P. Dutton in 1987, along with the other beloved characters from the
Hundred Acre Woods.
The Walk of Fame: Move over Hollywood Boulevard! New York
has its very own star-studded street, located at Theater 80, St. Mark’s Place,
East Village. Opened in 1971 by ex-actor and movie fan Howard Otway, Theater 80
showed films from the 1930s to the 1950s, Hollywood’s Golden Age. On opening
night Otway asked a few film stars to a fancy party and then to leave their
hand and footprints in softened cement, along with their signatures on the
sidewalk right outside the theater. Go take a look and see the prints of d Dom
DeLuise, Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy and Gloria Swanson. Some others, like that of
Joan Rivers, came later.
