There’s the Admiral’s House, the generals’ housing of Colonels Row, and the officers’ housing in Nolan Park. All of them were once inhabited, waiting for their stories to be told. We were thrilled the day that author Lois Lowry walked into Nolan Park 5B, where we co-host an artist residency with Works on Water. The former colonel’s daughter remembered sunbathing on the roof of the house!
In the process of counting migratory baby eels in the Bronx River, researchers discovered a discarded handgun. We think the eels are the more surprising find. Read their story here.
The Little Red Lighthouse Swim takes long-distance swimmers on a journey through the currents of the Hudson River. Find out more about it here.
Countless shopping carts have met their fate on the muddy floors of New York City’s waterways.
The ceiling fan was pulled from the Bronx River by volunteers, but how did it get there?
The hot plate was hauled from the Bronx River by Bronx River Restoration Project volunteers.
There used to be an appliance repair shop near the Bronx River; when an object was beyond repair, into the river it went!
The bottling company seems to have moved to New Jersey, but at least one of its bottles stayed behind.
Did the horse lose its shoe while escaping the trailer?
We’ve heard of plenty of cars winding up in NYC’s waterways, and specifically in the Bronx River, but this is a new one. What happened to the horse?
Shaped like a hog or grazed by hogs, the jury is out on how Hog Island got its name, but how it got its fame is without debate. A beach retreat for Boss Tweed and his Tammany pals, this island was completely submerged by a category 2 hurricane that hit Brooklyn and Queens on August 23, 1893.
Speed boat no longer, this gutted Larson looks like the bitter end of a mid-life crisis. (Now we’re editorializing.) Just try to look at this thing without seeing a story. See a photo here.
Built on the landfill at the southern tip of Manhattan, the Museum returned to the sea during Hurricane Sandy when it was flooded with six feet of water. Just a month earlier, UNY collaborated with the American Folk Art Museum’s exhibition of nautical folk art to present a reading of original stories based on the building and the work.
Another find by Gene Ritter. This baby was keeping time well over a century ago. What else did it keep? Tell us its secrets.
On June 15, 1905, General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River, taking with it 1,021 German immigrants on their way to a church picnic. It was the worst maritime disaster in NYC’s history and the gravest loss of life until September 11, 2001.
This scooter kind of like a hipster ghost rider. (Thankfully, no skull in sight.) We do wonder what treasures were hidden beneath the seat. Take a look at Nate Dorr’s photo, and tell us a story about this ill-fated ride.
This tiny reclining beauty lost her tail.
Mermaids have wet dreams. So says Julie Atlas Muz, a performance artist, former Miss Exotic World, and head mermaid of the 9,000-gallon tank at The Coral Room in Chelsea. We wish The Coral Room was still open, but through your stories, the mermaid show can live on.
Like the shark before it, the whale swam into the canal in 2007, beached itself, and sadly, died.
Enough said.
