Newark Bay Tour with 9/11 Tribute
Sunday, September 10th • 11am-2pm
FERRY DIRECTIONS:
DO NOT GO TO THE NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE MUSEUM. The “Fast Ferry” pier is located on the water, by the 1 Bay Street general area which includes the St. George Ferry Terminal and the Empire Outlets. The “Fast Ferry” pier does not have its own address. Google Maps will take you to the general area to find parking either at the Empire Outlets or St. George Ferry Terminal. Please refer to our walking map to find the pier: https://lighthousemuseum.org/boat-tours/ The pier is located at the end of Wall Street behind the Ferry Hawks Stadium. You cannot park at the “Fast Ferry” pier, but you can drop people off at the end of Wall Street. PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY TO PLAN FOR PARKING AND WALKING TO FAST FERRY. Call the National Lighthouse Museum prior to Boat Tour to ask for further explanation if need be.
This exciting tour of Newark Bay, the city of Newark, Bayonne and Jersey City also includes up close visits to four famous memorials that pay solemn tribute to the victims of 9/11: the city of Bayonne’s “Tear Drop Memorial” the two giant waterfall memorials that comprise the footprints of the World Trade Center, St. George, Staten Island’s strikingly dramatic and soaringly wing-like tribute to the 274 Staten Island victims who lost their lives on 9/11 entitled: “Postcards,” designed by noted New York architect Masayuki Sono, and the beautiful “Empty Sky Memorial” located next to Jersey City’s famed Central Railroad Terminal at Liberty State Park designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederick Schwartz.
In 1928, at its economic and cultural zenith, Newark, New Jersey stood proudly as America’s fourth wealthiest city. By this time, Newark, had produced a dazzling array of achievements few cities could rival: an advanced transportation infrastructure including a subway, America’s first commercial airport, a massive and flourishing iron and steel industry, one of America’s greatest concentrations of beer brewing, nationally recognized retail stores, and a wide range of commercial, civic and cultural accomplishments – all of which catapulted New Jersey’s most populous city to the forefront of American urban life.
Although the city has lost a significant degree of its spectacular economic luster in the present day, Newark’s incredible legacy of economic success and civic achievement is being re-energized, and, at present, the city adjoining Newark Bay and the Passaic River has been experiencing an impressive degree of economic resurgence, one spearheaded by its vital and ever expanding container port industry, the most extensive and important port facilities to be found along the Atlantic coast of the US.
Our tour highlights noted projects and sites of historic economic importance while also introducing us to specific container companies that are engaging new technologies that account for the rapid and tremendous success of this industry.
We further highlight impressive manufacturing, cultural, recreational and housing developments that are emerging all along Newark Bay the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers.
As we pull away from Fast Ferry Terminal between Empire Outlets and Ferry Hawks Ballpark, we describe in detail the “Postcards” Memorial. We then sail up close and personal to Robbins Reef Lighthouse where we learn about the life and career of one of NYC’s legendary Keepers, Kate Walker and the history of this famous NYC Lighthouse.
From the Kill Van Kull, we sail even closer to Zurab Tsereteli’s famed and powerful ten story tall sculpture, “The Tear Drop Memorial” located at Bayonne’s Military Ocean/Cruise Terminal. It was donated by Russia under Vladimir Putin in 2005 to commemorate victims of the 9/11 attacks and the destruction of New York City’s World Trade Center.
From Bergen Point, where a major railroad bridge and the Bergen Point lighthouse once stood as symbolic gateways to Newark Bay, we describe the history of both structures, then head northwards past the Robbins Reef Yacht Club and Union Park, up Newark Bay, past the rapidly expanding giant container facilities of Port Elizabeth and Port Newark, under the iconic Vertical Lift Railroad Bridge that connects Bayonne with Newark, the beautiful Newark Bay (Vincent R. Casciano Bridge) and Kearny Point, which, today, much like the Brooklyn Navy Yard, has been converted into a dynamic center of commercial and manufacturing. Our tour also traces the history and vital role played by the popular Portuguese dominated Ironbound section, which, in the present day, has helped to animate Newark’s current economic and cultural revival.
This tour includes an up close examination of the cities of Newark, Bayonne and Jersey City as well as the history of Liberty Island that once comprised a part of the Oyster Islands.
Since its installation in 1886, the Statue of Liberty, has not only served as a glorious symbol of liberty and friendship with France, but as a fort, a prison, a notorious public gallows, and, as a lighthouse on behalf of the US Lighthouse Service.
Our tour will be conducted by Wade R. Goria, historian, author, and former professor of International Relations at New York University. He is the principal lecturer for all NLM boat tours.
*Combo Ticket Available: $75 for adults/$50 for children.
Includes Boat Tour, National Lighthouse Museum admission and SI Ferry Hawks 4:00 pm Baseball Game.