• History,  News

    Governors Island WWI Monuments Designated National War Memorials

    In a surprise announcement, the project to restore three lost World War I memorials on Governors Island were named national war memorials by a group of U.S. historians and veterans organizations. Governors Island joins 99 other sites across the U.S. to be chosen for national designation this month. The 2016-2017 project replaced and restored three lost or damaged WWI memorials on the island. They are for Private Merle Hay, one of the first Americans killed in combat; Captain Harry Kimmell, missing in action and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross; and a tree memorial dedicated to General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, who departed for France from…

  • History,  News

    WWI Memorial Project Completed

    The Governors Island World War One Memorial Project has been successfully completed and three bronze tablets are back where they belong on the island. In three heartwarming rededication ceremonies held during Camp Doughboy WWI History Weekend, September 16-17, the memorials were unveiled by the U.S. Army’s storied 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division. The Iron Rangers traveled from Fort Riley, Kansas, to lead the ceremonies, and were joined by forty WWI reenactors. The Memorial Project was focused on three sites: *Private Merle David Hay, one of the first three Americans killed in the war; *Captain Harry L. Kimmell, a company commander who died at Fléville; *General John J. Pershing,…

  • News

    Camp Doughboy Honors WWI Centennial, Draws Huge Crowds

    The World War One weekend at Governors Island National Monument was a smash success on September 16-17. The highlight was the rededication ceremony of three lost and damaged WWI memorials on city property, for the Governors Island Memorial Project. With this being the centennial of American entry into the Great War, and Governors Island playing a big part, the large “Camp Doughboy” at the National Monument was perfectly timed. We had a 1917 tank, and General Pershing, portrayed by David Shuey of Virgina, brought a horse back to the island. Organizations that supported the event were the WWI Centennial Committee for New York City, Long Island Living History Association, and…

  • WWI Memorial Project
    History,  News

    Marching Forward with Governors Island WWI Memorials

    Progress can be measured—and was measured—on the Governors Island World War I Memorial Project this week. Of the three bronze tablets in the project, one is restored and ready to be installed, and the other two are about to be cast by the foundry. On Monday, Beth and Peter Woolley and I went to Governors Island for an important site inspection. They are the owners of Peaceable Kingdom Memorials in Neptune City, NJ. They are restoring and overseeing the casting and installation of the bronze tablets that are missing. Their company has decades of experience in the monuments and memorials business. In a fine piece of island karma: Beth’s Russian…

  • Lawn Party
    History,  News

    The True Story of the Jazz Age Lawn Party

    The Jazz Age Lawn Party created by Michael Arenella carries on a long tradition on Governors Island going back more than 150 years to social events hosted by the U.S. Army. Just as Michael and his Dreamland Orchestra draw big crowds to the Island, so did the soldiers in a similar fashion beginning after the Civil War. While the music and fashions may have changed—seersucker has replaced Army blue—the experience is nearly the same. The party returns June 10 and 11, August 26 and 27. Tickets are $55 to $5,000. Twelve years ago Michael launched the Jazz Age Lawn party not far from where the Army used to have its…

  • Leviathan
    History,  News

    WWI Centennial and the Governors Island Raiding Party

    Today is the centennial of U.S. entry into World War I. The war had already been raging for more than two years before Congress declared war on Germany and the Central Powers on April 6, 1917. What is not remembered much is that Governors Island was part of the first military action the U.S. Armed Forces undertook in the war, and it happened 100 years ago today. On April 2, 1917, readers saw in the morning newspapers that soldiers from the Twenty-Second Infantry Regiment had arrived to be garrisoned on Fort Jay. The one thousand men replaced two hundred Coast Artillerymen. The Twenty-Second had spent six years living in tents…

  • The Sperrys
    Features,  News

    WWI Lovebirds: Aviator & Actress Wed on Governors Island

    February is Aviation Month at the Governors Island Explorer’s Guide. Lieutenant Lawrence B. Sperry, 23, and his fiancée, movie actress Winifred Allen, 20, climbed into the cockpit of a U.S. Navy biplane in Massapequa, Long Island, on the afternoon of February 18, 1917, and headed west. The couple landed thirty miles later on Governors Island. Lieutenant Sperry, a skilled aviator, then taxied the airplane directly to the door of St. Cornelius the Centurion Chapel for their wedding. Friends and family, officers from Fort Jay, and naval aviators welcomed the daring couple. So was Chaplain A.B. Smith, the army post’s curate. Rev. Smith and the guests were waiting on the chapel…

  • Ruth Law
    History,  News

    Ruth Law the Record-Breaker Flying with a Skirt

    February is Aviation Month at the Governors Island Explorer’s Guide. As anyone who has been to Governors Island knows, there are more than 50 bronze plaques around the island. Only one plaque on the whole island bears the name of a woman. This is Ruth Law. When Amelia Earhart was 19, Law landed a biplane on the island. Ruth Bancroft Law was born March 21, 1887, in Lynn, Massachusetts. Law was 5’ 5” with light brown hair. Reporters noted her blue eyes, fair complexion, and serious nature. About 1907 she married fellow Lynn resident Charles A. Oliver, who raced motorcycles and was an expert mechanic and engineer. He approved of…

  • History,  News

    Pioneer Pilot Raynal Bolling Gave All in WWI

    February is Aviation Month at the Governors Island Explorer’s Guide. With the centennial of American entry into World War I coming up in April, we will begin the second annual Aviation Month with the story of a pilot who practiced flying on Governors Island and was killed by German bullets in 1918. His story is one of sacrifice to the nation. Today his name is among the group of fifteen carved on the island’s bronze aviation pioneer monument, along with Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss. Raynal Cawthorne Bolling was an incredibly wealthy corporate lawyer who could have sat the war out at his brand-new mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. Called Greyledge…

  • Pershing Hall
    News

    World War I Memorial Project Launches

    Last summer I started work on a project that is small in scope but means a lot to me. Today I submitted the final grant application information to the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission for what I am calling the Governors Island World War I Memorial Project. Last year when my book The Governors Island Explorer’s Guide was published I was not done with the island, which is by far my favorite park in the city. I started work on my next book, World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War, which comes out in about a month. I wrote a…