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NYC! The Bowery Savings Bank, and the way home….
Across from (or near?) Grand Central is the Bowery Savings Bank, and the stonework and carving was another source of incredible inspiration.
Here is a close-up of one of the stone pillars just to the left of the doorway pictured above:
How lucky we are that the titans of industry 150 years ago poured money into buildings that are art!
Marie Z. J., I had to take this photo just for you:
An angel for Marie
Looking up the facade of the buidling
and a closer view of the carvings
What a fabulous quilting design or applique this could become
The lanterns/lights are just as fabulous.
There simply isn’t enough time to make all the art that is inside of me!
And perfect lettering…sigh….And it looks like this place is now an ultra chi-chi restaurant. Hmmm.
On the way home, I stopped off in Fall River, Mass. My father was born there and I recently discovered (in a well DUH SARAH, of course they are) my grandparents are buried here, as is my Aunt Mary M., whom I remember, along with two brothers who died young. So I sought out the Catholic cemetary and after a lot of wandering around trying to decipher the mystery of how the plots are numbered (I had called written a couple months ago to find out the plot numbers, etc), I found the family monument:
Apparently plots were sold with 6 spots–there are many such “family” monuments with names on the back in this cemetery. Frankie died as a baby and was apparently buried in a different part of the cemetery where there is no marker to show him…so sad, but at least they added him to this stone. It appears from family records that when Johnnie died in 1924 they purchased this spot (which was paid up in full in 1926). The stone was erected in 1961–not sure if Aunt Mary did that, or perhaps my Dad. He did stuff like that for his family, but there are no records now and anyone who knew is long since gone.
The back is weird: it shows ONLY the death dates! I asked but it isn’t possible to change and add the birth dates, or I’d take teaching income from a gig or two and add the birth dates. My grandparents, born in the 1880s, are at the top, followed by siblings in the order of birth: Aunt Mary, Aunt Nan, Frankie and Johnnie. All but Mary were gone before I was born.
On the way home, the GPS always wants me to go 95 and 93 through downtown Boston. Which has some of the worst drivers in America. And a couple interchanges near the Big Dig tunnel and the bridge that are white knuckle experiences for me. Usually I take I-495 around Boston which nominally takes a half hour longer. This time I decided to try 95/route 128, the inner ring road around Boston. Now I know why I will never do that again. I started to go around Boston at 2 pm. It was 4:30 before I cleared it…bumper to bumper. UGH. It would have been at least an hour faster to take the “long” way on 495–and it wasn’t even rush hour! And no accidents. One roadside info sign said next major highway interchange was 12 miles ahead. Time to get there (mid afternoon!!!!) was FIFTY , 50, MINUTES!!!! SHRIEK. Was really glad to get home to rural, not-busy-roads Maine!
On route 128, the ring road around Boston. Horrid.
So that’s the trip! Fun, except for the driving in Massachusetts!
June 15th, 2014 at 1:20 pm
I totally understand driving around Boston. Years ago my husband and I flew there for a convention. We were coming from the airport in bus and came upon an intersection that made me gain more gray hair. Two lanes coming from the north and two lanes coming from the south, merging into two lanes going west and no one stopped.
June 15th, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Thank you for sharing your travel tales.
Those are wonderful photos of that magnificent building.
I wonder what it looked like on the inside? I am imagining all sorts of beautiful wood panelling and carvings on the walls as well as intricately tiled floors.
It must be a sign of the times that these institutions have been converted to restaurants. I saw the same on a trip to Edinburgh a couple of years ago.
Roslyn Chapel (near Edinburgh) has a wonderfully carved pillar executed by the apprentice to the mason.
How peaceful your family resting place is.
Have you ever considered tracing your family tree any further back? You already have a lot of information with names, dates and location. There are so many resources available. The LDS is a good place to start!
June 16th, 2014 at 5:13 am
Can you imagine carving, stone, marble or even wood, and trying to make all the art inside of us? Or how much of the above materials one would have to carve to get ‘good’. Make me shudder to think on it!!!
Big city driving is the absolute worst… around the country!!! Is one place any better/less congested than another? Me, thinks NOT!!! I like the rural stuff too.