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2009 Will Be a Watershed Year! CELEBRATE NEW YORK’S 400th
We have the rare centennial privilege of celebrating our great state’s 400th anniversary. 2009 marks the dual 400th annivesaries of the voyage of English Captain Henry Hudson who led (for the Dutch) the first European expedition to sail up the river that now bears his name, and Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, the first European to gaze upon the waters of the namesake lake. To celebrate these simultaneous quadricentennials – as well as the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton’s maiden journey up the Hudson River on the first successful steamboat – New York State and its many communities have planned a year long series of events. Starting from the harbor of the big apple to our state capitol and up to Quebec we are focusing on the commemoration of the Discovery of New York celebrating our Dutch, French and English roots and heritage. While we are at it we are celebrating who we are, unique among other states, with the notable distinction of our embrace of diversity, tolerance and innovation. Most important of all, we are utilizing all of the state resources and agencies to map out a planned legacy of environmental and economic sustainability so that the 500th anniversary of New York is assured. Our slogan: New York’s 400th-celebrating the past, planning for the future! Our planning for the future includes the New York State Quadricentennial Legacy Projects. The first at Governors Island, the site of one of New York’s first Dutch settlements and a strategic 19th-century coastal fortification. This legacy project will allow visitors to have access to the entire perimeter promenade for the first time, and will create a park area with unparalleled views of the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, and the Manhattan skyline. The second, eighty-five miles up the Hudson River, where a world destination will be established when the “Walkway Over the Hudson” finishes the transformation of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge into a spectacular “park in the sky” linking the river’s two shorelines with a 6,767-foot iron span creating the longest elevated walkway in the world. On Lake Champlain the state is finishing a full restoration of the historic Crown Point Lighthouse . Soon, its beacon will shine again over the stabilized ruins of two nearby forts – Crown Point and St. Frederic – that symbolize the region’s English and French heritage. By the end of the month, we will have delivered the 400th! flag to every school, town, village, city and county, library, historic and cultural institution in New York City, and the Hudson and Champlain Valleys.These groups can now boast that over 1000 of their Quadricentennial events have been listed on the ExploreNY400.com website.These event highlights include:
Henry Hudson Half Moon Ship - James Cleveland/New Netherland Museum We are working to help assist all of the libraries as they stock up on Dutch, and New York history books establishing Quadricentennial bookshelves, every Chamber of Commerce as they rally business leaders to co-host events and projects, and the many tourism/visitor bureaus as they work to sponsor welcoming and worthy-of-the-day celebrations, tours and expositions. The media and regional publications have prpared to devote the whole year on recording this grand commemoration to be memorialized for future generations. Bike and water trail events, yacht races, boat shows, rowing relays the length of the Hudson, and serious competitive kayak races are scheduled including the circumnavigation of Manhattan by international competitors. 4th, 5th, and 7th grade classes are including curriculums of New York’s 400th incorporating what the State Education Department has prepared as well as more than a dozen others prepared by puppeteers, acting troops, the National Parks Service program “Teaching the Hudson Valley”, the NYS DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program and most notably Captain Reynolds of Henry Hudson’s replica ship, the Half Moon. The Port Authority will soon install 400th banners throughout their airports, as will the Bridge Authority on Hudson Valley bridges. MTA has designated all Hudson River train stations and ferries-Quadricentennial stops and boats; and all of New York State’s thruway and canal stops will fly the 400th flag! West Point has plans for a 400th commemorative concert in June with the West Point Band, and all of our colleges and universities, our great museums and cultural institutions, and the many New York sports teams and clubs, all have planned quad events and programs. The first New York Medal of Discovery will be awarded by Governor Paterson to a distinguished New Yorker as a befitting inaugural event of the Quadricentennial, and the state is host to an International Stamp Expoon the Albany Concourse on the exact day, 100 years later, that the Henry Hudson stamp, a hugely valuable collector’s item was released. The original 1909 commemorative Henry Hudson stamp will be on loan for the show from the National Museum in Washington. Macy’s has commissioned the Hudson score for the NY Pops to be played at their Quadricentennial Fourth of July event, there are plans for the NATO ships to join the US armed services for Fleet Week in the harbor and we helped sponsor a Quadricentennial sustainability show in the central hall of the American Museum of Natural History this past January for over 10,000 families. We are looking forward to hosting and welcoming members of the Dutch Royal family to join us for a variety of events in September in New York City, the Hudson Valley and Albany as we did 50 years ago when Queen Beatrix, then Princess Beatrix, paid a commemorative royal visit. The ever growing list of commemorative events and projects goes on and on. This list will have weekly updates on this website (www.exploreny400.com). We are also producing a quarterly e-newsletter featuring valley wide developments. We welcome your announcements for both. To all of the people of the Champlain Valley, the Hudson Valley and the great city of New York (formerly New Amsterdam) please sign on as we celebrate the most memorable moment in our lifetimes, an extraordinary event in our state’s history!
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