Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-01-30

hstenod 10 the plashlns le-tne waves
Loarss with repetition Of their Mystery
where he watched the great ships standing
out to sea or coming home richly laden, and
where as the court end Of town, everybody
famous in the world OF fashion, art or litera'
ture might be seen sauutering along its shady
walks aud alleys green.
Rightly enough, the neighborhood Of the
Battery has been called the cradle Of New
York." for It Is the home OF some Of the ear
lest traditions OF the great city. 1t was
probably here that Henry Hudson landed
from the Hall Moon i'll 1909 and distributed
the rum among the natives that resulted in a
royal revel. and, If the legend be true, led to
the aa. ,,tion by the indians OF the name
Manhattan" signifying the place OF
drunkenness Who knows that old Peter
Minuit, the first governor, did not select this
spot when, with true Dutch thrift and con-
scientiousness, he made the famous trade
with the original owners Of the soil, in which
for 60 guilders, or s25, the entire island,
fifteen miles in length and from quarter of
a mile TO two miles in breadth, comprising
q, 900 acres of land. became the property Of
the Dutch West India company
A recent stroll on the Battery brought
these thoughts, and more, TO mind. II was
one Of those glorious Sunday afternoons in
which the people like to get ont into the sun
shine and HE away TO Central park or the
suburbs, and one conli not bat remark how
many went 10 this old historic SPIT. Time
has strangely metamorphosed the place. The
handsome residences that once adorned its
outskirts have either disappeared or been
transformed into tenement houses, shipping
establishments or emigrant hotels; the fronts
are time stained, and the windows seem to
have shared the lot OF ewes in mortals and
grown dim with age Here and there is q
mansion with its pillared portico looking for
all the world as il 1t were leaning on half a
dozen giant crutches. 1t reminds one Of a
Specimen Of faded gentility-a sort OF noble
old aristocrat welded to plebeian pauper
and wearing an aspect quite toriorn and
cherries
Within some Of these houses the great
rooms have settled down into II kind of leth
argy and look dissipated, for the beer seller
and boarding house boss have taken posses
sion and the walls are blotched as # mission
ary maps were bursting out Of them
A few years since. among the historic resi-
dences OF the neighborhood within biscuit
throw. was the Kennedy house, at No.
Broadway 1t was built in 1860 by Archi-
bald Kennedy, then collector of the port Of
New York. In colonial times it was the cen
ter OF the fashion OF tine colony and was sue
cessivey the residence and headquarters OF
Lord CORVALLIS, Lord Howe, Gen. Sir
Henry Clinton aud Gen. Washington. Taley-
rand lived there during his stay in this coun-
try. On its site now stands what is known
as The Field Building lofty ediflce
erected by Cyrus W Field, who is famous
in connection with the laying OF the first At
lantic cable II is one of the most complete
"ot!icc' buildings in the city, and from base
ment to roof, some fourteen stories, is occu-
pied BY solid business men, many of them
representing great corporations At No. 5
Broadway was the residence of Benedict Ar
mold. al No. II Gen Gates had his headquar-
tiers, and in ,'li it was the site of Dutch
tavern. That row Of six old fashioned brick
buildings at the foot OF Broadway now con
tanning y many Offices of conSuls, steamship
companies AMI " hat not, was in ltitj the site
Of Fort Amsterdam, then capacous enough
to contain the governors residence. a church
and garrison Of 80 soldiers