A Little Known Gem in Harlem: The Morris Jumel Mansion

The Morris-Jumel Mansion

----A Postcards from New York Encore----

In celebration of President's Day, something from our New York for Kids series. Kids will find the mansion filled with period furniture like a life size Doll's House. It is a perfect place to bring them face to face with "living" history.

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Dear Postcards from New York Reader,

From the moment you approach the Morris-Jumel Mansion’s graceful Georgian façade of towering white columns, the house comes to life. It is 1770, lively music from violins, cellos, piano and flute float from the house along with the muffled din of dancing feet. The buzz of pleasant conversation and the expectation of light refreshment, force you to hasten your pace to join the party. Inside, wide corridors, double parlors, hand-painted wall paper, handsome portraits, antique Chippendale, Empire, and Classical Revival furniture tell the tale of the entertaining that obviously took place here during the Pre-Revolutionary Period in British New York.

Built in 1765, the mansion was once the country home and summer retreat of Colonel Roger and Mary Morris. When war broke out in 1776, Colonel Morris, a British officer, returned to England to raise money for troops and military supplies. His home, meanwhile, was seized by George Washington’s forces and served as his headquarters because of its key strategic location overlooking both the Harlem and Hudson rivers.

Walk slowly around the parlor, dining room and drawing room downstairs, then imagine the life of the former inhabitants in the comfortable airy bedrooms upstairs. The furniture in Washington’s study and bedroom painstakingly restored, look the way they might have appeared when he lived here. Venture down a narrow staircase, and peek in the kitchen below the main floor; now notice the hearth, odd-shaped curious wrought iron kitchen utensils and cooking accessories once used to toast bread.

The Mansion and beautiful landscaped garden off Roger Morris Park in Harlem is a bit of a hike from midtown, but without a doubt your effort will be pleasantly rewarded. A couple of hours spent here, allows your imagination free rein and transports you to another era.

Best of all, it’s never crowded. This is a museum only the most discerning New Yorkers have discovered. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis engaged the drawing rooms for private luncheons and tea parties, while Katherine Hepburn found the gardens a welcome refuge from her East Side townhouse. If you are lucky, you may find you have the place all to yourself.

Suggestion: To prepare youngsters for a first visit, Dover's beautifully illustrated coloring books make Colonial life exciting. "The American Revolution Coloring Set" features The Story of the American Revolution, Hero's and Heroine's of the Revolution and George Washington. Dover's many engaging 18th Century subject titles will have your child begging for more. Other subjects of interest: "Everyday Dress of the American Colonial Period," "Benjamin Franklin," "Four Colonial Girls-Paper Dolls," "Home life in Colonial Days" and "Uniforms of the American Revolution." Visit http://www.doverpublications.com/ to explore their extensive book list.

For older kids, have them see Mel Gibson's realistic portrait of the Period in "The Patriot," which features a moving performance by Heath Ledger. Then order them a free pocketsize copy of our Constitution from the Heritage Foundation click here.

One final suggestion. When you return to midtown, take a taxi. Ask your driver to drive south through Central Park. The wooded landscape will give you a sense of what this area of the city looked like in the late 18th and early 19th century when cultivated farmland, grazing sheep and cows were commonplace.

Jacqueline Cable
For Postcards from New York



Address to remember: Morris-Jumel Mansion, Roger Morris Park, 65 Jumel Terrace at 160th St, New York, NY 10032, 212-923-8008.

Directions: From Times Square MTA C train to 163rd Street, proceed up St. Nicholas to Roger Morris Park, you will see the Mansion.
Bus M2, M18, M101 to 160th Street, short walk to the Mansion.



Photo courtesy of The Morris-Jumel Mansion


© Copyright 2007-9 The Cable Group

At Last a "Hedda" I can Live with!

Mary Louise Parker - a Tantalizing "Hedda"

Dear Postcards from New York Reader,

I just happened to casually mention I had never seen a "Hedda" that satisfied my concept of her to a group gathered around author Joan Templeton after her lecture at Scandinavia House on "Munch’s Ibsen", when one of the guest said she was eagerly waiting to see Mary Louise Parker in "Hedda Gabler." To my surprise, several others quickly chimed in with their agreement; they too had never seen a "Hedda" they felt truly captured the character.

While I have seen five versions of my favorite Ibsen play, some of the group had seen many more. They spoke of Maggie Smith (the woman I have always wished I could have seen on stage as Hedda) and Liv Ullman in the role. (Apparently, there was no Ibsen in the Bergman/Maggie Smith Hedda…only Bergman.) Wow! Not one had seen a "Hedda" they could wrap their mind around! I knew "Hedda," the female “Hamlet,” was a role only formidable actresses dared to tackle, but this was a revelation.

Is it any wonder then, the mixed, and in some cases merciless reviews (Ben Brantley’s the most scathing) this new production has received? My thoughts went to “why” almost everyone who has read or seen “Hedda” is seduced by her character, and becomes so possessive, they are outraged (to the point of walking out in the middle of performances) when directors and adapters take liberties with the text and infuse the play with what "they" want it to mean.

Ibsen is brilliant. Whether male or female, we see a tiny bit or perhaps more of our worst traits in her. She is as difficult to grasp as why it is, we do the things we do. She is not simply pure evil, relentlessly wicked, cruel, an unlikable villain or just a mean-spirited bitch, as she has often been portrayed.

Caught in a curious web of malaise, frustrated dreams, unrealistic hopes (Eilert Lovborg as Bacchus…really) childish envy, and secret sexual curiosity, Hedda leads the men in her life in a dangerous dance until one of them presumes to take “the lead.” Mary Louise Parker, with subtle nuanced expressions and flashing eyes, creates a compressed desperate portrait I can embrace. While some of the actors such as Ana Reeder are unfortunately weak and no serious foil to Hedda; (and I do not agree with all of Christopher Shinn’s changes to the text), there was more I liked in the production than disliked.

Wide open doors and high soaring ceilings replace the usual dark, oppressive late Victorian setting to offer a new opportunity to see these characters dwarfed in this space. Changes to the opening scene, where we catch a glimpse of Hedda partially disrobed in an unguarded moment beside herself with restless ennui at the piano, lingered with me until the closing moments…at the piano. While she rearranges and uncovers furniture, we capture a very different image of Hedda from the one that forms in our mind as we “hear” about her long before we “see” her in the conversation between the nervous housekeeper and her husband’s aunt in the original. Ann Roth’s sumptuous costumes add elegance and keep eyes glued to Hedda’s many mood changes, from playful and naughty to seductive temptress.

Let me not forget the piano, because the score by P.J. Harvey is another intriguing layer that mirrors Hedda's interior frustration. Relentless repetitive notes on the piano seethe and build to finally explode like an inescapable migraine headache.

My advice, see the play, read the play and decide if you think Mary Louise Parker comes close to how you imagine Hedda, and if not, why not? Time is running out, the limited engagement production at the American Airlines Theatre closes March 29.

Jacqueline Cable

For Postcards from New York

Address to Remember: The American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10011. 212-719-1300, http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/.

Directions: At Times Square.

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Photo courtesy of Sara Krulwich

© Copyright 2007-9 The Cable Group

For Whom the Bells Peal

George Washington - in the shadow of Trinity's Bell Tower

Dear Postcards from New York Reader,

Congratulations to our 44th President on his Inauguration!

To celebrate the start of a new presidency, among the diverse sounds of the city today, pause a moment to listen for the Bells ringing an Inaugural peal (5000 changes) at Trinity Church. It should be glorious! Trinity's Bell Tower contains 12 bells, the most of any church in the country.

Founded in 1697 with a charter from King William III of England, the Gothic Revival Church at Wall Street stands steps away from Federal Hall, where our first President took the oath of office 220 years ago in 1789.

The Master Ringer reports, that the bells, pulled by human hands (in the tradition of great European Cathedrals), will peal for more than 3 hours!

So, if you cannot be in Washinton DC, tear yourself away from the TV, listen for the bells of Trinity, or better yet, take a train downtown to Wall Street and stand before the bronze statue of George Washington on this historic day.

Thank you Mary Radcliffe for sharing this story with us.

Jacqueline Cable

For Postcards from New York

Address to Remember: Trinity Church, Broadway and Wall Street, New York, NY 10006, 212-602-0800, http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/.

Directions: From Times Square MTA 2 or 3 to Wall St., walk west to Church.

Photo by Joseph Knight


© Copyright 2007-9 The Cable Group