“Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September Day?”
Those were the lyrics of Alan Jackson’s beautiful song, which truly captivated the horrors and wonders of the September 11 Attacks…
No other place or monument could so properly relay the intensity and fear of that infamous day than the 9/11 Museum in New York City.
For our final day in New York City, we explored this museum in depth, and wrapped up loose ends before we headed out onto Long Island, and into the third and final leg of our journey.
Now then, let’s take ourselves to the very foundations of the Twin Towers… This is, the 9/11 Museum.
9/11 Museum
The pools still retain their solemn majesty, through night and day. Silence was everywhere around it, in respect for the departed.
If you remember, the white flower signifies a person with their birthdate being the current day. This name here seems to have been visited by family perhaps, hence the pink flowers… The memory is evidently still fresh in countless minds… What did you have to endure to have a loved one lost to such senseless acts?
Above on the nearby walkway was this work of art: “The Sphere”. This was located in the main plaza between the Twin Towers.
Of course, it would be reduced to mere debris, and now serves the purpose of teaching the lesson that, like beautiful works of art, like human-beings, can be ruined by such wanton destruction.
(Not my photo)
Let’s go in.
Support beams that once held up one of the Twin Towers. Many pieces of the debris have been scattered across the world as exhibits, but there are quite a few pieces here.
The 9/11 Museum, which opened on September 11, 2011 (The tenth anniversary of the attacks), is yet another state-of-the-art museum that tells a story to painstaking and excruciating detail and emotion. There was never a dry eye in this place… And mostly, not one of the likely hundreds of visitors in that place preferred to say a word… word’s were not enough.
Looking down at the very foundation walls of the North Tower. The museum itself is several stories deep, and rests beneath the two memorial pools.
As the steps that we stood on descended deeper into the complex, so did the “Survivor Stairs” to the next of us… these very stairs were ones that were located at ground-level in the World Trade Center, and would save nearly 400 lives from certain death. The panic and genuine fear must have been so terrible…
Another piece of debris. The Towers were a technological wonder, and struck such a terrible wound to the entire world.
This mosaic is special for a very special reason.
Each tile represents a person who was there in New York City on September 11, each with a different account of what color the sky was… no doubt there are thousands represented here. Each could have been from viewing perspective throughout the city, from distance or proximity, or simply because of hope or despair. Was it a clear day of every-day, or a darkened sky of tragedy?
Some pictures need no accompanying captions to show the transformation of the landscape…
The foundations of the South Tower. They are fused into the very foundation rock of the Island, and still remain there…
Box foundations of the North Tower. It must have been tremendous force that ripped the beams from their places…
More foundations.
One of several walls that depicts every single face of those that perished in the 9/11 Attacks, as well as the 1993 Bombing of the WTS.
They were doctors, teachers, firefighters, secretaries, construction workers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers… each with different ages and backgrounds, and most with a smile of promise on their face, which were dashed by the events on that fateful day…
No words.
A piece from the North Tower that was directly hit by the incoming hijacked plane. Each metal beam has identification numbers painted on them, showing where they were. Metal can be contorted into horrible shapes under such thermal stress.
A piece of the top pinnacle of the North Tower, revealing many of it’s complex interior designs…
Different relics that predated the Revolutionary War were also found in unearthing Ground Zero. The earth beneath Manhattan is likely filled with archaelogical finds, and who knows what else might still lie under the skyscrapers?
The Elevator Batteries of the Twin Towers were the largest of it’s kind, and perhaps some of the most complex models that one could find.
A Fire-truck that got completely crushed underneath the weight of burning and falling debris. This is just horrific.
The rest of the museum, located in the “Historical Exhibition”, prohibited photography. So, I will simply provide a few last pictures…
Throughout the exhibit, one could only feel the sheer emotion that flowed through every artifact and display…
One could find items that pertained to the hours beforehand, such as election posters, newspapers of the status-quo, and time-magazines rife with celebrity gossip…
Even more debris from the planes, destroyed buildings and the restoration dotted the landscape here and there, and the reactions of people around the world were very evident…
Even though I was only two years old at the time in the care of my grandparents, I had become aquainted with the accounts of those close to me who could remember exactly where they were when the planes struck the towers… my dad in the teacher’s workroom at the school he taught at, and my mother working at the HP Building in Austin. They, along with anyone else who can remember, could remember the fear and uncertainty they had… no one knew what could happen next… and that feeling of unknowing dread was simply an awful thought.
Even those that cannot recall that day in their recent memory, still know of the tragedy, and they connect to it nonetheless, just like this museum did to us. As time passes, the wounds will heal, but the memories will not. It will be remembered as a day where heroes were lost, where inspiration was found, and where people united together to become stronger than ever…
We must keep their memory alive, so I ask once again…
“Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?”
Leaving the 9/11 Museum, our last loose end to wrap up was Trinity Church, whose churchyard was now open!
Trinity Church Visit 2
The larger of the two graveyards in the cemetery was absolutely packed with gravesites. It is perhaps for the relative lack of space on Manhattan Island that no one can be buried here anymore.
A massive and very ornate pillar. Just thought I’d point that out.
Albert Gallatin was the 3rd and 4th Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. There are a couple of other notables buried here too.
Francis Lewis was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, which signed the Declaration of Independence. These markers are likely on every signer’s gravesite across the country.
A memorial to New York veterans that served in the Revolutionary War. It’s almost as impressive as the Church itself.
John Watts was one of the first U.S. Representatives from New York, and also Speaker of the New York State Assembly. He has a massive statue here, which marks his grave.
Wait a minute…
…what the…
Why does this one look so similar to Grover Cleveland? I mean granted, it’s not the exact same shape, but they are very identical…
Hamilton’s grave is busy! Let’s check it out.
The front of Robert Fulton’s grave, who is buried right next to Hamilton.
Here he is…
One of our most prominant founding fathers, Hamilton was by no means perfect, but still helped to set up much of the groundwork for our government’s workings.
After tossing a coin on his grave (a fitting tribute for the man who founded our Treasury system), we finally departed Manhattan Island and New York City, exiting to the east past Brooklyn and Queens.
We then ended our day by arriving at our hotel in Syosset, New York, located on Long Island!
Long Island is literally, a LONG Island (shown in red above). It’s a very expensive place to live, but beautiful nonetheless.
The next blog post (which, by the time I post this, I will be in the middle of our day’s adventure), will detail our visits to two sites dedicated to two of our most esteemed Presidents… Sagamore Hill: The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Springwood: The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
So, until then, I’ll see you soon!
Mark's Historical Roadtrips! 