Boxing, Baseball & Broadway

Thursday, May 13, 2010 Road Junkies 0 Comments

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP, Chapter 13:

IN WHICH WE ENCOUNTER TWO LEGENDS

Day 13: Tarrytown, NY & Vicinity. To enter Tarrytown from the west yesterday, we nervously crossed the Hudson River on the Tappan Zee Bridge (pictured above). The bridge, which carries seven lanes of automotive traffic, was built in the early 1950s to last just 50 years, and it's right on target as evidenced by the cracking concrete columns, rusting superstructure,and deteriorating deck. The bridge is three and a half miles long, New York's longest, and the state is trying to figure out how to salvage or replace it.

We have been fascinated by a huge tree growing on the grounds of the Tarrytown House, where we are staying. Hotel employees inform us that this giant is a linden tree, though we haven't located photos of any other lindens whose shape and bark look like this one.

The massive linden tree at Tarrytown Estate

Today while letterboxing at a state park on the former summer estate of William Rockefeller, we encoutered another gargantuan specimen like our Tarrytown House tree.

A single linden tree

We letterboxed in four cemeteries today and were surprised to learn that Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth are buried in bordering cemeteries. For two great legends, their grave sites are rather humble compared to some in the area.

Both graves had New York Yankee caps and other baseball memorabilia left by fans. Both these legendary players achieved great accomplishments in relatively short lives. Gehrig died at age 37 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). And Ruth died of cancer at age 53. Though they were teammates, these two were estranged for six years over a comment Gehrig's wife made about a dress worn by Babe Ruth's daughter. Just before Gehrig died, they resolved their differences.

The Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, NY, where Babe Ruth is buried, was established in 1917 as a Roman Catholic burial site. The cemetery is as densely populated as the villages which surround it.

Graves are placed as closely together as the brownstones where many of these lived.

In Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, we frequently find ourselves on Broadway. What a surprise to learn it is the same Broadway that extends the length of Manhattan, ending at Bowling Green near Battery Park.

Broadway extends a total of 33 miles from Manhattan to north of Sleepy Hollow.

Gas prices jumped significantly when we entered New York from New Jersey, thanks to the New York fuel tax of 64 cents (combined federal, state and local)-- second only to California at 67 cents. We did get the cheap price in Chappaqua today by going self-serve. For $3.69 per gallon, we could have had full service.