Happy New Year to all our Woodhaven friends, wherever you reside these days. If you live right here in Woodhaven, we hope to see you at one of our meetings soon. And if you don't live here anymore, we hope you'll come back and visit soon. Have you checked out the Woodhaven Cultural & Historical Society's 2016 Schedule? There are over 40 meetings and events scheduled including movies, walking tours, and a few historical slide shows -- on top of free lectures and other fun meetings. Click here to see the entire 2016 schedule. Coming up this month (January 2016):
And now, on with the results from our first walkabout in 2016. Last year was a busy year for us and we didn't post as many updates as we have in the past, so we decided to start off with a simple walk, one we're familiar with, to see if we saw anything new. That's the one neat thing about our community, you can walk the same steps a hundred times and see something new every single time.
What we saw a lot of on new Year's Day 2016 was . . . squirrels. Holy smokes, they seemed to be everywhere. We spotted this one on 91st Street in a hedge. He thought we couldn't see him. Didn't matter, he was pretty safe with us.
Next up was this house on Park Lane South not far from 91st Street. It's been in disrepair for some time but it looks like there's been some activity there lately. The stone walls and steps at the front are beautiful. There used to be a huge hole in the roof; it looks like it's been patched up but there's still a lot of other holes. Probably looking at replacing the whole roof.
Here's the same house in much happier days, about 35 years ago. We look forward to the day when we're bringing you pictures of this place restored to its former beauty.
Woodhaven Boulevard has been in the news lately with the DOT mulling over plans to shut down 2 lanes of traffic (one in each direction, right in the center of the road) for bus-only traffic. Their theory - or the story they're sticking to - is that this will not only speed up bus commutes, but will also cut down on transit times for cars along Woodhaven Boulevard. In any event, traffic wasn't a problem on January 1st.
Another squirrel hiding in the sticks. At least, we're assuming this is a different one (unless the squirrel from 91st Street followed us up the Boulevard and into the park).
This squirrel found an acorn and was walking along the top of the fence. It's nice in the park during the early morning hours, lots of friendly wildlife.
Here's a nice view of Strack Pond. That'll all be frozen over soon. Ever wonder where it got its name? Click here for a full report. This used to be the site of Twin Fields but you could hardly play ball here the flooding was so bad. So they converted this back to what it originally was - a pond. It's a beautiful place to take a stroll.
The squirrels must have been radioing ahead because this guy looked like he was waiting for us.
Okay this is across from the bandshell. We heard (from a few guys working for the Parks Department in Forest Park) that a large family of skunks were living in that area and thought it would be nice to get a picture of them. From a distance. We didn't see any skunks but we saw this unusual looking thing strapped to a tree. We couldn't read the writing so we had to get closer.
Yikes! I don't know what this contraption does, but as soon as we saw the word rabies, we were out of there.
I thought there might have been poison or something in the tube, but it doesn't look like it. If anyone out there knows what this does, let us know.
The sun was out and it was actually a bit brighter than this picture suggests. You can see all the way out to Jamaica Bay. This is a good view - but check out the next picture!
Wow, now that's a view! The bridge looks so close but we all know it's really not. And of course, that's St. Thomas the Apostle in the front.
This is nice. Last year we rediscovered the World War 1 Memorial Trees of Forest Park. 70 trees were planted in the 1920s, one each in the name of a young man from Woodhaven who was killed in WWI. And for years, family members would decorate their vet's tree. Memorial Day parades used to end up here in the park. But over the years, the tradition was forgotten and slowly, we began to lose the trees. After the discovery last year, the NYC Parks Department said they would plant new trees along this route - and here are some of the new ones! The original trees, according to newspaper accounts at the time were "Pin Oaks" and the tag on these new trees say they are Quercus Palustris, or pin oaks (click here for more information). So a big thanks to the Parks Department for replacing these trees - and replacing them with the same type that were planted almost 100 years ago.
Here's another tree planted right in front of Oak Ridge, the former Golf House. There used to be a monument to those killed in WW1 sitting here but it was moved when the American legion opened its new headquarters on 89th Avenue. Where the monument sat was a big mystery we had to solve because all contemporary accounts said that it sat in Forest Park at the end of Forest Parkway, which we would all take to mean down by Park Lane South. But it turns out that this is where Forest Parkway used to end - at this point the road would turn into Forest Park Drive.
Another new Memorial Tree of Woodhaven. Last year we put bows on the trees, we'll do the same this year. We'll get smaller bows for the smaller trees, we don't want them to feel left out.
And one more Memorial Tree of Woodhaven overlooking our community. Check out the base of this tree -- I wonder of someone knew the significance of what they were planting and wanted to honor the soldiers in some way.
That's a nice idea for this coming year for the smaller trees, small flags at the base.
The Parks Department has been pruning trees in the park and they paid special attention to our Memorial Trees this year. They are very old and hopefully this extra care will help keep the original ones around a little longer.
The base of this tree is fantastic - that looks like something straight out of Middle Earth!
This is a really nice picture of Forest Parkway - it was a really quiet New Year's Day/
The sign is not really that accurate. For example, the Tennis Court and Oak Ridge are definitely not in the same direction from here - this could be confusing to someone not familiar with the neighborhood. Even that little bird looks confused!
The renovations to Mary Whalen Playground are underway - but what I loved about this picture was how green the grass looked. It's been an unusual winter so far.
The plans for reconstruction. Those round green things are trees.
The play area equipment has arrived. It's bright and colorful.
An overview of the construction so far.
Would you like to know more about this playground? It has a long history - it used to be part of the Golf Course until residents of Woodhaven complained and it was originally known as the Shaw Avenue Playground (76th Street was Shaw Avenue). And it was re-named after Mary Whalen, a neighborhood activist. The way the park looked in May 2014 before the construction started.
Here's a nice little cat living in the park. Clearly someone comes to feed it regularly.
Another nice view from the top of 76th Street. I have to be honest - that's got to be a tough street to live at the top of. On icy days I imagine that sidewalks tough to walk on.
The other side of the playground, the new wheelchair accessible ramp. Looks really nice.
The opening ceremony will be in the spring and when it is scheduled we'll let everyone know! Until next time... Happy New Year!
If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.
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Photos by Joey Wendell