Saturday, July 9, 2022
The Ludlow Incinerator
Way back in 2019 (honestly had to look this up because I thought it was 2017), I visited one of my good friends in Cincinnati. Haley is always up for doing anything, so I always try to come up with things I haven't done before. I lived in Cincinnati for 5 years, so this list is getting smaller and smaller. I came across the Ludlow Incinerator, but all I could find at the time was the general location of it. We ended up going to a part of Devou Park that we thought it would be near and ended up taking a path that we thought *might* lead to it. We were going in half blind, and I have to say that Haley and her girls were absolute troopers in the rain.
The Ludlow Incinerator, which was used to burn trash not people, was built in the 1930s, according to Cincinnati Magazine. It ceased use in 1959 when the city moved to use landfills. Something tells me burning trash was probably not the best way to protect the environment. Although the amount of trash we throw away nowadays probably doesn't either. The only creepy thing about the incinerator was that the body of a waitress was found strangled with her own stockings near the site [Source: CityBeat]. It seems that the murder is still unsolved, but people think it is possibly the work of Nolan Ray George who is responsible for a number of murders between Kentucky and Michigan. Based on my research, he seems to be still alive, so maybe we can get a confession from him.
I REALLY hate how awful Google is making my photos turn out. They look so dark and blurry. If anyone has suggestions on how to improve them, please let me know! I'm too cheap to go to Squarespace and don't have the time to figure out how to transfer everything even if I did.
Friday, July 8, 2022
Roosevelt Island
Instead of seeing Time's Square or Central Park, the last thing we did in NYC was visit Roosevelt Island. This place was another Alexandra recommendation. Roosevelt Island is a literal island in the middle of the East River, but you can easily get there by subway. I don't remember it being difficult at all, but remember I became an expert navigating metros thanks to Russia ;)
Throughout the 19th century the island was home to hospitals, most notably a small pox hospitals whose skeletal remains still stand on the island, a prison, and eventually The New York City Lunatic asylum. The octagon tower of the asylum still remains as well and was refurbished into apartments. Shocking to know that I really wanted to visit this island to see the remains of the small pox hospital. The building is actually a lot smaller in person than I was expecting, and there is a fence surrounding it so you can't get close, but it was still worth it to visit the island.
If ruins of buildings aren't your thing, the island has really spectacular views of the city, and the UN headquarters aren't far from it. If we ever make it back to NYC (which I hope we do because we barely made a dent in what we saw), I need to go back to this island. We only saw the southern part of it, but when I was looking at Google maps there is a lighthouse at the northern tip, which seems like it would be worth checking out. I'd also like to see the Octagon because that is something we also missed on our trip.
What are some other NYC best-kept secrets that you know about?
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