New York City's Lost Treasure Hosts The City's 400th Anniversary

I've been writing about music and festivals all summer long, but now I would like to pay homage to the man who made all of this summer's shows possible. Four-Hundred years ago, the great English explorer, Mr. Henry Hudson discovered the New York Harbor and subsequently the greatest city in the world.

According to the September 3rd New York Post, Hudson, under contract to the Dutch East India Company, sailed across the Atlantic in search of a northern sea passage to the East Indies. Just like everyone else back in those days, he reached this great land instead of his intended destination. Just goes to show you, sometimes it pays to be wrong.

Or sail “the river not taken” to paraphrase the great American poet, Robert Frost.

So this inadvertant turn by Hudson's boat, the Halve Maen, led to the first settlement in the area – Governors Island, my brother island in the New York Harbor and home to The BEACH @ Governors Island, called the best place to see out-of-doors rock 'n' roll in NYC, by Music Critic, Dan Aquilante. See? You knew I'd bring up music, but I digress so let's get back to this important little history lesson.

As a Dutch settlement, Governors Island paved the way for the Dutch Republic to spread its culture into the New World, leading to the eventual settlement on Manhattan Island known as New Amsterdam.

Governors Island was originally labeled Noten Eylant (Nutten Island) by the first Dutch settlers because of its abundance of trees that littered the island with their nuts. Yet somehow the nuts from the trees were not the only nuts to call Nutten Island home.

According to “Our Local Correspondents: Useless Beauty, What is to be done with Governors Island” in the August 31, 2009 issue of The New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten writes, “In 1637 Wouter Van Twiller, The New Netherlands director, purchased it from the natives for two axe heads, some nails, and a string of beads. He pastured goats there, and planned a mansion for himself, but he was soon summoned back to Holland, on the ground of, among other things, incompetence. (He put up windmills directly in the lee of the fort, where the wind couldn't get to them.)”

Paumgarten also writes, “An early British governor, Lord Cornbury, Queen Anne's cousin, who reputedly like to dress in women's clothing, promised to build a fort, and, in order to pay for it, imposed a tax on wearers of wigs and pearl rings, and bachelors over the age of twenty-five. He used the proceeds, instead, to build a house on the island for himself, which became known as “The Smiling Garden of the Sovereigns of the Province.” Cornbury wound up in jail, and the island's resistance to both private dominion and public enjoyment persisted.”

The two examples above just go to show you that political leaders sometimes take advantage of their people, and every once in a while, a nice little rebellion like the American War of Independence is a very good thing.

Ever since its British control, Governors Island has been through the hands of the Continental Army, the State of New York, the U.S. Army, and most previously in 1966, the Coast Guard. In 2003, President Bush agreed to sell Governors Island to the State of New York for a mere 1 dollar, which is much less than the original purchase price of two axe heads, some nails, and a string of beads. A non-profit entity called the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) has been developing and revitalizing this lost American treasure ever since.

This is a good thing for those of you who like a great walk in a park, or a free bike ride to see the very best views of yours truly. Come see me at sunset, and bring your camera because the Gov’, as I like to call it, features some of the best views of the New York City Skyline available. The beach shack serves a mean burger, and Liberty Event & HighLine Ballroom are serving up great music all summer long.

Speaking of beach parties, The BEACH hosts Armin van Buuren, one of the world's top trance DJs, who happens to be, you guessed it, Dutch, on Saturday, September 12th from 1-5pm. Armin van Buuren will entertain his native crowd, and any other American of any origin who is smart enough to take the free 7-minute ferry to the island, with his legendary trance/house beats.

Van Buuren has been voted #1 DJ twice by DJ Mag and attracts over 30 million listeners from more than 40 countries to his weekly radio show, “A State of Trance” - the most listened to radio show in the world. I believe on this particular day, there will be more than 40 countries represented in the crowd because that’s what New York City, and this country is all about.

In celebration of the early Dutch settlement and colonization of New York City, Governors Island hosts the New Island Festival from September 10-13 and 17-20 as a part of NY400 Week. The New Island Festival will feature over 150 Dutch artists, musicians, thespians, DJs, comedians, dancers, daredevils and acrobats.

Just like this French honey, the Dutch know how to have a good time. The New Island Festival on Governors Island will be a fun commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival in the New York Harbor.

I also hear that a dutchman by the name of Theo Botschuijver will doing the first waterwalk in the United States and paying me a little visit


Diva can't wait.

Eten en worden gelukkig,

Lady Liberty