NYC: New York City

On your next NYC field trip , what places and people come to mind when you think of NYC? The Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Wall Street, Central Park, The Federal Reserve, Grand Central Station, The Statue of Liberty….John D. Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Peter Stuyvesant, Martin Van Buren, Jackie Kennedy Onassis….Babe Ruth, Rocky Graziano, Frank Sinatra, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Seinfeld, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkle. But do you know how NYC became a magnet for such distinguished figures in business and entertainment? Mayor DeWitt Clinton in the early 1800s both arranged for construction of the Eerie Canal and turned NYC’s streets into neatly arranged X and Y coordinates, facilitating the transportation of trade, which gave the city a competitive edge over cities like Boston, which still has the same winding, confusing streets. Do you know that the second oldest house in NYC, the 1661 Bowne House of Queens, held Quaker meetings in violation of city law, and John Bowne was imprisoned by Mayor Peter Stuyvesant? His courageous stand later led to the Bill of Rights, one of his sons became mayor, and another son founded the oldest publisher still in existence in the US. Private tours are available because the Bowne House is the ancestral home of a member of Go Educational Tours, and the family still operates the house, which is now city property. NYC field trips offer a wide range of options educationally, whether it be learning about the US monetary system by touring the Federal Reserve, learning about art while visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MOMA, or learning about the history of US immigration while visiting the Statue of Liberty and NYC’s many diverse ethnic enclaves, which may include lunch on Mulberry Street, on the way walking past the original site of John Gotti’s social club (now a shoe store), or walking about the vibrant colors and bustling activity of Chinatown which is cross-cut by Mulberry Street. A walk through Central Park offers the opportunity to learn how New Yorkers escape the confines of concrete, and how the park was designed with a Parisian influence. On the cusp of Central Park, gaze at the impressive architecture of the Dakota Building, home to John Lennon and Madonna, which was built in the 1800s as a country retreat for New Yorkers before the city spread its wings further uptown. See the vivid colors of Times Square, with perhaps a visit to the wax museum. The NYC field trip can be crafted according to the desires of the tour group, and the variations are endless.