Inwood Hill Park

Location:   Northwestern Manhattan Island 
Year:   1926

Inwood Hill Park occupies the extreme northwestern tip of Manhattan Island, fronting on the Hudson River and the Harlem River. The park occupies a portion of the neighborhood of Inwood, an area which lies north of far more famous Harlem. Due to the quirks of geography, Inwood has always had a distinctly different "feel" than most other Manhattan neighborhoods, being more akin to the residential areas of Brooklyn and Queens than the bustling streets of lower Manhattan.

Hilly, heavily wooded, and only partially developed for urban dwellers, Inwood Hill Park is unique, not only among New York City parks, but among all the parks in the world. 

The park itself was established in 1926. Prior to that, the land was part of several large private estates.

The landforms within Inwood Hill Park were heavily glaciated, and evidence of the last Ice Age surrounds the park's visitors. Within its 200 acres lies the last remnant of the primeval forest that once covered all of Manhattan Island. Eastern Hemlocks once throve there (killed by a blight, they are being reintroduced), and the Bald Eagle has likewise been reintroduced to the park, once part of its native range.

Visitors to Inwood Hill Park get to experience what New York City was like before there was a New York City. The only remaining salt marsh on Manhattan Island lies within the park, as do a series of caves once occupied by prehistoric man, and later the Lenape Indians. 

Archaeological digs in Inwood Hill Park are a rich source of finds, allowing social scientists to understand the lifestyle of the earliest Manhattanites.  

The park is also the site of the purchase of Manhattan Island by the Dutch (for 24 guilders) from the Lenape in 1626, though the nearly 300 year old tulip tree that marked the spot died in 1938. Other trees in the park are far older, and some are over four feet in diameter. 

The Warships of Lake Ontario

Location:   Lake Ontario
Year:   1812

Many naval battles were fought between the United States and Great Britain on the Great Lakes. The British Navy held mastery over Lake Ontario during the latter half of the War of 1812, and it is the only one of the Great Lakes to have sunken warships of the time lying in her depths.

No sh*t!

Location:   New York City
Year:   1857

Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City invented toilet paper on the roll in 1857. He is the progenitor of the great philosophical question: "Over? Or under?" However, he was not Mr. Whipple's maternal great-grandfather.

Suburban cowboys

Location:   Montauk, New York
Year:   1747

The first cattle ranch in what was to become the United States was founded at Montauk, on Long Island, in 1747.

Welcome To Peekamoose

Location:   Throughout New York State
Year:   Throughout New York History

Like all States, New York has a collection of odd place names. These are towns that make you stop and say, "Whoa" when you read their Welcome To signs.

Some of them are Native American names like Yaphank.  A few are old Dutch names like Yonkers. A few are combination names like Yaphank Yonkers and Otter Kill ("kill" is a Dutch word for a creek, stream or small river, and "kill" appears quite frequently on the New York State map). 

A few are names of States like Florida and Alabama, or foreign cities like Bath, Bagdad, Athol and Limerick. Several countries are represented, like Mexico, Cuba, Denmark, Russia, China and Belgium.  

Biblical names are very common. You can find Egypt in New York, as well as Bethany, Goshen, Land o' Goshen, Canaan, Jericho, Jerusalem, Moriah, Hebron, and Ephrath. 

Several reflect local history, like Dix Hills (once the land grant of a man named Richard), The Bronx (owned by Jonas Bronck and family), Burnt Hills (where there was a memorable fire), Horseheads (a town dedicated to the military horse), and Sheepshead Bay (a "Sheepshead" is a species of fish). 

A handful are surveyor's mistakes. When Westchester County was being surveyed, much of the land along the the Connecticut border was owned by a man named Harrison, and his property was called "Harrison's Purchase." When drawing in the village lines, someone divided "Harrison" and "Purchase," which are now two adjoining places. 

But then there are others, whimsical, bizarre, or having some personal, now mostly unremembered meanings for the founders of the towns.  Places like:


Basket
Breakabeen
Bullet Hole
Bulls Head
Busti
Butts Corner
Cat Elbow Corner
Cattown
Chili Center 
Climax
Conquest
Crafts
Dibbletown
Dogtail Corners
Dogtown
Doodletown
Fickles Corner
Fink Basin
Fireplace
Lava
Lonelyville
Mile of Woods
Mud Mills
North Pole Noseville
Oot Park
Owls Head
Owls Nest
Pail Shop Corners
Painted Post
Paradox
Peas Eddy
Peekamoose
Place Corners
Podunk
Protection
Pudding Hollow
Pumpkin Hook
Result
Rough and Ready
Scuttlehole
Shin Hollow
Shinhopple
Silvernails
Skunks Corner
Skytop
Sleepy Hollow
Surprise

Blame it on Biggins

Location:   Brooklyn
Year:   1946 

Brooklyn's Flatbush National Bank was the first to release bank-issued credit cards back in 1946, when John Biggins invented the "Charge-It" program between the bank and participating local merchants.

Pizza Bagels

Location:   Massapequa, New York
Year:   Mid-1970s

Bagels are Jewish. Pizza is Italian. What better place to invent the pizza bagel than Massapequa, New York, known to locals as "Matzoh-Pizza" for it's large, mixed Italian and Jewish population?  

These are pizza bagels

Although many places have claimed to be the birthplace of the pizza bagel, only Massapequa holds the pedigree. The pizza bagel was invented sometime in the 1970s when someone had the brilliant idea of garnishing a lightly toasted bagel with tomato sauce and cheese and letting the concoction heat in their toaster oven at home. Soon enough, the idea spread, and pizza bagels began popping up for sale all over Long Island, then the New York Metro area, and then nationally. 

A classic pizza bagel is prepared by taking a plain bagel, slicing it in half, and lightly toasting it. The bagel halves are then garnished with sauce and cheese and baked for a few minutes until the cheese begins to melt.

Since the invention of the pizza bagel many variations have arisen. Typical pizza toppings are sometimes added. Different varieties of bagels are used. Sometimes the top half of the bagel is pressed down onto the bottom half creating a sandwich of sorts. All these varieties have a melange of different tastes. 

Prepackaged, frozen, and other processed pizza bagels are an abomination unto the Lord, and should only be resorted to if one finds oneself trapped in Mishawaka, Indiana for more than six months. In the winter. Alone. Without heat. Living in your car. And then only if death is the remaining additional option.

I don't know what this is, and I don't want to know. There is nothing "Natural" about this at "all".

 But the best pizza bagels follow the KISS rule:  "Keep it simple, stupid."