The Official State Mammal

Location:   Throughout New York State
Year:   1975

New York State's official mammal, the beaver  (Castor canadensis), is unmistakable due to its large body size (up to 65 pounds and up to three feet in body length) and broad flattened tail (up to 10 inches long and 6 inches wide).

The beaver was central to the Native American and early colonial economies of the future State. Beaver pelts were so valuable that they were used as a form of currency, and the Iroquois instituted an imperialistic war in the 17th Century in order to control the beaver trade. 

The Algonquin word for beaver means "friendly,"  and along with corn, beans and squash, the beaver was one of the four bases of plenty among the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.


Beavers are also crucial to the ecosystem since their natural habit of damming small streams and creeks creates marshlands that result in far greater biodiversity.


Due to its historical importance, the beaver was named the Official State Mammal in 1975. 

Famous New Yorkers---Peter Matthiessen

Location:   Sagaponack, New York
Year:   1927-2014

Peter Matthiessen, State Author of New York (1995-1997) was born in New York City on May 22, 1927 to Erard A. and Elizabeth (Carey) Matthiessen. His father was a successful architect, and a scion of the old Dutch Knickerbockers of New York. 

During his young years, Peter Matthiessen attended the prestigious Hotchkiss School with his neighbor, friend and classmate, George Plimpton. Matthiessen was later to write that "The Great Depression troubled his family not at all," but it troubled the younger Matthiessen morally. At the age of fifteen he wrote to the Social Register to have his name stricken from the rolls, and at age eighteen joined the Navy during World War II, where he served in the Pacific. When the time came, he refused much of a sizeable inheritance. 

After completing his Navy service (1947), he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale in 1950. Having spent part of his junior year at the Sorbonne, he returned to Paris in 1950, and with Plimpton founded the famed literary journal The Paris Review. Unknown to anyone at the time, he had been recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, and his position at The Paris Review was part of his cover. Matthiessen, who along with other young Ivy Leaguers of his generation thought that he was promoting American values through his work with "The Company," quickly became disillusioned with the C.I.A.'s activities, and renounced his position as an agent. He was later to say that his stint with the C.I.A. was the only one of his adventures he regretted. 

After returning to the United States from Paris he settled on Long Island in the South Fork town of Sagaponack, where he was to live some sixty years. He wrote, and worked either as a commercial fisherman or a charter boat captain at times, though he was often away on adventures.  He married Patsy Southgate , the daughter of one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's advisors in the early 1950s. They had two children and divorced in 1956.

After his divorce, Matthiessen began traveling the world. A quiet, intensely observant man, his travels often colored his novels and his novels colored his non-fiction writing. In 1965, he had his first large commercial success with At Play In The Fields of the Lord, based upon his Amazon River travels. Although Matthiessen described himself as a novelist first and foremost, his non-fiction is at least as arresting. Like Loren Eiseley, Peter Matthiessen became a lyrical chronicler of nature:  The Cloud Forest described in non-fiction his time in the South American rainforest, Under The Mountain Wall was a memoir of his time among New Guinea tribesmen, The Tree Where Man was Born covered his adventures in East Africa. Blue Meridian, a book about Great White Sharks, was read by Peter Benchley, who was inspired to write Jaws. When translated to film by Steven Speilberg,  Jaws became the first $100,000,000 movie in history. 

Probably the best known of Peter Matthiessen's books is The Snow Leopard, written in the 1970s. Matthiessen began to practice Zen Buddhism in the late 1960s. He often told the story of, how having returned from a months-long trip abroad, he found several Zen monks in his driveway upon his return, invited there by his wife, Deborah Love, who he married in 1963. Intrigued, Matthiessen became a devoted student of Zen. After Deborah Love's premature death due to cancer, Matthiessen fled New York for a time, traveling to the Himalayas as part of an expedition to study the rare Blue Sheep. Matthiessen's notes from that trip became the text of The Snow Leopard, an intense record of a man making as great an internal voyage as external. The Snow Leopard won the National Book Award. He is the only author to win the National Book Award for both fiction and non-fiction. 

Matthiessen followed The Snow Leopard  with Far Tortuga, a novel remarkable for its Zenlike spareness --- he uses almost no metaphors in his writing. Matthiessen was to write Nine-Headed Dragon River, about his journey into Zen. Ultimately, he achieved the status of a Roshi, a Senior Zen teacher. 

Matthiessen married Maria Eckhart in 1980. During the 1970s and 1980s, he became intensely interested in the cultures and plight of Native Americans and produced two memorable books --- Indian Country, which many readers claim is akin to Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee in its intensity, and In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, about the U.S. government's vendetta against Leonard Peltier, leader of AIM, the American Indian Movement. Matthiessen was sued by an FBI agent and by the former Governor of South Carolina for slander, but the Courts dismissed their cases on First Amendment grounds.

Matthiessen kept his prolific pen active and continued to teach students at the Ocean Zendo in Sagaponack, and, through his Dharma heirs, at the Southern Palm Zen Group in Boca Raton, Florida.

In 2013, Matthiessen was diagnosed with leukemia, and died on April 6, 2014. His last novel, In Paradise, about a spiritual retreat to Auschwitz, was released two days after his death.

Books

Partisans
The Wind Birds
East of Lo Monthang
The Peter Matthiessen Reader
Raditzer
Courage For The Earth
Sal si Puedes
On The River Styx and other stories
Wildlife in America
Sand Rivers
Under The Mountain Wall
African Silences
Men's Lives
End of The Earth: Journeying To Antarctica
Indian Country
Blue Meridian
Tigers In The Snow
The Birds of Heaven
Zen and the Writing Life (audiobook)
The Cloud Forest
Bone By Bone
Nine-Headed Dragon River
Lost Man's River
The Tree Where Man Was Born
Far Tortuga
Killing Mr. Watson
At Play In The Fields of The Lord
Shadow Country
In The Spirit of Crazy Horse
The Snow Leopard
In Paradise

The Unisphere

Location:   Queens
 Year:   1964

A New York City icon, the Unisphere is a 12-story high, spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth. It is located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the borough of Queens (Queens County), in New York City.

Commissioned to celebrate the beginning of the space age, the Unisphere was conceived and constructed as the theme symbol of the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair. The theme of the World's Fair was "Peace Through Understanding" and the Unisphere represented the theme of global interdependence. It is meant to represent Earth as seen from 6000 miles in space.  The three concentric rings surrounding our planet are symbolic representations of the orbits of manmade satellites (of which there were twelve in 1963, when construction began).

The Unisphere was donated to the Fair by U.S. Steel. It is the world's largest globe, standing 140 feet high (including its base) and weighing 900,000 pounds (including its base). It was built on the concrete foundations of the Trylon and Perisphere of the 1939-1940 World's Fair, and is surrounded by fountains.

Water Mill, New York

Location:   The South Fork of Long Island
Year:   1644

The village of Water Mill is the first and only town in New York State to boast both a functioning water mill and windmill together. A small English settlement whose wind- and water-powered machinery aided local farmers in milling grist, Water Mill is today an affluent community considered part of The Hamptons.  

U.S.S. New York

Location:   The Seven Seas

Year:   1776

There have been seven U.S. Navy vessels named New York, and one named New York City.

The original U.S.S. New York was a gondola built in 1776, that served on Lake Champlain during the Revolutionary War. 

The second New York was a 36-gun frigate built in 1798, alongside the U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides"). She fought in the Quasi-war with France (1800-1801), in the War with the Barbary Pirates (1802-1803), and in the War of 1812. She was captured and scuttled by the British in August 1812.

The third New York, a 74-gun frigate was built in 1820. She never left the shipyard, and was scrapped as obsolete in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War.

The fourth New York was built in 1863. She was a sloop with an auxiliary engine, similar to U.S.S. Kearsarge and C.S.S. Alabama. Like her predecessor, she never left the shipyard, and was decommissioned and sold in 1883. 

The fifth New York was an armored cruiser built in 1883. She served in the Spanish-American War, eventually decommissioned, and was scrapped in 1941 for her steel. 

The sixth New York was built in 1911. She was the lead battleship of her class, carrying 14-inch guns. She served with distinction in World War I, being the only U.S. ship to sink a German U-boat. In World War II, she originally served in the Atlantic Fleet. She took part in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa in late 1942. Afterward, she served as a training ship until 1945, when she was sent to the Pacific to participate in the invasions of Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Okinawa. After World War II, she was used as a target ship in A-Bomb tests, did not sink, and was studied for her survival capacity. She met her end as a target ship in 1948.

The seventh New York is an amphibious transport dock built in 2004, using steel salvaged from the World Trade Center in New York City. She has served in the Persian Gulf.

 

The U.S.S. New York City is the only U.S. Navy ship named for the City of New York as opposed to the State, in conformity with other Los Angeles-class submarines. Launched in 1977, she was decommissioned in 1997, and is due for eventual "recycling."

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor

Location:   New Windsor, New York
Year:    2002

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New York's Hudson River Valley honors the men and women who have been awarded the Purple Heart. The location of the Hall of Honor, on the same grounds as the New Windsor Cantonment, commemorates the awarding of the Purple Heart to 138 local World War I veterans on these grounds in 1932. The Purple Heart is awarded only to those who have been killed or wounded by enemy action and is America's oldest military decoration.
The Hall of Honor is the first in the nation dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of the more than 1.8 million recipients of this award. The mission of the Hall of Honor is to collect, preserve and share the stories of Purple Heart recipients from all branches of service and across all conflicts for which the award has been available. One way their history and stories are preserved is through the Roll of Honor an electronic database where visitors can search for Purple Heart recipients, or view a changing selection of Featured Recipients. There are currently over 192,000 names enrolled here at the Hall, and visitors who are recipients, or who know of recipients are encouraged to enroll in the Roll of Honor. Information on enrollment can be obtained by contacting the site.
In addition to the Roll of Honor, there are exhibits chronicling the experiences of recipients and three interactive kiosks where visitors can watch excerpts of videotaped interviews of recipients who are describing their experiences. A film "For Military Merit" provides visitors with the history and significance of the Purple Heart. Special programs and events throughout the year highlight the experiences and sacrifices that have been made by the men and women of America's military.
For more information or to enroll a Purple Heart recipient, please call the site or visit: www.thepurpleheart.com  

- See more at: http://nysparks.com/historic-sites/38/details.aspx#sthash.1sUTX8M8.dpuf

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor keeps records of, and commemorates the history of the 1.8 million American servicemen and women who have been wounded in service to their country and received the Purple Heart, this nation's oldest military decoration, commissioned and designed by General George Washington himself in 1782.  

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New York's Hudson River Valley honors the men and women who have been awarded the Purple Heart. The location of the Hall of Honor, on the same grounds as the New Windsor Cantonment, commemorates the awarding of the Purple Heart to 138 local World War I veterans on these grounds in 1932. The Purple Heart is awarded only to those who have been killed or wounded by enemy action and is America's oldest military decoration.
The Hall of Honor is the first in the nation dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of the more than 1.8 million recipients of this award. The mission of the Hall of Honor is to collect, preserve and share the stories of Purple Heart recipients from all branches of service and across all conflicts for which the award has been available. One way their history and stories are preserved is through the Roll of Honor an electronic database where visitors can search for Purple Heart recipients, or view a changing selection of Featured Recipients. There are currently over 192,000 names enrolled here at the Hall, and visitors who are recipients, or who know of recipients are encouraged to enroll in the Roll of Honor. Information on enrollment can be obtained by contacting the site.
In addition to the Roll of Honor, there are exhibits chronicling the experiences of recipients and three interactive kiosks where visitors can watch excerpts of videotaped interviews of recipients who are describing their experiences. A film "For Military Merit" provides visitors with the history and significance of the Purple Heart. Special programs and events throughout the year highlight the experiences and sacrifices that have been made by the men and women of America's military.
For more information or to enroll a Purple Heart recipient, please call the site or visit: www.thepurpleheart.com  

- See more at: http://nysparks.com/historic-sites/38/details.aspx#sthash.1sUTX8M8.dpuf

The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New York's Hudson River Valley honors the men and women who have been awarded the Purple Heart. The location of the Hall of Honor, on the same grounds as the New Windsor Cantonment, commemorates the awarding of the Purple Heart to 138 local World War I veterans on these grounds in 1932. The Purple Heart is awarded only to those who have been killed or wounded by enemy action and is America's oldest military decoration.
The Hall of Honor is the first in the nation dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of the more than 1.8 million recipients of this award. The mission of the Hall of Honor is to collect, preserve and share the stories of Purple Heart recipients from all branches of service and across all conflicts for which the award has been available. One way their history and stories are preserved is through the Roll of Honor an electronic database where visitors can search for Purple Heart recipients, or view a changing selection of Featured Recipients. There are currently over 192,000 names enrolled here at the Hall, and visitors who are recipients, or who know of recipients are encouraged to enroll in the Roll of Honor. Information on enrollment can be obtained by contacting the site.
In addition to the Roll of Honor, there are exhibits chronicling the experiences of recipients and three interactive kiosks where visitors can watch excerpts of videotaped interviews of recipients who are describing their experiences. A film "For Military Merit" provides visitors with the history and significance of the Purple Heart. Special programs and events throughout the year highlight the experiences and sacrifices that have been made by the men and women of America's military.
For more information or to enroll a Purple Heart recipient, please call the site or visit: www.thepurpleheart.com  

- See more at: http://nysparks.com/historic-sites/38/details.aspx#sthash.1sUTX8M8.dpuf

The State Gem

Location:  North River, New York
Year:   1969

The red garnet is a semiprecious stone, declared the State Gem in 1969. New York has the largest garnet mine in the world in the town of North River, located in Adirondack Park. Garnets are used in jewelry, and have many commercial applications.