Curious about burial vaults
To The Editor:
Re “City uncovers ancient tombs in Wash. Sq. — again” (news article, Nov. 12):
My grandmother was Rebecca Smellie. Since 1996 when I discovered ancestors in Jamaica, Ghana, Scotland, England and New York, I have been searching New York’s colonial records and church cemeteries for one of our ancestors, Thomas Smellie. He was not poor but he died in New York of what the records and newspapers say was “the fever” in 1801. On Dec. 15, 1801, an obituary in the colonial newspapers said:
“December 1. DIED, Yesterday morning, Thomas Smellie, Esquire, a native of Hamilton in Scotland. He lately came to this city for the recovery of his health. His death is lamented by those few who had the pleasure of his acquaintance.”
He was buried in the cemetery of a Presbyterian church in the Wall St. area, then reinterred when the remains in that cemetery were relocated because of development in the Wall St. area. I have been searching the other colonial cemeteries. I look forward to seeing the results and the names that the archaeologists and anthropologists discover in these two burial vaults. There are the poor African-American cousins he brought with him to New York.
Pearl Duncan
A Scuttle park biergarten
To The Editor:
I am dismayed at the Hudson River Park Trust’s continued effort to locate a biergarten directly next to the Chelsea children’s carousel on Pier 62, at W. 22nd St. The Trust’s claims that Pier 62 is “underused” should not be grounds to install a bar on parkland, especially next to a children’s area.
There are already many commercial operations that liberally serve alcohol near the carousel. Between Piers 61 and 59 are located a bowling alley, at least six party cruise boats and three very large catering halls that lock up all the best views of that portion of the river — the Lighthouse; Pier Sixty (a 2,000-seat venue); and the new Current, which took the space of the city’s largest microbrewery (the failed Chelsea Brewing Company).
Also, just north of the children’s carousel is the Frying Pan, a popular drinking establishment that is rich in maritime history.
If the Trust is so desperate to reinvent this end of Pier 62, it should explore ideas that would be in harmony with the existing children’s carousel.
For example, how about a Hudson River wildlife museum, in keeping with the carousal’s wildlife-themed educational mission?
Or a tugboat museum, with an interactive control room showing tugs docking big ships on a screen (maybe called the John Doswell Museum). The museum could be housed inside a dry-docked gutted small tugboat.
Donathan Salkaln
Salkaln is communications chairperson, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club; and secretary, Chelsea Waterside Park Association
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