Posts from ‘December, 2011’

Amongst the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan tucked in on the Lower East Side is the South Street Seaport, one of the New York City’s thriving heritage villages. The precinct was once an important trading port between the 1820 and the 1860’s but like most cities around the world modernisation and the need for more space moved the port facilities away from the heart of the city.

In 1967 the South Street Seaport Museum was founded and helped remind people of the important heritage and value of the area. Then in 1998 a 12 square block historic district was designated by Congress forming “America’s National Maritime Museum”.  This protects the area for ever and the South Street Sea Port is one of New York City’s great treasures.

The precinct now houses museums; libraries craft centres and dozens of galleries, boutiques and some great dining including bakeries, breweries and marketplaces.The centrepiece of the seaport is Pier 17 which is a huge shopping and entertainment complex with lots of tourist based shopping, river view dining and a large festival food court with great selection of cuisine.

In the area around Pier 17 there is a wonderful collection of historic ships, this collection is the largest privately owned historic fleet in the USA and has as its centrepiece the Peking which is a four masted barque built in 1911. Other notable sea craft include the Wavetree which is a rigged cargo ship dating back to 1885, the Ambrose a 1908 lightship a 1900 Tugboat called Helen McAllister.

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One of the more interesting pieces of art in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct is ‘Cow Up A Tree’. Sculptured by artist John Kelly the cow was designed for a sculpture exhibition in Paris on the beautiful Champs Elysees for the millennium in 2000. The Cow up a Tree sculpture was later installed overlooking Victoria Harbour in 2003 and has become a much loved icon of Melbourne’s thriving Docklands precinct.  The cow itself is made of bronze and painted black and white, and depicts a surreal image of a cow based on an Australian flood image. The cow is caught upside down in an Australian gum tree after the flood.  The cow itself is designed as a tribute to Australian painter Sir William Dobell who began painting stylized cows during the Second World War as a decoy for airfields. The cow features a quirky long neck and very square body with some interesting camouflage like markings.

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