Crown Princess Visits New London

The 947 foot Crown Princess returned to New London this past Saturday for a seven hour visit. Entering the harbor before dawn, she was greeted by the tugboat Patricia Ann which escorted the cruise ship to her berth at the State Pier. Despite the early arrival time, a good number of people turned out to witness this. Viewers lined the waterfront at City Pier and Fort Trumbull as the large ship made a 180-degree turn to prepare for dockage.

Although the Crown Princess had previously visited in September, her return was still a noteworthy event.   For a moment, it seemed as if everyone in town stopped what they were doing and looked towards the harbor. Shopkeepers stood in their doorways and taxi drivers got out of their cabs as the ship passed by. Volunteers were on hand to assist the visitors, and music from the Nutmeg Fife & Drum filled the air.   New London is a busy port, with ferries, submarines, tallships, and Coast Guard vessels all plying the waters regularly. It is not everyday however, that a 947 foot cruise ship comes to town.

Departing Brooklyn, the 3,000 passenger ship is touring New England and the Canadian Maritimes, with stops that will include  Newport, Boston, Portland, St John, and Halifax. 

Princess Cruises: Destinations

New London Day: A Princess Stops By

Soundbounder: Arrival Of The Crown Princess

Arrival Of The Crown Princess

Fort Trumbull pier, New London; 6:35 a.m.

The Showboat

Tucked behind a storage warehouse on the Byram River, separating New York and Connecticut, is a replica paddlewheeler known as the Showboat. It is a replica only in the loosest of terms since there is no engine aboard, and the boat is actually a barge with a riverboat style structure built atop it. Despite it's fictional purpose, the Showboat has a long history.

The Freedomland Amusement Park was built in the early 1960's where Co-op City and Bay Plaza in the Bronx now stand. In Disneyesque fashion, the history of America was cleaned up and presented  as entertainment with  attractions such as the Great Chicago Fire and the San Francisco Earthquake. The Showboat (then known as the Canadian) was one of two boats that carried passengers through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River region of the park. Visitors ( apparently with extremely short memories after arriving via the Cross Bronx Expressway) could also view a futuristic city  highlighting all the glory and wonder that modern highways promised.

Freedomland closed after the 1964 season and the fake paddlewheeler eventually ended up moored off the Showboat Hotel and Restaurant in Greenwich. In a very un-Greenwich-like atmosphere, complete with fake celebrity photos on the walls,  patrons enjoyed their cocktails and cigarettes while looking out at the make-believe riverboat from an ersatz Bourbon Street.

The Showboat Hotel closed in the 1980's, and is now the more blue-blood appropriate Delamar Hotel. The riverboat of the same name however, lives on as a dockside party barge on the Byram River. A half-century old, the Showboat has outlived many boats from her era which were built to perform real-life seaworthy tasks, but met their demise years ago. The Showboat is a reminder that fate is much more random than we want to believe.  Longevity and third acts do not always go to the worthy.



YouTube: Freedomland (boat is shown at 2:54)

FLICKR: 2002 photos

Showboat: Website

Bowery Boys: Freedomland USA

Map

Waiting To Go Round

Lighthouse Point Carousel, New Haven March 2009

New Haven Parks & Recreation: Carousel

Playland Pier & Boardwalk

I like it here best in the Spring and Fall. Unlike many amusement parks, Playland Park in Rye is an attractive waterfront destination. Opened in 1928, this county park has many art-deco buildings, as well as a great deal of open space. It is an amusement park with an emphasis on the word park. I think the only major flaw is that the beach area is too small.
Playland is scheduled to open for the season on May 9, which also means that fees and crowds will be a daily feature. I took these photos on a warm November day last autumn. Quite a few people were taking advantage of the weather, but the size of the park easily absorbed the small, off-season crowd.
The pier underwent extensive renovations in the early 1990s. From the 1930s through the 1950s, large excursion steamers brought passengers to this pier. Two ships, the Americana and the Westchester carried passengers daily from Battery Park to Rye. The Wauketa traveled here from New Jersey. Despite the renovations, the pier still maintains the historic feel of an old ferry terminal.

Playland Park
YouTube: Dragon Coaster 1929 (?)
YouTube: Polar Plunge December 2008
Flickr: Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins in Big
Flickr: Playland Pier
Painting Rye:Playland Boardwalk
My Rye: 1950 Aerial Photo