#Philadelphia waterfront

[ornamentodeux]

At The Water's Edge

[amant-des-arts]

Graffiti Pier, Philadelphia

[phillygrub]

Exciting New Food Options at Delaware Waterfront Parks this Summer

Exciting New Food Options at Delaware Waterfront Parks this Summer - good times & good food @DelRiverWfront!

Summer on the Waterfront is finally here, and the 2023 season is packed with excitement. Independence Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest and Spruce Street Harbor Park both open on Friday, May 12. Perhaps the most highly anticipated announcements are the introduction of a few exciting additions to the food offerings at both parks: James Beard nominated Cantina La Martina will join Chickie’s &…

[rolypolypunk]

Let’s go girls 🎶🎶 #philadelphia #waterfront #winstononthewater #ladiesnight (at The Winston on the Water) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg51uzpO9uBQ1rhp0gO3UYWHdSi96LW0JAWU7I0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

Photography: Race Street Pier and Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA 7/30/22

Photography: Race Street Pier and Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia, PA 7/30/22 @FriendsofRSP @cherrystpier @DelRiverWfront @visitphilly @DelRiverWfront

https://flic.kr/p/2nCoUmh https://flic.kr/p/2nCoTdA Caption: In this picture, you can see a PATCO train crossing the Ben Franklin Bridge. https://flic.kr/p/2nCrkir Caption: Cherry Street Pier Beer Garden. Honestly, it’s a gorgeous space — and a highlight of the trip in my book. https://flic.kr/p/2nCroF8 https://flic.kr/p/2nCoVZu Caption: Bell-Nogues Studio’s Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend. I…

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 28 May 1913, thousands of dockworkers in Philadelphia won their two-week strike for a pay increase and union recognition. They had recently joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), chartered as Local 8. This local branch had more Black members than any other Wobbly branch, led by the African-American dockworker, Ben Fletcher (pictured). Local 8 was probably the most racially and ethnically integrated union in the United States during the WWI era. Black and Irish workers, Eastern European migrants and others all belonged. Local 8 also was among the most durable branches of the IWW, dominating the waterfront, despite massive employer and government repression, for almost a decade. We have just produced a three-part podcast miniseries about Fletcher, with the final part out today: it is a bonus episode exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can support us and listen to it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e74-1-ben-bonus-83673762 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=634160945423791&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

[minnesotadruids]

2022 Pagan Pride Days in US & Canada

Here’s a list of Pagan Pride fall festivals and a handful of similar events coming up. Want to meet other druids, witches, heathens, and similar like-minded individuals? Most Pagan Pride Days are free, unless otherwise specified below. Please be sure to verify these events for yourselves before venturing out. Be safe and have fun!

Alabama: Auburn: Kiesel Park: September 17, hours TBA…

Alberta: Edmonton: Richie Hall: September 10, 11 AM to 5 PM

Arizona: Phoenix: Steele Indian School Park: November 5, 9 AM to 5 PM

British Columbia: Vancouver: Trout Lake Park: August 13, 12 PM to 7 PM

California: Los Angeles/Long Beach: Rainbow Lagoon: October 2, 10 AM to 5:30 PM

California: Sacramento: Phoenix Park: September 10, 10 AM to 6 PM

Colorado: Denver: TBA: Usually announced in October for last weekend of month

Colorado: Fort Collins: City Park: August 21, 10 AM to 6 PM

Connecticut: Berlin: Veteran's Memorial Park: Weekend near Autumnal Equinox TENTATIVE

District of Columbia: See Frederick MD and/or Reston VA

Florida: Jacksonville: Riverside Artist Square: September 25, 11 AM to 5 PM

Georgia: Athens: Washington Street between Pulaski & Hull: October 22, hours TBA

Illinois: Chicago: Garfield Park: September 24, 10 AM to 6 PM

Illinois: Wheaton: Henry S. Olcott Memorial Library lawn: September 10, 10 AM to 5 PM

"TheosoFest" with free admission, vehicle parking is $5

Iowa: Burlington: Dankwardt Park: August 27, times not specified

Kentucky: Louisville: Waterfront Park: September 10, 11 AM to 6 PM

Louisiana: New Orleans: October 1, updating website soon for full details

Maryland: Frederick: UU Congregation of Frederick (lawn), September 17, 10 AM to 6 PM

Massachusetts: Lakeville: Ted Williams Camp: September 11, 10 AM to 6 PM

Massachusetts: Northampton: 1 Kirkland Ave, September 24, 9 AM to 5 PM

Michigan: Ann Arbor: Washtenaw Community College: September 10, 10 AM to 5 PM

Michigan: Grand Rapids: Richmond Park: September 17, 9 AM to whenever

Minnesota: Mankato: Jack McGowans Farm: August 13-14, 10 AM to 5 PM

Minnesota: Minneapolis: Minnehaha Falls Park: September 10, 10 AM to 6 PM

Missouri: Joplin: Cunningham Park: September 10, 9 AM to 6 PM

Missouri: Springfield: 405 Washington Ave, September 17, 11 AM to 5 PM

Montana: Kalispell: UU Church, 1515 Tumble Creek Road: September 17, 11 AM to 6 PM

New Jersey: Old Bridge: 144 E Greystone Rd (registration required): August 6, 9 AM to 6 PM

Technically a "Pagan Picnic" by Hands of Change with similar stuff to Pagan Pride Days

New Jersey: Cherry Hill: Cooper River Park: October 1, 10 AM to 6 PM

New Mexico: Albuquerque: Bataan Memorial Park: September 25, 10 AM to 6 PM

Has admission fee: donation of one non-perishable food item

New Mexico: Las Cruces: Pioneer Women's Park: October 15, 11 AM to whenever

New York: Buffalo: Buffalo Irish Center: October 9, 11 AM to 4 PM

New York: Syracuse: Long Branch Park: September 17, 10 AM to 5 PM

Ohio: Cincinnati: Mt. Airy Forest: Stone Steps Picnic Shelter: August 5, 12 PM to 8 PM

Pagan Pride Potluck Picnic: free event, but bring food to share

Park Vehicle Fee: $5 for Hamilton County residents, $8 for non-residents

Ohio: Cleveland (Bedford): Bedford Public Square, Aug 18-21, 5-10 PM, 12-10 PM, 12-5 PM

Has admission fee: donation of two non-perishable food items

Ohio: Dayton (Fairborn): Fairborn Community Park: October 22, 9 AM to 6 PM

Oklahoma: OK City: Wiley Post Park: September 24, 10 AM to 5 PM

Oklahoma: Tulsa: Dream Keepers Park: October 1, 9 AM to 6 PM

Ontario: Toronto: Gage Park: September 11, 10 AM to 6 PM

Oregon: Eugene: Alton Baker Park: August 7, 10:30 AM to 7 PM

Oregon: Portland: Oaks Amusement Park: September 18, 10 AM to 5 PM

Pennsylvania: Allentown (Easton): Louise Moore County Park: August 20, 9 AM to 4 PM

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia: Clark Park: September 3, 10 AM to 6 PM

Pennsylvania: York: Samuel Lewis State Park (no entrance fee): September 24 10 AM to 6 PM

South Carolina: Greenville (Easley): Maynard Community Center: October 1, 9 AM to 5 PM

Has admission fee: donation of one non-perishable food item

Tennessee: Knoxville: The Concourse: September 10, 10 AM to whenever

Has admission fee: donation of one non-perishable food item (or cash)

Tennessee: Memphis: Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park: October 20-23, starts at Noon

"Festival of Souls" Registration required: $60 for whole weekend or $25 per day 

Tennessee: Nashville: Two Rivers Park: October 1, 10 AM to 5 PM

Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth: Arlington UU Church: November 6, 10 AM to 5 PM

Virginia: Reston: Lake Fairfax Park, October 1, 10 AM to 5 PM

Washington: Spokane: UU Church of Spokane: September 17 10 AM to 4 PM

There may be more Pagan Pride Day events than the ones listed here, but they’re either difficult to find info for online or plans are still tentative. Sorry if I missed any major ones!

[marryat92]

Captain Marryat on what has gone wrong with the city of Detroit: THE FRENCH.

The French never have succeeded as colonists, and their want of success can only be ascribed to an amiable want of energy. When located at any spot, if a Frenchman has enough, he seeks no more; and, instead of working as the Englishman or the American does, he will pass his time away, and spend his little surplus in social amusements. The town of Detroit was founded as early as the city of Philadelphia, but, favourably as it is situated, it never until lately rose to any thing more than, properly speaking, a large village. There is not a paved street in it, or even a foot-path for a pedestrian. In winter, in rainy weather, you are up to your knees in mud; in summer, invisible from dust: indeed, until lately, there was not a practicable road for thirty miles round Detroit.

— Frederick Marryat, A Diary In America (1839)

He goes on to add that (anglo) American industry is now transforming the city. This 1837 print of the Detroit waterfront is from the same time period as Marryat's visit.

William James Bennett after Frederick K. Grain, City of Detroit, Michigan: Taken from the Canada Shore near the Ferry, published 1837 (National Gallery of Art).

[charlesandmartine]

Sunday 5th May 2024 - An Epilogue

Africa has been a real eye-opener for us both. It's been a place of contrast, bright colours, heat, friendly peoples, despair and triumph, poverty, wealth, political challenges ahead.

People travelling to South Africa naturally think of game reserves, but we have found a difference in these. There are the private game reserves that are contained behind a fence; if you put animals in that albeit very large area, those are the animals that you will see, apart from the ones eaten by others that is. Then there's the National Park approach where animals move freely from area to area, even across state borders. These are more natural but you don't know what you will find. But what is most rewarding is the opportunity to stand back and study the behaviours of the animals because it is a raw interpretation of all species including human beings. The interactive actions within a group, the exclusions, the challenge of the young males, the mourning of the dead, all points to similarities across species. We were told how a female baboon will hold onto her dead child for a week, mourning. An elephant who broke off an ear of a dead companion and carried it away also in mourning. Elephants will pass and pause by a fallen comrade. Animals will act in unison and concert for both protection and also to hunt.

Then we have seen the poverty and despair especially in Zimbabwe. An immensely rich country but riddled with corruption at high office. The people talking in despair of ever finding a way out of the current difficulties of corrupt politicians, eye watering inflation and unemployment. Opportunities that should be fair and available for everyone and a way out of squalor. Some of the most deprived dwellings we saw in South Africa we were assured were occupied by Zimbabwean people having fled the life they have had at home. But at all times the people we spoke to from SA, Botswana and Zimbabwe were delightful and so pleased we were there with them and so pleased also to talk of their lives.

The train journey was fabulous but it highlighted the difference in circumstances more perhaps than any other part of the trip. We were enclosed within our cocoon; the train being at that moment our world, one of opulence and wealth now voyeuristic to their world outside of it. The small children running after the train down the track reaching out for anything we might throw to them was symbolic in every way to the inequality of the two worlds and the distance between us increasing due to the speed of the train, so also perhaps we see how these two groups of humanity, here in the 21st century are growing further apart. It was interesting that a few black people told us that things were actually better for them during the years of apartheid, not because of the inequalities clearly, but because for them there were jobs.

Then of course there are the Americans! We met up with two lovely ladies from Philadelphia; one of whom said she would vote for her cat before she would vote for Trump. We got on so well with them during our time at Chobe. Other Americans sadly we didn't. But what a year this will be and what outcomes can we expect? SA elections end of May, US in November and UK sometime. Apprehension in SA, despair everywhere for possibilities in US and resignation in UK.

Then there's the food. The spices. I have eaten crocodile (tastes a bit like chicken), kudu, ostrich (lovely) and springbok (national animal!) Enjoyed every single meal. Train food was gorgeous. Fantastic spices.

Our route started in Cape Town; a great city especially the Waterfront where we stayed. Quite a cosmopolitan place, international but very friendly and our first introduction to Africa. The Garden Route took us as far as Port Elizabeth and into the Shamwari Game Reserve. If we had returned home after the Garden Route, we would have said well that was nice but not too special. But Shamwari started to change that view. The Reserve was such an excellent introduction to the big 5 and the location, facilities and professionalism of the rangers was outstanding. Chobe National Park in Botswana for our next safari took a different format with the emphasis on viewing from the Chobe River. We were able to spot animals from a different perspective entirely and gave us a feeling and liking for Botswana and her people. We really loved this place. Then entering Zimbabwe and seeing the staggering force of nature in the form of the Victoria Falls, fed by the mighty Zambezi River, with 300,000 gallons of water per second crashing over the precipice. Our time was running out, but before we returned we had the terrific five day Rovos Rail trip from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to Pretoria in SA taking us to yet another game National Park, then Bulawayo to see the grave of Cecil John Rhodes; an inspirational person from the late nineteenth century. And then the final jewel in the crown, Pretoria, a surprisingly interesting place; a city that is one hundred percent Africa.

Great trip, much to reflect on and hope for what comes next...... Some people say Africa gets under your skin like an itch. Only time will tell if we need to scratch it.

[videbi]

The Best Movies

These are the movies that appealed to a large audience and had wide social impact to 1) inform, 2) educate, and 3) entertain. More movies may be added or any movie may be taken out of the list at anytime.

Intolerance (1916, Griffith)

The Gold Rush (1925, Chaplin)

The General (1926, Bruckman, Keaton)

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927, Murnau)

City Lights (1931, Chaplin)*

Duck Soup (1933, McCarey)

King Kong (1933)

It Happened One Night (1934, Capra)*

A Night at the Opera (1935, Wood, Goulding)

Top Hat (1935, Sandrich)*

Modern Times (1936, Chaplin)

Swing Time (1936, Stevens)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, Cottrell, Hand, Jackson, Morey, Pearce, Sharpsteen)

Bringing Up Baby (1938, Hawks)

Gone With the Wind (1939, Fleming, Cukor, Wood)*

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939, Capra)

Ninotchka (1939, Lubitsch)

The Rules of the Game (1939, Renoir)*

The Wizard of Oz (1939, Fleming)*

Rebecca (1940, Hitchcock)

The Grapes of Wrath (1940, Ford)

The Great Dictator (1940, Chaplin)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Citizen Kane (1941, Welles)*

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

The Maltese Falcon (1941, Huston)

Casablanca (1942, Curtiz)*

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942, Curtiz)

Double Indemnity (1944, Wilder)*

Mildred Pierce (1945, Curtiz)

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, Capra)*

Notorious (1946, Hitchcock)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)*

The Big Sleep (1946, Hawks)

Out of the Past (1947, Tourneur)

Red River (1948, Hawks, Rosson)

Rope (1948, Hitchcock)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, Huston)

All About Eve (1950, Mankiewicz)*

Sunset Boulevard (1950, Wilder)*

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Kazan)*

Strangers on a Train (1951, Hitchcock)*

The African Queen (1951, Huston)*

High Noon (1952, Finnemann)

Singin’ in the Rain (1952, Donen, Kelly)*

The Quiet Man (1952, Ford)

Roman Holiday (1953, Wyler)

Shane (1953, Stevens)

Stalag 17 (1953, Wilder)

Tokyo Story (1953, Ozu)

Dial M for Murder (1954, Hitchcock)

On The Waterfront (1954, Kazan)*

Rear Window (1954, Hitchcock)

The Night of the Hunter (1955, Laughton)

The Searchers (1956, Ford)*

12 Angry Men (1957, Lumet)

Funny Face (1957, Donen)*

Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Mackendrick)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, Lean)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957, Wilder)

Touch of Evil (1958, Welles, Keller)

Vertigo (1958, Hitchcock)*

Ben-Hur (1959, Wyler)

North by Northwest (1959, Hitchcock)*

Some Like It Hot (1959, Wilder)*

La Dolce Vita (1960, Fellini)*

Psycho (1960, Hitchcock)*

Spartacus (1960, Kubrick)

The Apartment (1960, Wilder)

West Side Story (1961, Robbins, Wise)

Jules and Jim (1962, Truffaut)*

Lawrence of Arabia (1962, Lean)*

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Mulligan)*

8 1/2 (1963, Fellini)*

Hud (1963, Ritt)

The Great Escape (1963, Sturges)

Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964, Kubrick)*

For a Few Dollars More (1965, Leone)

The Sound of Music (1965, Wise)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966, Leone)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966, Nichols)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967, Penn)*

In The Heat of the Night (1967, Jewison)

The Graduate (1967, Nichols)*

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Kubrick)*

Oliver! (1968, Reed)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Leone)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, Hill)

Easy Rider (1969, Hopper)

Midnight Cowboy (1969, Schlesinger)

The Wild Bunch (1969, Peckinpah)

MASH (1970, Altman)

The Conformist (1970, Bertolucci)*

A Clockwork Orange (1971, Kubrick)

The French Connection (1971, Friedkin)

The Last Picture Show (1971, Bogdanovich)

Cabaret (1972, Fosse)

Jeremiah Johnson (1972, Pollack)

The Godfather (1972, Coppola)*

American Graffiti (1973, Lucas)

The Sting (1973, Hill)

Chinatown (1974, Polanski)*

The Godfather Part II (1974, Coppola)*

Jaws (1975, Spielberg)

Nashville (1975, Altman)*

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Forman)

All The President’s Men (1976, Pakula)

Network (1976, Lumet)

Rocky (1976, Avildsen)

Taxi Driver (1976, Scorsese)*

Annie Hall (1977, Allen)*

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977, Lucas)

The Deer Hunter (1978, Cimino)*

Apocalypse Now (1979, Coppola)*

Manhattan (1979, Allen)

Ordinary People (1980, Redford)

Raging Bull (1980, Scorsese)*

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Spielberg)

Blade Runner (1982, Scott)*

Diner (1982, Levinson)*

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Spielberg)

Sophie’s Choice (1982, Pakula)

Tootsie (1982, Pollack)

Once Upon a Time in America (1984, Leone)

Platoon (1986, Stone)

Full Metal Jacket (1987, Kubrick)

Do The Right Thing (1989, Lee)

Glory (1989, Zwick)

Goodfellas (1990, Scorsese)*

Beauty and the Beast (1991, Trousdale, Wise)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Demme)

A River Runs Through It (1992, Redford)

Unforgiven (1992, Eastwood)

Farewell My Concubine (1993, Chen)

Schindler’s List (1993, Spielberg)*

Forrest Gump (1994, Zemeckis)

Pulp Fiction (1994, Tarantino)

The Lion King (1994, Allers, Minkoff)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Darabont)

Heat (1995, Mann)

Toy Story (1995, Lasseter)

Life Is Beautiful (1997, Benigni)

L.A. Confidential (1997, Hanson)

Titanic (1997, Cameron)

Saving Private Ryan (1998, Howard)*

The Sixth Sense (1999, Shyamalan)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Lee)

Gladiator (2000, Scott)

A Beautiful Mind (2001, Howard)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Jackson)

City of God (2002, Meirelles

The Pianist (2002, Polanski)

Finding Nemo (2003, Stanton, Unkrich)

Mystic River (2003, Eastwood)

The Incredibles (2004, Bird)

Million Dollar Baby (2004, Eastwood)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2005, del Torro)*

The Lives of Others (2006, Donnersmarck)*

No Country For Old Men (2007, Coen, Coen)

Gran Torino (2008, Eastwood)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008, Boyle, Tandan)

The Hurt Locker (2008, Bigelow)

The King’s Speech (2010, Hooper)

The Artist (2011, Hazanavicius)

* Disclaimer: Strong sexual and/or violent content not recommended below age 16. Personal discretion or parental guidance advised.+

[tieflingkisser]

Palestine Supporters Rally Outside Biden Fundraiser in Philly

Philadelphia, PA — Several hundred supporters of Palestinian rights gathered at Washington Square Park and marched through the historic Society Hill district, arriving at the war memorial parks built above I-95 next to the waterfront Hilton at Penn’s Landing. Unicorn Riot interviewed several participants and heard from the organizers who called upon the Biden Administration to support a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

[amant-des-arts]

Graffiti Pier, Philadelphia

[onmyodogame]

Onmyodo at Philly Otaku Con

Really nice time running demos of Onmyodo at last month's Philly Otaku Con, a truly awesome convention right on the Philadelphia waterfront!

[moneeb0930]

Paul Cuffee, shipbuilder, the wealthiest Afrikan in the Amerikkkan colonies, early Black Nationalist and Pan Africanist was born on January 17, 1759.

Paul Cuffee was born on January 17, 1759 during the French and Indian War, on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts. He was the youngest son of Kofi or Cuffee Slocum and Ruth Moses. Paul's father, Kofi, was a member of the Ashanti ethnic group, probably from Ghana, Africa. Kofi had been captured at age ten and brought as a slave to the British colony of Massachusetts. His owner, John Slocum, could not reconcile slave ownership with his own Quaker values and gave Kofi his freedom in the mid-1740s. Kofi took the name Cuffee Slocum and, in 1746, he married Ruth Moses. Ruth was a Native American member of the Wampanoag Nation on Martha's Vinyard. Cuffee Slocum worked as a skilled carpenter, farmer and fisherman and taught himself to read and write. He worked diligently to earn enough money to buy a home and in 1766 bought a 116-acre (0.47 km2) farm in nearby Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The couple would raise ten children together, of which Paul was the seventh in line.

During Paul Cuffee's infancy there was no Quaker meeting house on Cuttyhunk Island, so Kofi taught himself the Scriptures. In 1766, when Paul was eight years old, the family moved to a farm in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Cuffee Slocum died in 1772, when Paul was thirteen. As Paul's two eldest brothers had families of their own elsewhere, he and his brother John took over their father's farm operations and cared for their mother and three younger sisters. Around 1778 Paul persuaded his brothers and sisters to use their father's English first name, Cuffee, as their family name, and all but the youngest did. His mother, Ruth Moses, died on January 6, 1787.

In 1779, he and his brother David built a small boat to ply the nearby coast and islands. Although his brother was afraid to sail in dangerous seas, Cuffee went out alone in 1779 to deliver cargo to Nantucket. He was waylaid by pirates on this and several subsequent voyages. Finally, he made yet another trip to Nantucket that turned a profit.

At the age of twenty-one, Cuffee refused to pay taxes because free blacks did not have the right to vote. In 1780, he petitioned the council of Bristol County, Massachusetts to end such taxation without representation. The petition was denied, but his suit was one of the influences that led the Legislature in 1783 to grant voting rights to all free male citizens of the state.

Cuffee finally made enough money to purchase another ship and hired crew. He gradually built up capital and expanded his ownership to a fleet of ships. After using open boats, he commissioned the 14 or 15 ton closed-deck boat Box Iron, then an 18-20 ton schooner. Cuffee married Alice Pequit on February 25, 1783. Like Cuffee's mother, Pequit was also Wampanoag.[13] The couple settled in Westport, Massachusetts, where they raised their seven children: Naomi (born 1783), Mary (born 1785), Ruth (1788), Alice (1790), Paul Jr. (1792), Rhoda 1795), and William (1799)

In the late 1780s Cuffee's flagship was the 25-ton schooner Sun Fish, then the 40-ton schooner Mary. In 1795, the Mary and Sunfish were sold to finance the construction of the Ranger - a 69-ton schooner launched in 1796 from Cuffee's shipyard in Westport. By this time he could afford to buy a large homestead and in February 1799 he paid $3,500 for 140 acres of waterfront property in Westport. By 1800 he had enough capital to purchase a half-interest in the 162-ton barque Hero. By the first years of the nineteenth century Paul Cuffee was one of the most wealthy - if not the most wealthy - African American and Native American in the United States. His largest ship, the 268-ton Alpha, was built in 1806, along with his favorite ship of all, the 109-ton brig Traveller.

From March 1807 on, Cuffee was encouraged by members of the African Institution in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York to be involved in helping out the fledgling efforts to improve Sierra Leone. Cuffee mulled over the logistics and chances of success for the movement before deciding in 1809 to join the project. On December 27, 1810 he left Philadelphia on his first expedition to Sierra Leone.

Cuffee reached Freetown, Sierra Leone on March 1, 1811. He traveled the area investigating the social and economic conditions of the region. He met with some of the colony’s officials, who opposed Cuffee’s idea for colonization of Blacks from the United States for fear of competition from American merchants. Furthermore, his attempts to sell goods yielded poor results because of tariff charges resulting from the British mercantile system. On Sunday, April 7, 1811 Cuffee met with the foremost black entrepreneurs of the colony. They penned a petition for the African Institution, stating that the colony's greatest needs were for settlers to work in agriculture, merchanting and the whaling industry, that these three areas would best facilitate growth for the colony. Upon receiving this petition, the members of the Institution agreed with their findings.

In 1816, Cuffee envisioned a mass emigration plan for African Americans, both to Sierra Leone and possibly to newly-freed Haiti. Congress rejected his petition to fund a return to Sierra Leone. During this time period, many African Americans began to demonstrate interest in emigrating to Africa, and some people believed this was the best solution to problems of racial tensions in American society. Cuffee was persuaded by Reverends Samuel J. Mills and Robert Finley to help them with the African colonization plans of the American Colonization Society (ACS), but Cuffee was alarmed at the overt racism of many members of the ACS. ACS co-founders, particularly Henry Clay, advocated exporting freed Negroes as a way of ridding the South of potentially 'troublesome' agitators who might threaten the plantation system of slavery. Other Americans also became active, but found there was more reason to encourage emigration to Haiti, where American immigrants were welcomed by the government of President Boyer.

In the beginning of 1817, Cuffee’s health deteriorated. He never returned to Africa. He died on September 7, 1817. His final words were "Let me pass quietly away." Cuffee left an estate with an estimated value of almost $20,000.

Source: Wikipedia

[jahtheexplorer]

STAN HYWET HALL AND GARDEN

The mansion is in the 22nd place, in the largest historic houses in the USA. Located in Akron, Ohio.

Every time I go on vacation I always have a bucket list of the things I wanna do in the State I am visiting. I don't like to spend the limited time doing last-minute research. But the thing about Ohio is, internet all that recommended is Cleveland, the waterfront etc.. Ohio is much more than that. To be honest, I didn't like Cleveland Ohio at all. Is like a less crowded version of Philadelphia.

When I arrived to Ohio it made my agenda change completely, and I do not regret any of the changes I made to my itinerary. I planned to rest on my last day in Akron since it was approx. 8 hours driving to go back home. Seeing the travel guides on the hotel, and some recommendations from the hotel receptionist changed my mind.

I have been in a lot of historic houses (I am a history junky), but this one felt very special to me. The mansion has about 3 to 4 floors and every room takes you on a journey back to the past. Each room was very impressive, but for some reason, I can't explain, the room in this photo was one of my favorite.