#Port Jervis

[deadmotelsusa]

The Alexander Hotel and Motel, pictured in 2009 and 2019, in Sparrow Bush, New York. In 2009, the older hotel, located up the hill from the motel, was abandoned. The motel remained in operation until 2013. Today, the motel is now closed and the hotel has been renovated and is in use as housing. 

[regisafoster]

Port Jervis, New York - A Historic Canal and Railroad Transport Hub

With roots as a pre-automobile transportation hub, Port Jervis, New York, is a historic burgh with a history of colonial settlement extending to the 1690s. Northeast of New York City, it’s situated amidst the fertile valleys of the Delaware and Neversink River systems. The valleys mark the boundary between the Appalachian Plateau and Shawangunk Mountains, and hundreds of miles of state and nationally-managed recreational lands surround it.

Initially known as Carpenter’s Point, Port Jervis was a landing point for timber raftsmen who plied the upper Delaware River. It was also a stop on the Old Mine Road, the country’s first 100-mile road (now United States Route 209), which took travelers south from Kingston.

Carpenter’s Point was incorporated into Deerpark in 1798. The locale was named Port Jervis in 1827, and it officially became a port of the Delaware River and Hudson Canal in 1828. As a repair point and boat basin, it formed an essential station on a 171-mile-long transportation network that brought anthracite coal from Pennsylvania’s northeastern mountains to New England and New York City. The name was in honor of the Hudson Canal’s chief engineer, John B. Jervis, from Rome, New York.

In 1847, Port Jervis became a hub for railroad operations and grew to house a main engine terminal facility while serving as the Delaware Division of the Erie Railroad’s headquarters. This property included the railroad’s primary maintenance and yard facilities.

Port Jervis officially became a village in 1853 and ultimately incorporated as a city in 1907. In the late 19th century, several glass factories began business, and an influx of employees producing glassware, silk, gloves, shorts, mittens, and saws moved in. The railroad yards and light manufacturing shops were a major part of the local economy through the 1960s.

Today, tourism is the mainstay of Port Jervis, with historic Front Street featuring eateries, a bookshop, antique shops, and other small businesses. The well-marked Delaware River Heritage Trail provides a walking tour of various gardens, historical structures, and an exceptional view of the Delaware River.

Among the well-preserved sites worth exploring is Fort Decker, a stone house on West Main Street that was initially constructed in 1760 and burnt by Joseph Brant alongside Native American allies in a 1779 raid during the Revolutionary War. Serving as the Minisink Valley Historical Society museum, Martinus Decker rebuilt the house in 1793 and used it as a tavern and hotel during the years of the Delaware and Hudson Canal construction. Indeed, John B. Jervis stayed at the location while engineering the canal.

Another historic remnant is the Port Jervis turntable, which comprises a circular area with a 115-foot diameter and a bridge. Able to carry a weight of more than 440 tons or a locomotive loaded with coal and water, the turntable is the largest that still operates nationwide.

Befitting its status as a scenic tourist destination, Port Jervis offers several popular events each year, including the Fall Foliage Festival, for which volunteers place 50 corn stalks on light poles decorating Pike and Front Streets. There are also popular holiday events such as the Downtown Spooktacular and the Chriskindlmarkt, with the latter featuring horse and carriage rides and traditional juggling as entertainment.

[aryburn-trains]

Former DL&W 818 and former Erie 826 sit with the mostly mail and express train 22 in Port Jervis. This was a Binghamton to Hoboken accommodation that was run after the through trains had been routed over the Lackawanna. It was a really cold night. January, 1965

[postcardaday]

Tri-State Monument, Port Jervis, N.Y.

[1863-project]

I always forget until I hear the music again how...normal Anville Town makes me feel. Like it's okay for me to be like this.

There's this Depot Agent, who talks about the trains as if they're living beings, the way I treat them.

Or this person, who just acknowledges that people do like trains and wonders what draws people in the most.

Or the mother and son railfans visiting Anville Town together. Since I tend to do train stuff with my dad, who I get my love of steam locomotives from, this warms my heart so much.

And then not in Anville Town, but elsewhere, we have this guy...

I can't believe they put O. Winston Link in this game.

Pokemon Black and White doesn't treat railfans as a joke. It just allows them to be people. The two strongest trainers in the game run the subway arm of the Unova MTA. They're not mocked for being the way they are (read: arguably the most autistic characters in the franchise), they're just allowed to be themselves, and other characters are actually in awe of them and take them seriously as trainers.

This is one of those rare cases where the source material doesn't actually make fun of people like me and instead just allows us to be ourselves, and it means so, so much to me. It's so nice to just be treated as a human being with passion instead of an ostracized weirdo.

I just like knowing I'm okay, I guess.

[porcelainapparition]

Port Jervis, New York

built in 1920

[hopefulkidshark]

Hawk's Nest, New York: The Hawk's Nest is a scenic location outside Port Jervis, New York high above the Delaware River on New York State Route 97. Its name is derived from the birds of prey that nest in the area. The location is also known for its winding roads and scenic overlooks in the Delaware River Valley. Route 97 was originally a one-lane dirt road built in 1859. Wikipedia

[ltwilliammowett]

The final door is no. 24 and that means today is Christmas Eve and so let's see who greets us today and it's the old lady herself. HMS Victory is here to wish you a Merry Christmas.

HMS Victory in Snow

More about her here:

Our famous lady was designed by Sir Thomas Slade, Senior Surveyor of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1765 and used around 6000 trees of which 90% were oak, the remainder being elm, pine and fir. She was not commissioned until 1778 and this long period of weathering resulted in her timbers being well seasoned which was a major reason for her long life. She was a First Rate Ship of the Line with an outfit of 100 guns on 3 decks.

She was in active service for 34 years. She served as the flagship to a number of distinguished Admirals and fought at the first Battle of Ushant in 1778 (Keppel), the Second Battle of Ushant in 1781 (Kempenfelt) and the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797 (Jervis). In 1797, she was pronounced unfit for further active service and was due to be converted to a hospital ship. However, when HMS Impregnable was lost in October 1797 leaving the Admiralty short of a First Rate, the decision was taken to refit Victory which took place at Chatham between 1800-1803.

As part of an extensive reconstruction, extra gun ports were added, increasing her guns from 100 to 104, the magazine was lined with copper, the masts were replaced and the paint scheme changed from red to the black and yellow seen today. She sailed for Portsmouth in April 1803 and Nelson hoisted his Flag onboard in May 1803 as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Admiral Lord Nelson was Victory’s most famous Admiral.

On 21 October 1805, she led the British Fleet under his command into battle against a Franco-Spanish force off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson was shot at the height of the battle and died at 16.30 when victory was assured. SHe suffered a lot of punishment, 57 men were killed and 102 wounded, and the ship was so badly damaged that she had to be towed to Gibraltar for emergency repairs before returning home with Nelson’s body onboard.

After further service in the Baltic and off the coast of Spain, she was placed in reserve in 1812 and was moored off Gosport as a depot ship. Flagship of the Port Admiral, Portsmouth from 1824, she became flagship of the Commander-in-Chief in 1899. She then slowly deteriorated at her moorings until a campaign to save her was started in 1921 by the Society of Nautical Research (SNR).

In 1922 she was moved into No 2 dock Portsmouth, the oldest drydock in the world, for restoration. The work was completed in 1924 and preservation continued under the supervision of the Society for Nautical Research. The ship subsequently underwent another extensive restoration programme to make her appearance as close as possible to that at Trafalgar, for the bicentenary of the battle in October 2005. She is still in commission as the flagship of the Second Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command.

[offender42085]

Post 0496

Brett Kanoff, New York inmate 14A2758, born 1990, incarceration intake June 2014 at age 24, placed on parole 06/04/2019, with full discharge 09/28/2024

Manslaughter

Kanoff was sentenced in Orange County Court for killing Cameron Louis Kanoff by smothering him with a blanket at home in Port Jervis.

Kanoff was originally charged with second-degree murder and faced up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted. He took a plea deal to manslaughter against his lawyer’s advice, in exchange for the four-to-12 year sentence.

A 23-year-old upstate New York man has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for suffocating his 1-year-old son in 2012.

Brett Kanoff pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the death of his 1-year-old son, Cameron. Kanoff was accused of suffocating the infant with a blanket in September 2012.

“The autopsy showed I didn’t suffocate my son,” Kanoff claims. “I took the plea as a way to get things over faster.”

Benjamin Ostrer was Kanoff’s attorney throughout the court proceedings. Ostrer sought to exclude the confession, arguing that police took advantage of a grieving father. Ostrer’s position was that Kanoff falsely confessed due to a desire to please authority. The autopsy findings, he stated, do not corroborate what Kanoff claimed to have done in his “wacky confession.”

The autopsy revealed no signs of trauma or assault, no bruising on the infant’s face, gums or lips, no petechiae (ruptured capillaries) of the eyes. The findings, however, did show carbon monoxide in Cameron’s bloodstream, and also that he was suffering from bronchitis and pneumonia.

“I was not aware of his illness until the autopsy,” Kanoff said. The baby, said his father, was born with a bronchial condition and suffered from back problems.

According to Kanoff, the autopsy results initially attributed his son’s death to sudden infant death syndrome. The cause of death, he says, was subsequently amended to “suffocation” - “only because of what I said.”

Kanoff took the plea deal that gave him four to 12 years, against Ostrer’s advice. Ostrer maintains that his client is innocent.

“I do not believe he did it,” said the attorney. “Brett was very emotionally fragile and scared of trial. He feared getting 25 to life if he was convicted of the top charge.”

“I have nothing to hide,” Kanoff insists. “That’s why I’m so open to discuss this.”

He was “overtired” that September morning, Kanoff remembers. “I had been in the city working with my uncle, doing 70 hours a week, leaving at 7 a.m. and not getting home until 9 p.m. I was sleeping on the couch with Brett Jr., not even five feet from my youngest. My son was crying and I got up and gave him his bottle and put a blanket over him and went back to sleep.”

Upon waking about 11:30 a.m., Kanoff recalls “thinking everything was fine,” and went outside for a cigarette. When he returned, he says, he found his son “not moving.”

Port Jervis police responded to the 911 call from the address of Kanoff’s father, with whom he had been staying. Upon arrival, Brett’s grandfather, Herbert Kanoff, came running out of the house carrying Cameron in his arms. Emergency CPR was not enough to revive the baby, who was taken to Bon Secours Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“I felt like I wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out because losing my son tore me apart,” says Kanoff. “The memories are painful, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it.”

Cameron Kanoff was born Aug. 22, 2011. His twin brother, Caleb, died at birth. “My wife and I were heartbroken when we lost Caleb.” Kanoff says. “We did everything we could, but sometimes when you’re alone and look at pictures and see a family of four (including older brother, Brett Jr.) and know it should be a family of five, it is so hard ... Cameron was our miracle baby.”

Kanoff was married on Nov. 17, 2010 to Samantha Finch in Port Jervis. The couple has been estranged since shortly after the death of their son and Kanoff’s subsequent imprisonment. “She stayed by my side for a year,” Kanoff says, “but at a time when your spouse is looking at 25 to life, what do you do? She moved on.”

In the months leading up to Cameron’s death, Kanoff recalls struggling with finances, and the pressure to provide for his young family. “I would never change the age I had my kids,” Kanoff says, “but there were moments that were hard.”

While in prison, Kanoff is leaning on faith to help cope. “I want the (Port Jervis) community to know I’m not the person they think I am,” he says. “I am not a monster. I love Port Jervis and I love the people in it.”

“I take it one day at a time,” Kanoff says. “I won’t lie, some days are a lot harder than others. I find myself reading my Bible a lot to get through the hard times.” He believes, he says, there will be a day of reunion with lost loved ones. “The love I have for my children goes beyond this life and into the next.”

Samantha Finch, however, is left with the task of helping her surviving son cope with the loss of his siblings and the absence of his father. “I love and miss my children more than anyone will ever know,” she said. “It’s very hard to explain to a 4-year-old that his brothers are gone and not coming back. I’m in so much pain, but I try to do my best with everything.”

“I had my oldest son come to me asking about Cameron,” Finch said, wistfully. “He said, ‘he’s taking too long to come home.’ He told me how he loves and misses Cameron, and how he wants to give him this pair of shoes that don’t fit him anymore.”

3j

[topmiata]

〰 #DreamRoads ▶ Hawk's Nest Rte97, Port Jervis, New York, USA 🇺🇸

#TopMiata #JDM #Mazda #Miata #MX5 #roadster

[saleintothe90s]

492. Ed's Party in Lockerbie (June 2, 1989)

Sometimes kids have ideas, and they should just stay ideas, you know? Sometimes we shouldn't listen to the kids--but Pan American Airlines did.

Shortly after the December 21st, 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 14 year old Ed Blaus of New Jersey sent a request to Pan Am to send the children of Lockerbie Christmas presents. Seems weird that a 14 year old would ask an airline to do this, but ok. A small child, maybe, but a fourteen year old?

I'm sure he meant something like a gift drive for the kids in town who lost everything that Christmas. Pan Am would give presents to the kids that following Christmas, right?

No, there was going to be a party for all of Lockerbie, and boy when the victims families found out, they were pissed and were assaulting the airline in the press:

Susan Cohen, of Port Jarvis, N.Y., who lost her 20-year-old daughter Theodora in the bombing, said the party was 'tasteless' and charged it was a publicty stunt by Pan Am 'to polish their tarnished image.'

'We're appalled by it,' Theodora Cohen's father Dan Cohen said of the party. 'Right now the rock band should be playing on the soccer field about a block and a half from where 75 bodies were found -- which is obscene. They should end their mourning but this is ridiculous.' 3

[...]

"I'm outraged," said a tearful Florence Bissett, whose 21-year-old son, Kenneth, was killed in the bombing. "How can they do something like that - picnic where bodies were found?"

Susan Cohen of Port Jervis, N.Y., said, "We feel Pan Am should be putting its money into security, not parties."

Joe Horgan of West Point, Pa., a member of the Victims of Pan Am 103 group, was quoted by the Dumfries and Galloway Standard as saying, "It is good for them to have a party, but Pan Am's involvement is despicable. We see this purely as a public relations exercise on their part." 4

"Having this picnic is cruel . . ." said Lynne Fraidowitz of Staten Island, whose 20-year-old son, Daniel Rosenthal, was killed. "It would have been easier on me if they had just ripped my heart out." 5

From what I've read in the scant articles I've found, Pan Am played a "he said, she said" with Ed and his idea. In one article, the airline stated that Ed conceived and raised money for the party, but also wrote the airline for help. The airline stated that they simply flew Ed and his family to Scotland. 1 However, a resident of Lockerbie said that PanAm had the idea of a "Summer Christmas", but townspeople suggested it be a party instead.2 Originally, Disney was going to send some costumed characters to Scotland, but due to outrage from the families, this was redacted. Hebrew National who was to supply food for the party also backed out. 3 

(Business Insider)

While families picketed outside of the PanAm headquarters in New York City, in Scotland the party went on with a concerts, bagpipes and food. 2 A football coach from Syracuse University (which lost 37 students in the bombing) came to give kids football lessons, which was a peculiar choice. Apparently there was no representation from Pan Am at the actual party.3

I found a Facebook post from the Annandale Herald and Moffat News on the 30th anniversary of the party. Most partygoers who were probably kids at the time, mostly remembered eating pizza.

Kinsey Wilson. 1989. "Kin of Jet Crash Victims Assail Plans for Party in Lockerbie: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]." Newsday, May 21, 38. 

Daily Press. “Reaction to Lockerbie Party Mixed.” June 4, 1989.

Deseret News. “CONTROVERSY DIDN’T DASH LOCKERBIE BASH,” June 4, 1989. https://www.deseret.com/1989/6/4/18809762/controversy-didn-t-dash-lockerbie-bash.

"Lockerbie Party Outrages Bereaved: [Final Edition]." Edmonton Journal, Jun 04, 1989.

Joseph W. Queen. "Party in Lockerbie, Outrage in NY: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]." Newsday, Jun 04, 1989, Combined editions.

[goalhofer]

Port Jervis Station in Port Jervis, New York.

[1863-project]

Anville Town reminds me so much of Port Jervis sometimes, I swear...

[greightys]

1989 Honda Hawk GT at the Hawk’s Nest, Route 97, near Port Jervis, NY

[guerrerense]

Northeast Visitors por David Blazejewski Por Flickr: In 2014 the North Carolina Transportation Museum held their biggest party ever and in my humble opinion the single greatest railfan event I've ever attended before or since. Following up on their wildly successful heritage unit family portrait event for Norfolk Southern's 30th anniversary they planned something even bigger. Gathering 26 surviving freight and passenger diesels from the classic first generation era, they all came together for three days of festivities centered around the old Southern Railway turntable. So here is yet another angle from this truly once in a lifetime event! Here are two visitors from the northeast representing a pair of roads from the classic era seen around the turntable on the warm Carolina night. Traveling from Port Jervis, NY was Erie E8A 833 at the time owned by the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway. Built by EMD in Mar. 1951 she would pass to E-L and then CR where she gained fame as CR 4022 dressed in Conrail blue and then later Pullman green as one of three special units retained to lead big blue's OCS train. As of this writing I believe she is currently brokered for sale with an uncertain future. At right and sent by the Railroad Museum of New England in Thomaston, CT is New Haven FL9 2019 resplendent following a complete restoration and paint job completed prior to this event. Built by EMD in Oct.1960 as NH 2049, the dual mode 5 axle unit unique to the New Haven spent her whole life hauling passengers on the rails for which she was built passing from the NH, to PC, CR and then Metro North before being sold to the state of Connecticut. One of 10 such ConnDOT units she was rebuilt by Chrome Locomotive in 1985 and returned to her original McGinnis era New Haven livery. Retired around 2002 I she still operates in Connecticut on the Naugatuck Railroad's excursion trains on an ex NH branch to Torrington. If you want to learn more about this railfan event of the century in case you weren't there this gentleman has a fabulous overview on his site: www.wvncrails.org/streamliners-at-spencer.html Spencer, North Carolina Saturday May 31, 2014