Saturday, April 23, 2016

What do the Cooper Union, Astor Place, Grace Church and a Chelsea pier have in common? (Part 2 of 2)

Continuing the Titanic tour:  From Astor Place and the Wanamaker building, we walked to nearby Grace Church.  In the church is a memorial for one of the Titanic passengers, Miss Edith Corse Evans.  As the Titanic was sinking, Edith Evans and fellow passenger Mrs. Caroline Brown were searching for a lifeboat.  They found one with one seat left, and Edith told Caroline to board the lifeboat since Caroline had children at home.  Edith went to look for another lifeboat, but there were no more.  Her body was never found.  She was a New Yorker, 38 years old and one of only four first class female passengers who did not survive.  The memorial plaque reads:  "In gratitude to God for the memory of Edith Corse Evans who in the midst of life gave herself for others".

Grace Church:  Door leading to the Edith Corse Evans memorial
As we moved from the East Village to the West Village, we stopped at old St. Vincent's Hospital, where some Titanic passengers were brought.  One suffering passenger from steerage, Sarah Roth, was traveling to New York City to marry her fiance.  The hospital staff and the public learned of her plight and donated funds to arrange a wedding ceremony in the hospital.  A dress was purchased to replace the homemade wedding dress lost with the Titanic.  A makeshift chapel was created in the hospital, complete with a temporary altar.  It was a happy ending with bride and groomed reunited and then wed.  They lived happily ever after.

Old St. Vincent's Hospital where Titanic Sarah Roth married while recovering from her ordeal.  The building is being converted to luxury condominiums with well-heeled residents like Michael Kors.
The shabby chic Jane hotel on Jane Street along the Hudson River was once the Sailors' Home and Institute.  In April 1912, surviving sailors from the Titanic stayed there and held a memorial service for their shipmates and the passengers who went down with the Titanic.
The former Sailors' Home and Institute and now The Jane.  Titanic's sailors stayed here after their arrival in NYC.
The last stop on the tour was in Chelsea along the Hudson River.  The Carpathia, which rescued survivors of the Titanic, moored at Pier 54 following its arrival in NYC.  Crowds gathered to greet family members and friends and ambulances waited to transport passengers needing medical care.  Today, Pier 54 is barren, with only the skeletal facade still standing, a ghostly image on a cold night in April, 104 years after the tragic, predicted sinking of the Titanic.
The Carpathia moored at Pier 54 in April 1912 following rescue of Titanic passengers
Pier 54:  Rescued Titanic passengers disembarked here
What do the Cooper Union, Astor Place, Grace Church and a Chelsea pier have in common?

Answer: The Titanic.



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