From this site on January 18, 1903, Marconi sent the first two-way transatlantic wireless communication between the US and Europe, to Cornwall, England. It was a message from US President Theodore Roosevelt to British King Edward VII.
Wireless communication helped save hundreds of lives on board the Titanic in 1912 after a distress signal sent out by the ship’s radio operator was picked up by the ”Marconi Man” aboard the RMS Carpathia, about 60 nautical miles away from the Titanic. In turn, the disaster led to laws for improving radio communications and safety at sea.
The station was decommissioned in 1917 and most of the equipment that was not salvaged, has succumbed to erosion and fallen into the sea. Still, standing here trying to imagine what Marconi would have heard back then, was fascinating. And the walk to the adjacent White Cedar Swamp Trail, a welcome and shady break from the heat.
An abandoned 19th century bluestone quarry that used to furnish rock for New York City’s sidewalks, turned into a site right out of Game of Thrones.
The trail starts at the parking area on Dale Lane; follow the yellow markers to connect with Pecoy Notch Trail, then take a left following the blue markers.
The Nature Conservancy designated the Neversink River as one of the 75 “Last Great Places” in the United States, Latin America and the Pacific. But, honestly, after two months of lockdown in our glass tower, any river flowing through a green forest like that would have seemed ”Great”!
Agnes Denes Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule, Ylojarvi, Finland – Architectural model (mixed media), 1992-96 [detail]
Agnes Denes Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule, Ylojarvi, Finland – Architectural model (mixed media), 1992-96 [detail]
Agnes Denes Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule, Ylojarvi, Finland – Architectural model (mixed media), 1992-96 [detail]
Agnes Denes Tree Mountain – A Living Time Capsule, Ylojarvi, Finland – Architectural model (mixed media), 1992-96 [detail]
”A huge manmade mountain measuring 420 meters long, 270 meters wide, 38 meters high and elliptical in shape was planted with eleven thousand trees by eleven thousand people from all over the world at the Pinzio gravel pits near Ylojarvi, Finland, as part of a massive earthwork and land reclamation project by environmental artist Agnes Denes. The project was officially announced by the Finnish government at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Earth Environment Day, June 5, l992, as Finland’s contribution to help alleviate the world’s ecological stress. Sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Tree Mountain is protected land to be maintained for four centuries, eventually creating a virgin forest. The trees are planted in an intricate mathematical pattern derived from a combination of the golden section and the pineapple/sunflower system designed by the artist. Even though infinitely more complex, it is reminiscent of ancient earth patterns.
Tree Mountain is the largest monument on earth that is international in scope, unparalleled in duration, and not dedicated to the human ego, but to benefit future generations with a meaningful legacy. People who planted the trees received certificates acknowledging them as custodians of the trees. The certificate is an inheritable document valid for twenty or more generations in the future, the first such document involving the future in human history. The project is innovative nationally and worldwide, the first such document in human history. This is the very first time in Finland and among the first ones in the world when an artist restores environmental damage with ecological art planned for this and future generations.
Tree Mountain, conceived in 1982, affirms humanity’s commitment to the future well being of ecological, social and cultural life on the planet. It is designed to unite the human intellect with the majesty of nature. Tree Mountain was dedicated in June, 1996 by the President of Finland, other heads of state, and people from everywhere.” [source]
From a retrospective of the work of Agnes Denes, at The Shed.
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