Yet amid the famous and infamous pace attributed to NYC, the city gave me a soul-satisfying quiet that kept me anchored in what was important to me. I think that’s why my favorite song from the musical Hamilton is "Quiet Uptown." The song is a reminder that New York has places of quiet that soothe and calm.
Below is a view of the UN from Four Freedoms Park. Located on the south end of Roosevelt Island, the park is a tribute to FDR’s famous four freedoms speech. I’d go there and just sit and let the quiet calm of the East River wash over me.
Another of my quiet places was the Brooklyn Promenade. You’d think a walkway built over a highway would be noisy, but sitting on one of the benches with Brooklyn Heights behind and the lower Manhattan skyline before always filled me with peace. I got the same sense of stillness riding the best free water ride available: the Staten Island Ferry. Just looking at this photo I can smell the ocean and the feel of the breeze on my face as I gazed at Lady Liberty.
The grandeur of the 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library worked its magic on me too. I’d go to the main reading room, fondly remembering thumbing through the old card catalogues then requesting a book and sitting on the bench until my number appeared until I could pick it up just like in the scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Now it’s a research library, but the majesty of the murals painted in tribute to the written word instills a sumptuous stillness of their own.
The quiet continues uptown in the Harlem spaces of St. Nicholas Park, City College and Strivers Row, locations in my Haunted Harlem series.
It’s not only quiet uptown but all over the city if you know where to look. I hope you’ll be able to experience my quiet New York someday.
Social media links:
Website: www.annamtaylor.webs.com
Anna M. Taylor FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/annamtaylorAuthor
Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/355nKv0
Anna M. Taylor newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/7d60e5679ab4/anna-m-taylor-writes
Twitter: @revannable
Anna Taylor Sweringen has been a member of RWA since 2003. Her first story, Through A Glass Darkly, was an inspirational romance published by White Rose Publishing in 2008 under the penname Anna Taylor. Her Michal Scott steamy historical novellas and short stories are published with the Wild Rose Press, Delilah Devlin’s Boys Behaving Badly anthologies and two charity anthologies published by Passionate Ink. She has been self-publishing her gothic romance ghost stories as Anna M. Taylor since 2020. Her novellas, Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman and Haunted Serenade both won third place in their respective categories in the 2022 National Excellence in Storytelling contest.
Below is a view of the UN from Four Freedoms Park. Located on the south end of Roosevelt Island, the park is a tribute to FDR’s famous four freedoms speech. I’d go there and just sit and let the quiet calm of the East River wash over me.
Another of my quiet places was the Brooklyn Promenade. You’d think a walkway built over a highway would be noisy, but sitting on one of the benches with Brooklyn Heights behind and the lower Manhattan skyline before always filled me with peace. I got the same sense of stillness riding the best free water ride available: the Staten Island Ferry. Just looking at this photo I can smell the ocean and the feel of the breeze on my face as I gazed at Lady Liberty.
The grandeur of the 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library worked its magic on me too. I’d go to the main reading room, fondly remembering thumbing through the old card catalogues then requesting a book and sitting on the bench until my number appeared until I could pick it up just like in the scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Now it’s a research library, but the majesty of the murals painted in tribute to the written word instills a sumptuous stillness of their own.
The quiet continues uptown in the Harlem spaces of St. Nicholas Park, City College and Strivers Row, locations in my Haunted Harlem series.
It’s not only quiet uptown but all over the city if you know where to look. I hope you’ll be able to experience my quiet New York someday.
Social media links:
Website: www.annamtaylor.webs.com
Anna M. Taylor FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/annamtaylorAuthor
Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/355nKv0
Anna M. Taylor newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/7d60e5679ab4/anna-m-taylor-writes
Twitter: @revannable
Anna Taylor Sweringen has been a member of RWA since 2003. Her first story, Through A Glass Darkly, was an inspirational romance published by White Rose Publishing in 2008 under the penname Anna Taylor. Her Michal Scott steamy historical novellas and short stories are published with the Wild Rose Press, Delilah Devlin’s Boys Behaving Badly anthologies and two charity anthologies published by Passionate Ink. She has been self-publishing her gothic romance ghost stories as Anna M. Taylor since 2020. Her novellas, Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman and Haunted Serenade both won third place in their respective categories in the 2022 National Excellence in Storytelling contest.
Thanks for coming, Anna. I loved seeing this side of the "city that never sleeps."
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me, Liz. I hope your subscribers enjoy my quiet NYC
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post on the quiet to be found in NYC. I've visited the city a few times, but those visits were combined with work, so I didn't get the chance to play and wander to find those spots. I usually enjoy finding out-of-the-way (for tourists) places when I travel and I'd love to have time to do that in NY. Of course, I do aways manage to catch a Broadway performance. Thanks for sharing your favs.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it, Barb. These days when I go back I head off-broadway and off-off broadway in search of the prices I used to pay on Broadway. : D
ReplyDeleteLove this and agree wholeheartedly. Some many of these spaces are here if one cares to look.
ReplyDeleteLove this and agree wholeheartedly. There many such spaces here if only one cares to look.
ReplyDelete