roosevelt island {october 30, 2022}

Planes, trains, Lyfts, and one more way we got around NYC, the Roosevelt Island Tram.

The Roosevelt Island Tram runs from 2nd Avenue and the 59th Street Bridge (aka the Feelin’ Groovy Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Ed Koch Bridge) over to Roosevelt Island. Our unlimited MTA passes got us there and back with gorgeous birds’ eye views of the Manhattan skyline, the bridge, and the East River.

Roosevelt Island used to be closed to the public but is now home to a residential community and a number of parks and landmarks. Historically, one sees glimpses into New York’s past: the Renwick Ruin, a former smallpox hospital; the Octagon tower, the remains of an insane asylum; and a 19th century lighthouse on the northern tip. The island was called Minnehanonck by the Lenape and Varkens Eylandt (Hog Island) by the Dutch during the colonial era and later Blackwell's Island. It was known as Welfare Island when it was used principally for hospitals, from 1921 to 1973. It was renamed Roosevelt Island in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1973.

Upon our arrival to Roosevelt Island, we strolled along the riverside walk to the south end of the island while admiring views of the Upper East Side and the United Nations. Our destination, Four Freedoms Park, a four-acre memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt that celebrates the Four Freedoms he articulated in his State of the Union Address to Congress on January 6, 1941.

Here comes da tram!

Peekaboo, I see you, Empire State Building!

Old signage in Brooklyn

The UN with the ESB peeking over its shoulder

FDR's Four Freedoms

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech, and expression—everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium.

It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.