Friends' Holiday Festival and Tree lighting This Saturday Dec. 6th!

This Saturday, Dec. 6th from 3pm-6pm the Friends will be hosting our Annual Holiday Festival and Tree Lighting at the 135th Street Plaza in St. Nicholas Park. This year includes arts and crafts, and a visit from St. Nick (Santa Claus). Families will be able to have their picture taken with Santa Claus for a small donation to the Friends organization. Tamara Tunie - star of TV's Law and Order SVU will recite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (also known as "A Visit from St. Nicholas"). Also performing will be dancers and a choir from the Harlem School for the Arts.

Saturday, December 6th marks St. Nicholas Day. This day marks a popular day in Germany where children had left a boot or stockings out for St. Nick to fill with goodies. The day is still practiced among German neighborhoods in the US.

Hot Chocolate and Apple Cider will be served at the event.

This year the Friends are also giving everyone who donates $10 or more to the group an opportunity to have a personalized message written on an ornament and hung on their tree. For more information click here.

HAMILTON GRANGE: Exhibit Design & Content Public Meeting

The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking public input on the exhibit content and design for Hamilton Grange National Memorial.

Following the restoration of Hamilton Grange in St. Nicholas Park, the new ground floor level of the building will become a visitor center focusing on the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton and the home he built for his family in Harlem. Current planning and programming for the visitor experience at the Grange includes interpretive and interactive exhibits as well as an orientation gallery and short narrative film within this space. Guided tours of the restored and furnished historic spaces on the first floor of the house are planned to enhance and complement the interpretive exhibits on the ground floor.

The NPS would like to engage the public in the early stages of this design process to help generate ideas for interpretive themes, content development, and other thoughts for the future exhibit design for Hamilton Grange. The NPS is seeking input from a variety of stakeholders – including local community groups and neighborhood associations, educators and academics, park visitors and other interested parties – to inform and comment on this design process. It is anticipated that the design and fabrication of the exhibits will be completed and installed within the building in time for the Grange's re-opening.

We look forward to your participation in this important effort.

WHAT: Public Meeting – Hamilton Grange Exhibit Design & Content

WHEN: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

WHERE: Room NA 1/203, located on the first floor of the North
Academic Center Building at the City College of New York. (click link for PDF) Please enter on Convent Avenue at 138th Street.

Friends' Announce 2008 Holiday Fundraising Drive

DONATE AS LITTLE
AS $10 AND GET A PERSONALIZED ORNAMENT ON THE ST. NICHOLAS PARK HOLIDAY TREE!

For this holiday season, the Friends of St. Nicholas Park will be writing a message from you or your family on a personalized ornament and hang it on our tree.

Click below to download the PDF. Fill it in with all the information and send in to Friends of St. Nicholas Park and we'll get your ornament up on our tree.

The tree will be up until just after the New Year, so New Year's wishes are welcomed as well.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PDF OR ORNAMENT DONATION FORM

This form requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - a free program. Click to download it.

Convent Avenue Site Meeting Scheduled for December 11th 6:30pm-8:30pm

Per the Hamilton Grange update issued November 5 (see below), the National
Park Service is seeking public input on the use of the Convent Avenue site.
The public meeting has been scheduled for December 11, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm
at the Harlem School of the Arts, 645 St. Nicholas Ave. We look forward to
your participation.

Public Input Sought on the Use of Convent Avenue Site

The National Park Service (NPS) develops a General Management
Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP/EIS) that serves as a projected
long-term framework for the management and use of an NPS site. The GMP/EIS
for Hamilton Grange was published in 1995. The final plan called for the
relocation of the Grange from Convent Avenue to St. Nicholas Park and for
NPS to “restore the Grange, to the greatest degree possible, to its
appearance during Hamilton’s residency (1802-04).” This past June, NPS
moved the Grange and is in the process of restoring the home so visitors
can fully appreciate the historical context and significance of Hamilton’s
home.

The Hamilton Grange GMP/EIS also specified action for the redevelopment of
the Convent Avenue property once the home was moved. The plan called for
turning the existing site into a new structure for public and NPS uses.
However, this provision of the 1995 GMP/EIS is no longer feasible and will
be amended.

Amending the GMP/EIS will involve consultation with the public, both to
generate ideas and to comment on alternatives. NPS will ask the public to
help identify feasible alternatives for the Convent Avenue site. By the end
of this year we hope to begin the public scoping process, and will
communicate via a variety of media on opportunities for the public to
comment.

Visioning statement from 2005 shows much progress in St. Nick Park

The St. Nicholas Park visioning statement created in 2005 by Partnership for Parks and a coalition of area community groups, list major goals to be reached for the park in coming years. Three years later, some of the goals have been reached while others still need some work. Please download and read this important document. The Friends of St. Nicholas Park invites anyone to help us make all the goals on this document a reality. For volunteer information please email us at info@stnicholaspark.org.

You can also join our email list by clicking here to our join Google group.

Download the PDF of the 2005 St. Nicholas Park Visioning Statement

HAMILTON GRANGE: Restoration Update November 2008

Below is information send from Darren Bock of the National Parks Service. The information below is related to the renovation of the Hamilton Grange in St. Nicholas Park. The Grange is expected to complete a full renovation by Fall 2009.

Original 1802 Roof Balustrade

In the 1980 Historic Structure Report for the Grange, the principal
investigators surmised that the balustrade (decorative railing) shown in
the earliest photograph, ca 1860 (see below), was not the original location
of the balustrade. Their assumption that the balustrade had been relocated
was primarily based on the alterations that had been made to all of the
roofs prior to 1860 to increase the roof pitch to reduce water
infiltration.

To try and resolve the question of the original balustrade the NPS
restoration project team has conducted extensive investigations of the
remaining original flush boards (at the front facade, piazzas) and
clapboards (rear facade), which included analysis of the paint layers
(approximately 22 layers) and removal of later date clapboards and flush
boards to expose the original porch and piazza roof fastening and flashing
details. We located the attachment point of the balustrade at the north
facade over the former rear entryway. Paint analysis within the field of
the balustrade newel and rail attachment locations and the surrounding
clapboards revealed that the balustrade was attached here when the Grange
was originally constructed, as shown in the earliest photograph.

We have concluded that the 1860 photograph does represent the original
balustrade. This balustrade was removed, documented and discarded around
1937. The documentation of the balustrades appearance is sufficient to
allow restoration of the balustrade to the main roof, porches and piazzas.
The project team will continue its investigations to verify the attachment
method of the balustrade to the main roof.

New Roof Being Laid

The lower sloped roof will be clad with western red cedar shingles, 16"
long, widths from 3" to 6". The shingles will be individually hand dipped
with a full bodied stain, dried before laying with zinced roofing nails,
with 4" exposure. The wood shingle roof paint color is derived from the
original wood shingles found in the false chimneys.

The upper roof will be clad with a protective membrane and the false
chimneys will be clad with tongue and grove flush board siding and painted
to match the original finish. The project team will remove the later
layers of paint from the original chimney cladding to expose the painting
scheme for the original chimney for replication on the new protective
cladding.

HAMILTON GRANGE: Public Input Sought on the Use of Convent Avenue Site

The following announcement was made by NPS via Darren Bock:

The National Park Service (NPS) develops a General Management
Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP/EIS) that serves as a projected
long-term framework for the management and use of an NPS site. The GMP/EIS
for Hamilton Grange was published in 1995. The final plan called for the
relocation of the Grange from Convent Avenue to St. Nicholas Park and for
NPS to “restore the Grange, to the greatest degree possible, to its
appearance during Hamilton’s residency (1802-04).” This past June, NPS
moved the Grange and is in the process of restoring the home so visitors
can fully appreciate the historical context and significance of Hamilton’s
home.

The Hamilton Grange GMP/EIS also specified action for the redevelopment of
the Convent Avenue property once the home was moved. The plan called for
turning the existing site into a new structure for public and NPS uses.
However, this provision of the 1995 GMP/EIS is no longer feasible and will
be amended.

Amending the GMP/EIS will involve consultation with the public, both to
generate ideas and to comment on alternatives. NPS will ask the public to
help identify feasible alternatives for the Convent Avenue site. By the end
of this year we hope to begin the public scoping process, and will
communicate via a variety of media on opportunities for the public to
comment.

>>Friends of St. Nicholas Park will continue to update members via email and on this blog. Stay tuned for future meeting information<<

November Coffee Bark Photos!

Hey all,

We had another successful Coffee Bark this past Saturday. Lots of people welcomed the very crisp weather with some hot coffee (thanks Mike), donuts, and lots of doggie play! Join us next month at the Coffee Bark on Saturday, December 6th. December 6th is a special Coffee Bark since we will be encouraging doggies to dress up in holiday costumes (antlers, Santa suits and more). More info to come. If you are interested in volunteering please contact us at info@stnicholaspark.org

Thanks!