The New York Aquarium opened in 1896 on Battery Island and is the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States. In 1957 it relocated to Coney Island and has become one of the five parks participating in the Wildlife Conservation Society (The Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo are the other 4). The Aquarium hosts the Society’s Aquatic Animal Health Center, which includes a state-of-the-art marine animal hospital complete with full medical services, pools and recuperation facilities. Keepers work with the animals at the park to enrich their minds and bodies and participate in Species Survival Plan cooperative conservation and animal management programs.
Aside from its historical and conservation value, the park is well worth checking out. It’s not huge, but has some really cool animals (even a few I hadn’t seen at an aquarium before), and the setup is top-notch with lots of learning opportunities for kids and adults alike.
Here are just a few shots from our first trip.
Coney Island
Coney Island’s history as ‘New York’s Holiday Destination’ began in the 1830s and 40s when roads and steamship services cut the trip from Manhattan down from a half day trek to 2 hours. Hotels, electricity and attractions soon followed and in 1896, Coney Island’s Elephant (now gone) was actually the first sight to greet immigrants (it was visible before the Statue of Liberty). Although the amusement park’s peak has come and gone, it is enjoying a revitalization with the MCU Park and minor league baseball team, the Brooklyn Cyclones.
On a side note, wtf is wrong with the NY Aquarium and Coney Island’s websites? They’re nice and all, but don’t people care about the history of a place any more? Neither of these sites had squat about their history. I had to go to Wikipedia (so take the history part with a grain of salt) to find any information – luckily what I did find had footnote references, so one can be somewhat assured that the information is accurate, but damn. Where are all the history nerds?
Gastography 