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Macy's Fourth of July extravaganza will be on Jersey side to celebrate explorer's arrival 400 years ago
BY JOE TYRRELL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
New Jerseyans enjoying a better than usual view of this year's Macy's Fourth of July fireworks should celebrate poor Henry Hudson, who made it happen.
It is 400 years since the chronically unsuccessful explorer made his way into what is now New York harbor and up the river that bears his name. As usual, he was, if not precisely lost, at least misguided.
En route to China, though, Hudson encountered what his ship's journal described as "very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see." Captaining the cramped Dutch vessel Halve Maen, Hudson was nosing around Sandy Hook.
In September 1609, Hudson's cruise would take him up a river to a point just north of Albany, where he turned around and retraced his course back down the river to the Raritan Bay, then out to sea.
Along the way, Hudson and crew reputedly stopped at Jersey locations closer to this year's fireworks, such as the vicinity of Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City and Weehawken Cove.
"He was interested not in sailing up the river, but in finding a passage across the continent to the Indies," said historian Kevin Wright, noting the obvious problem that Hudson could not have expected to discover it by sailing north.Stymied in previous attempts to find a Northeast Passage along Russia, Hudson had turned his attentions west. Eventually, his energy and persistence would be his downfall.
In honor of the anniversary of Hudson's failed pathfinding, the massive Independence Day fireworks were moved this year to the Hudson from their normal location in the East River. The shift created good viewing locations at many elevated spots in North Jersey, including front-row seats in communities like Hoboken and Weehawken for the 9:20 p.m..
While a windfall for many towns and businesses, the change had some planning for overwhelming crowns and gridlock. On the Hoboken waterfront, the Stevens Institute of Technology closed all classrooms and offices and limited authorized spectators to 1,000. Cities closed some waterfront streets, adding to chronic traffic and parking challenges.
For a description of the planning, see the New York Times.
The change is fitting, because Hudson's first landfalls around the area occurred in New Jersey, at the time it part of the larger region inhabited by bands of Lenape.
Sailing up and down the North American coast, Hudson and his small crew of about 16 men, had spent only 24 hours exploring the Delaware Bay. But the barrier islands and river mouths farther north up the coast proved more enticing.
The voyagers' contacts with the locals provides some of the new material Wright highlights in his forthcoming book, 1609: A Country That Was Never Lost, 400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson's Visit with North Americans of the Middle Atlantic Coast.
A long-time historical site interpreter for the state and former president of historical societies of both Bergen and Sussex counties, Wright "started the research on the book back about 30 years." On July 19, he hosts a sail on the schooner A.J. Meerwald to view some sites associated with Hudson. Information on the voyage is available at the Bergen County Historical Society website.
