Tappan Zee
The Tappan Zee Bridge, for those unfamiliar with New York geography, links Westchester County, on the east side of the Hudson River, to Rockland County, To those of us who grew up in the NYC/Long Island area, it was the gateway to upstate New York. The Westchester side of the bridge is in Tarrytown, Washington Irving territory.
When I was a little girl, my grandmother would spend her summers in a bungalow colony in the Catskills. We'd pick her up at her apartment in Queens, drive through the Bronx and Westchester...
when we'd see the castle at Tarrytown (once a millionaire's mansion, now a hotel), my aunt would say "That's where Cinderella lives."
Then we'd cross the Tappan Zee Bridge, and we'd feel like we were in the country!
I went to college in Albany, NY, so crossing the Tappan Zee from Rockland into Westchester always meant I was on my way home.
Last week, when we went to the Renaissance Faire, we may have crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge for the last time.
The Tappan Zee is being replaced. The new bridge has been built along side the old. The new bridge opened this week to northbound traffic, the old bridge still serves southbound travelers.
As you drive up the Thruway towards Tarrytown, you see the new bridge first.
When I was a little girl, my grandmother would spend her summers in a bungalow colony in the Catskills. We'd pick her up at her apartment in Queens, drive through the Bronx and Westchester...
when we'd see the castle at Tarrytown (once a millionaire's mansion, now a hotel), my aunt would say "That's where Cinderella lives."
Then we'd cross the Tappan Zee Bridge, and we'd feel like we were in the country!
I went to college in Albany, NY, so crossing the Tappan Zee from Rockland into Westchester always meant I was on my way home.
Last week, when we went to the Renaissance Faire, we may have crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge for the last time.
The Tappan Zee is being replaced. The new bridge has been built along side the old. The new bridge opened this week to northbound traffic, the old bridge still serves southbound travelers.
As you drive up the Thruway towards Tarrytown, you see the new bridge first.
And then there's the old bridge...
I crossed the Tappan Zee several times in 2015 and once in April of 2016, and was able to see some of the construction of the new bridge. But my best memory is of coming home after a protest I participated in opposing SUNY tuition hikes in 1970 (I was a high school senior) in Albany, and seeing the lights on that bridge, returning home to New York City. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteProgress, eh? Sad to see it go, but it was probably time for an upgrade.
ReplyDeleteYah, the old bridge is falling apart.
ReplyDeleteAlana, I went to SUNY Albany, we also did the tuition hike protest thing, but for us it was just a bus ride downtown.