Readers of the HVBlog know full well that we are huge fans of Brian Jay Jones for many reasons, not the least of which is because he graciously sits in for us on occasion, allowing us to put down our pens...err...laptops, and let his fingers do the talking.

Now, with The Dark Knight all the rage (94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer! Practically unheard of for a mainstream flick!), we think it apropos to hear Brian's take on how Washington Irving, yes, Irving, is a Batman ancestor. Brian, take it away:

Batman fans owe a debt of gratitude to Washington Irving. Why? Two words: Gotham City.

In 1806, 23-year-old Washington Irving was New York City's worst attorney. Bored with his legal practice -- he would allegedly abandon the only client he ever had -- Irving persuaded a close friend, James Kirke Paulding, to join him in launching a literary project. The object of this self-published effort, as Paulding would put it, "was to ridicule the follies and foibles of the fashionable world."

The result of this collaboration, the satirical magazine Salmagundi (a 19^th-century dish equivalent to today's chef's salad), made its first appearance on January 24, 1807 -- and it was an immediate smash. Writing under a variety of disguises -- Will Wizard, Anthony Evergreen, Pindar Cockloft, Mustapha Rub-A-Dub Keli Khan -- Irving and Paulding poked fun at New York fashion, politics, society, and culture. More than anything, it was a 19^th-century Mad magazine, and at the time, no one had seen anything quite like it.

Despite its popularity at the time, Salmagundi might be a mere literary footnote, a blip in Irving's writing career, had Irving not inadvertently created a brand name in its seventeenth issue.

Appearing in the November 11, 1807 issue was a piece by Irving describing a (fictional) library full of rare and out-of print books. Among those books was one particular volume - "a literary curiosity" -- from which Irving now reprinted a chapter for his readers:

Over the next few pages, in a mock history of New York, Irving related how the "thrice renowned and delectable city of GOTHAM did suffer great discomfiture, and was reduced to perilous extremity." "The antient and venerable city of Gotham," Irving continued, "was, peradventure, possessed of mighty treasures, and did, moreover, abound with all manner of fish and flesh, and eatables and drinkables, and such like delightsome and wholesome excellencies withal."

While the word "Gotham" had appeared in the pages of Salmagundi before-Paulding had made a passing reference to a musician, "a gentleman amateur in Gotham" as far back as issue two-Irving was the first to explicitly attach the name to New York, and to refer to its citizens as "Gothamites."

The word, which in Anglo-Saxon means "Goat's Town," came from a real English town in Nottinghamshire, near Sherwood Forest. According to English fable, the King's Highway would be built wherever the king set foot -- and if the king walked through your town, you were sunk, for the throne would then perform a royal taking and construct a highway right down Main Street. To prevent King John from entering Gotham, its citizens -- displaying a NIMBY mentality remarkable for the 13th century -- pretended to be crazy, behaving so oddly that snickering scouts advised the king to steer clear of the town. "More fools pass through Gotham than remain in it," the English said, and New York readers grinned in appreciation. The name stuck.

So, there you go. Two hundred years later, Bill Finger and Bob Kane poached Irving's nickname and grafted it onto their own dark and highly-stylized vision of New York City. In a way, that makes Irving -- who created his own iconic American heroes in his own time -- one of the grandfathers of the Batman legacy. And Washington Irving -- that great lover of pulp novels and secret identities -- would probably be pretty proud of that.

Philip Alvare, a writer who visited the Rockefeller estate on a sunny day in June, has authored for Northeast Antiques one of the best pieces on Kykuit HVBlogger has ever read. And, HVBlogger is delighted to see that it is in fact the cover story in the August issue of this widely read publication.

Philip's article is tailored to the antiques audience, but it is nonetheless a great primer for those looking for a solid introduction to what makes this grand estate so...well...grand.

Intrepid Kykuit guide Charley Bradley gave Philip a masterful tour, which is reflected in this piece. The magazine has graciously offered us the chance to host it on our site, so you can download it and read it for yourselves.

Enjoy!

 Click here to download the article in PDF format.

So what was the motivation behind launching the Youth Conservation Corps? As fans of the organization know, Historic Hudson Valley has long been committed to environmental conservation.

Now,  the YCC is a way to use its historic sites as contemporary learning laboratories with an environmental focus. Goals for the project include instilling the values of hard work, responsibility, service, respect for the environment, and education.

In the program two teams of six students, each with their own supervisor - Rebecca Watkins of Nyack and Travis Mockler of Plesantville, each working with the assistance of Elizabeth Wilkins of Red Hook and all under the aegis of Thom Thacker, site director at Philipsburg Manor - are engaged in a curriculum of environmental education, career and leadership training, and recreation activities.

Over the course of seven weeks this summer, the program's students are helping to restore the walking trails at Sunnyside, originally designed and used by author and ambassador Washington Irving in the mid-19^th century. At Philipsburg Manor, they are removing brush and other debris from the bed of the Pocantico River. They are also participating in the annual rye harvest.

Fridays are reserved for field trips to locations such as the Hudson River Museum, Beczak Environmental Education Center, Breakneck Mountain, and Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, places that help reinforce the lessons learned here.

Big rounds of applause go out to the programs supporters, which are The Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation, Entergy's Environmental Stewardship Program, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, and the New York City Environmental Fund.

Want to see the Corps in action? Drop by Sunnyside on a Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday. The program's season ends on Aug. 15.

Coverage of Historic Hudson Valley's recent Hudson Valley Hero Gala honoring Joseph Cotter and his National RE/sources is starting to turn up in various outlets online. Check it out at:

New York Social Diary

Panache Magazine

Norwalk Advocate

More coming I'm sure...

The Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the best-known "alphabet soup" initiatives created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression, was such a popular work relief program that it operated in every state at its prime, and was active here in Westchester during the 1930s.

While the CCC may be a thing of the past, today there are numerous youth conservation corps programs throughout the country. Like the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps from which they take their name, they primarily engage in conservation-oriented work in local, state, and national parks.

The one unifying principle that seems to define all existing youth conservation corps programs is that they use conservation and service work as a medium for youth development. The programs' goals include instilling the values of hard work, responsibility, service, respect for the environment, and education. To achieve these goals, the programs are not confined merely to physically challenging work, but also typically involve environmental education, team-building activities, career and leadership training, and recreational activity involving outdoor pursuits and visits to museums and historical sites.

Now, a new youth education and empowerment program dedicated to those principles and modeled on FDR's famed Civilian Conservation Corps is taking place right here in Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.

Known as the Historic Hudson Valley Youth Conversation Corps, the Corps -- launched on June 30 -- is a job readiness program that seeks to instill the twin values of a strong work ethic and conservation in area youth.

The students taking part, ages 15-18 from the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester and from a wide range of social, economic, and educational backgrounds, are working on various projects at Washington Irving's Sunnyside and Philipsburg Manor such as grounds and trail work, riverbed cleanup, erosion control, and more.

All of the work has an environmental component, but there's an interesting artistic element to it as well, as you can see from the images here. Besides clearing trails and helping control erosion, the group is creating life-size animals out of fallen twigs and logs, under the direction of Michael Natiello, creative guru behind HHV's Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. Nice job guys!

More on the YCC later this week...