Seen as we returned to Kingston after a great boat ride on Rondout Creek and the Hudson River.
Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 24-70 f2.8 FE
A Visit to Kingston, NY – Small Steam Boat on Rondout Creek
A Visit to Kingston, NY – The Arriva
“If this yacht could talk, it would probably be able to tell some amazing tales.
On Monday afternoon, a luxury yacht designed to look like a pirate ship docked in Kingston, NY. If the 156-foot vessel looks familiar, it’s because the famous boat has been photographed countless times by the paparazzi.
The ship was purchased by Johnny Depp back in 2007 and named Vajoliroja. At the time, Depp was dating Vanessa Paradis. The name was created by combining both of their names with the names of their children, Lily-Rose and Jack.
After purchasing the yacht, Depp hired famed interior designer LM Pagano to renovate it. According to Insider, Pagano draped the interior of the ship in velvet and other luxurious fabrics in an effort to make it feel like “the Orient Express on the ocean.”
After Depp parted ways with Paradis and started dating Amber Heard in 2017 he renamed the vessel Amphitrite. The boat even played a part in their infamous trial. Heard claimed that the actor assaulted her on the yacht by hitting her against a wall. She accused Depp of drinking too much because he was angry he had to sell the boat. Depp denied the accusation, but he did wind up selling the yacht to another huge celebrity in 2015.
The Amphitrite was purchased seven years ago by famed novelist J.K. Rowling for a reported $27 million. The Harry Potter author may have actually scored a great deal on the yacht which includes a Jacuzzi, helicopter pad and a small swimming pool. The interior of the boat hides five luxury cabins. Insider says three of the cabins are furnished with double beds, and the other two children’s rooms have twin beds. All of the bedrooms have their own private bathroom.
There was lots of buzz when the ship, now called Arriva, showed up on the Hudson River in 2020. Locals were heading to the river in hopes of catching a glimpse of Rowling, but that may have been a waste of time. It appears the boat was sold by the author and is now owned by a wealthy businessman.” (Yacht Once Owned by Johnny Depp Spotted in Kingston, We Peek Inside which also includes a number of interior shots)
I’ve also read that the Arriva is usually docked on the Long Island Sound, but that the present owner brings it up the Hudson River once a year so he can enjoy the fall foliage.
Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 24-70 f2.8 FE
A Visit to Kingston, NY – On the Boat – Waiting to Leave.
Smoke stacks.
Flag
Rondout Creek looking vaguely South-West.
Rondout Creek looking vaguely North-East.
Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 24-70 f2.8 FE
A Visit to Kingston, NY – Mayor T.R. Gallo Park
Created by the Urban Cultural Parks System in 1984, the West Strand Park offers various amenities for visitors while showcasing the beautiful Rondout Creek. In 2003-2004, the Park was renamed in memory of the late mayor T.R. Gallo who championed Kingston’s waterfront development. The park also undertook a major expansion in 2010 with the completion of a new waterfront promenade extending alongside the Rondout Creek. Above: A sculpture made by the Bruderhof Community’s Barney Boller gives the appearance of ducks flying through the trees on lower Broadway in Kingston, N.Y. The sculpture was given in memory of Mayor T.R. Gallo and sits in T.R. Gallo Park at the bottom of Broadway in Kingston, N.Y. Photo taken March 1, 2020.
Mayor Gallo’s obituary can be seen at Kingston Mourns Loss of Mayor Who Breathed Life Into City, NY Times, 23 January 2002
Memorial reads “In Memory of all who lost their lives at sea”.
Park looking vaguely North East.
Park looking vaguely South West.
Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 24-70 f2.8 FE
A gift
The Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society, where I’m currently volunteering, recently received this wonderful gift of a silver platter from Jeff and Jackie Haught of Santa Fe New Mexico.
The inscription reads:
“Henry Smith Tournament
Low Net
Winner
Leon Svirsky
1963”
The small shield above the inscription bears the words “Briar Hall”.
“Henry Law established the Briar Hills Country Club on the site of the old Briarcliff Golf Club in 1921. A clubhouse was built and an eighteen-hole golf links of 6,366 yards was designed by golf architect Devereux Emmet. The 150-acre property was bounded roughly by Dalmeny, Poplar and Pine roads, with a strip south of Pine extending behind Tuttle Road to Long Hill Road East. The grounds included the Christie, later Melady, property and the large white house named Elderslie, which for a time served as the clubhouse. Two generations of the Law family, Henry and, after him, Theodore Gilman Law, directed the club until some years after World War II, when it was sold and became Briar Hall Country Club (1922-1993). “Besides…golf, tennis, riding, skiing, tobogganing, skating and coasting, the Club…[offered] every facility for indoor entertainment””. (From “The Changing Landscape – A History of Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough” by Mary Cheever.
Trophy being presented at the Briar Hall club. Date unknown, but possibly in the 1940s.
Elderslie. The house still exists at 233 Pine Road
Car in front of Elderslie
Picture of the Platter taken with a Sony A7IV and Samyang 45mm f1.8. Other pictures from the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society archive.