Wall Street...Back to School...

I don't know if you have been watching the stock market, but if so, you have seen a lot of "Wall Street".

When Gman and I were staying up in the Hudson Valley, we headed in to the city.  One of the places that I really wanted to visit was Wall Street.  It was a surprise to me!

At the head of Wall Street is Trinity Church a Gothic Revival style church building.  Founded in 1697 by King William III, it donated land for new streets to help rebuild a shattered New York after the Revolutionary War.  Several members of the first and second Continental Congress attended the church, along with Francis Lewis--a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  The present day church was built about 1839 after the Great Fire of 1776 burned one and then the second one was torn down in 1839.  The main doors look straight down Wall Street.

You look down the street and it looks like a giant canyon of tall buildings.  It really surprised me when I saw it.

The architecture is stunning and covers many decades and styles.

And then you come to the Stock Exchange.  This is really what I thought of as "Wall Street".

This is the business entrance of the exchange.  Gman had his picture taken.

I had my picture taken...


I really wanted to go in, but it was the weekend and it wasn't open.  Perhaps one day we will be able to go during a work day so that we can go in.

This is the more typical view of the Exchange.  It is really massive!  You can see that the columns don't start at street level but are up about 2 stories.  They are really huge!

Another entrance to the Stock Exchange caught my attention...

Actually it was the plaque next to the door which reads..."The first latin school of New Amsterdam (later New York) was founded on this site in 1659 by Dr. Alexander-Carolus Cursius-Curtius Lithuanian Nobelman and scholar who came to the dutch colony as latin school master upon the invitation of Govenor Peter Stuyvesant.  Bicentennial Lithuanian Committee"

So, this was the first latin school.  Happy back to school everyone!