In 2016 I launched an annual event on Governors Island that’s I’m really proud to be a part of. This is World War I History Weekend, Camp Doughboy. We started with one day in 2016 with less than 20 living historians; last year we had 100. Here is the information on the upcoming weekend. I hope you’ll join us: The Centennial of service members and civilians returning from France to New York Harbor following the Continue Reading →
I guess I’ve been to the museum inside the Statue of Liberty pedestal more than 250 times in the past few years. So I know it pretty well. I’ve been to this modest museum more than any other in New York City. Sometimes I went seven days a week. So I think I’m well versed in what it offers. This week that museum was shutdown and a new $100-million glitzy museum opened in its place. Continue Reading →
July 6 is the centennial of the tragic death of John Purroy Mitchel, Mayor of New York City and U.S. Army officer in World War I. His life is well documented but there is one fact I’m still working on. I believe that only George Washington and Alexander Hamilton have more monuments and memorials in New York City than Mitchel. If this is in fact true, then Mitchel is the No. 3 most-remembered man in Continue Reading →
This week I led a pre-Memorial Day tour to Cypress Hills National Cemetery. It was the first time I had ever visited the gravesite of Private William D. Roberts, Confederate soldier, in Grave 3254. I’ve written in the past about the 500 Confederates buried in Brooklyn. And a book about the World War One war dead. But Private Roberts’ story is unique, so I’ll share it for Memorial Day. As a prisoner of war who Continue Reading →
The only National Cemetery in New York City is in Brooklyn. Visit the beautiful and historic Cypress Hills National Cemetery, the final resting place for 21,000 veterans and dependents from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War. The cemetery was opened in 1862, and is older than Arlington National Cemetery. Take a walk to visit the graves of 24 Medal of Honor winners and soldiers from more than 200 years of American History. See the Continue Reading →
Discovering the Southwest Florida Military Museum and Library was an incredible find on a recent trip. Located in Cape Coral, at 4820 Leonard Street, this museum defines off the beaten track: it’s not listed in guidebooks and is tucked away inside a former supermarket nearby auto repair shops and big box stores. But to walk inside the doors is to be transported back in time to see tens of thousands of artifacts from every military Continue Reading →
Come along on a walking tour of sites that were important to New York during World War I, from military, recruiting, and fundraising. Remember our honored war dead by visiting beautiful memorials around the city, from Midtown Manhattan to Central Park. This unique walking tour honors the centennial of WWI (1914-1918) and led by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, author of World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War Continue Reading →
The first public walking tours of 2018 will be in January and February. The walks are led by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, author of The Algonquin Round Table New York and A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York. Algonquin Round Table Tour Mondays, meet at the Algonquin Hotel 10:45, walks begin at 11:00. 29 January 5 February 12 February 26 February Advance tickets required, click here to book. Dorothy Parker’s Upper West Side Wednesdays, meet at Continue Reading →
I visited my first sculpture by E.M. Viquesney, The Spirit of the American Doughboy, 647 miles from our house. I was not disappointed to finally see in person a sculpture I’d only read about. This is the World War I sculpture that was mass-produced and today stands in nearly 150 locations across the United States. The one I got to see is in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was in town for a family wedding, so Continue Reading →
I have paid my respects to the Confederate soldiers buried in Brooklyn. Oh, you didn’t know that more than 500 war dead who served in the Confederate States of America are interred there? There are more Confederate graves in New York City than any other place in the Northeast? I’ve been waiting to talk to a couple of reporters for two days, since I wrote a book about city war memorials, and give tours of Continue Reading →