Brooklyn to Montauk Great American Railroad Journeys


Brooklyn to Montauk

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I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America

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with a new travelling companion.

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Published in 1879, my Appletons' General Guide

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will steer me to everything that's novel, beautiful,

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memorable or curious in the United States.

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As I cross the continent, I'll discover

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America's gilded age, when powerful tycoons launched

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a railway boom that tied the nation together and carved

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out its future as a superpower.

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I'm continuing my American adventure through New York State where,

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in Appleton's time, an industrial revolution was under way.

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I began in Manhattan and I'll head north

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towards Poughkeepsie and the state capital,

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Albany.

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I'll turn west to the Great Lakes, taking in Rochester

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and Buffalo, and finish at the tourist hotspot

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of Niagara Falls.

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My journey through New York State continues on Long Island -

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180 miles long, with a population of 8 million.

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It hosts two of New York City's boroughs, Brooklyn and

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Queens.

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It was often the first sighting of the United States for immigrants

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and, even today, air passengers survey its streets and houses

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before landing at Kennedy Airport.

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The Long Island Railroad daily ferries its commuters to the city

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and, at weekends, carries the city's holiday-makers to its beaches.

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On today's leg, I'll explore New York's

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eastern boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, before heading

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north-east on the Long Island Railroad to the Gold

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Coast, and then south-east to the Hamptons.

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My final stop will be the island's most easterly tip,

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Montauk.

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Along the way, I'll see how tourists following my guidebook

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enjoyed heady views.

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People felt like they were flying with the birds, walking

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across this bridge.

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I'll discover how America's biggest infrastructure project is reshaping

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both Manhattan and Long Island.

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You were literally blasting.

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We were literally blasting.

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Wow.

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And their martinis didn't even shake.

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No, not like James Bond.

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And I'll relive the fun and decadence of the roaring '20s.

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Brooklyn, says Appletons', is the third-largest city

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Brooklyn, says Appletons', is the third-largest city

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in the United States.

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That's before it was absorbed into New York to become one

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of the conurbation's five boroughs.

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But, if it were independent and on its own today,

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it would still rank alongside all but the very largest

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cities on earth.

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By the 1860s, Brooklyn's population had swollen,

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with huge numbers of immigrants from Europe.

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Industry and commerce were booming.

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Around a third of Brooklyn's working population

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commuted across the East River to Manhattan, and ferries

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were reaching capacity.

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A long-term solution was needed and, in 1865, plans were put

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forward to build a permanent link between the two cities.

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The Brooklyn Bridge was under construction when my Appletons'

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was published and it remarks that the massive towers

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and ponderous cables are conspicuous objects.

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The distance across the river is nearly 1600 feet,

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affording space for two railroad tracks, four

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wagonways and two footpaths.

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With those colossal towers and being the

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first steel suspension bridge in the world,

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it was soon known as the eighth wonder of the world.

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It's easy to see why.

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The bridge, with its elegant steel cabling, suspended

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against the 19th-century skyline, was an historic engineering

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achievement.

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I am meeting Brooklyn-born historian and tour guide Seth

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Kamil under the now iconic structure.

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Hello, Seth.

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Michael, good to see you.

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Welcome to Brooklyn.

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Thank you very much, and what a very beautiful bridge.

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What were the challenges in building it?

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There were financial challenges, the fact the bridge cost more

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than $12 million.

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Technically, no one had ever built a suspension bridge with a centre

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span of 1600 feet.

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This is doubling anything that had come

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before it.

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It's built, I think, with granite towers.

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How does it work beneath the water?

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Beneath the water are wooden caissons, which are extremely large

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boxes flipped upside down, about 100 feet by roughly 70 feet,

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floated into place, sunk into the sand.

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They pumped out the air, sent workers inside to dig

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from inside to lower them while they build the granite towers

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upwards at the same time.

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A workforce of 600 built the bridge over 14 years,

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starting in 1869.

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The designer was John Augustus Roebling, a German

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immigrant living in Pennsylvania.

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Then 61 years old, he was a pioneer of suspension bridges.

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But, while he was surveying the site, Roebling's

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foot was crushed by a boat coming into dock.

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Tetanus set in and, three weeks later, he died.

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His son, Washington Roebling, took over the project

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and saw his father's bridge as far as he could go until he,

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too, was crippled in the process.

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With John dead and Washington crippled,

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who took over the work?

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Washington's wife Emily Lauren Roebling finishes

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the bridge.

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In those days, a woman.

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It's unbelievable.

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This is nearly 50 years before an American woman has

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the vote, and she begins by simply running messages from the office

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in Brooklyn Heights to the job site.

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But she is so intelligent and begins to understand the process so quickly

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that she is able to make decisions on her own.

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Construction was dangerous and two dozen workers lost

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their lives.

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But, on May the 24th, 1883, the great East River was spammed.

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The brilliant design and scale of this piece of engineering

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expressed America's growing self-confidence.

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It was spectacular.

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You had Emily Lauren Roebling leading the procession,

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the President of the United States, the mayors of Brooklyn and Manhattan

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meeting and shaking hands, a magnificent

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fireworks display at sundown...

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It was incredible, and memorable for decades.

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It was spectacular.

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The day it opened, 150,000 pedestrians and 1800 vehicles

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crossed the bridge.

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Within months, passengers on cable cars were

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crossing for a 5 cents fare.

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There were no aeroplanes, no tall buildings.

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People felt like they were just flying with the birds,

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walking across this bridge.

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It's been called the eighth wonder of the world.

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What do you say?

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I live here and I think it should be the first

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wonder of the world, but but I'll accept eight.

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wonder of the world, but I'll accept eight.

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The completion of the bridge and Brooklyn's rail links brought

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even more immigrants to the borough which,

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in 1898, had been incorporated into New York City.

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Immigrants from northern, eastern and southern Europe made up

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around a third of the newly amalgamated city.

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Italians were one of the largest groups to settle in Brooklyn,

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and their influence has left a lasting

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culinary mark that I'm keen to experience.

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Good evening, sir.

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How are you?

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I'm very well indeed. I was thinking of having a pizza.

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I think you mean a pie.

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A pie?

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Yes.

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OK.

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Can I have just a piece or two of pie?

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I think you mean a slice.

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A slice?

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Divided by a common language, eh?

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OK.

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I think I'll have a margarita pie.

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You mean a pizza.

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Do I?

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I give up!

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I'm kidding, it's a pie.

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Thank you.

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You're welcome.

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Coming right up.

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This slice of pie is infinitely superior to a piece of pizza.

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Today, I'm continuing my journey on the

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Long Island Railroad in the borough of Queens.

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Before tunnels were built to Manhattan Island in 1910,

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Queens was the terminus of the railroad and

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passengers crossed by ferry.

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After the first branch of the Long Island

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Railroad was opened in 1836, the mainly rural island was quickly

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developed with suburbs.

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Today, it's the busiest commuter railroad in America,

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with over 700 miles of track.

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It's also the site of an ambitious engineering project that

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will transform New York City's rail network.

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By one of the oddities of railroad history,

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many commuters who come from Long Island, which lies

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to the east of Manhattan, have to cross

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all the way across the island to almost the Westside,

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to Pennsylvania Central Station, and then, if their

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jobs are in the business district back on the Eastside,

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they have to make a subway journey, wasting time and money every day.

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The solution is to put a station on the east side of Manhattan,

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in fact, deep under Grand Central Terminal,

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but that project involves creating a new tunnel

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with eight tracks and building 11 miles

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of tunnel and absolutely turning the system upside down.

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It's said to be the biggest project in the United

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States right now.

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Doctor Michael Kyriacou is the chief engineer

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at the Metropolitan Transportation

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Authority and the man responsible for delivering the Eastside Access

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scheme.

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Michael, you are in charge of the biggest construction project

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in the United States today.

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What do you feel about that?

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Well, humbled by the experience and lucky to be able to do that.

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Michael is taking me to survey the ongoing works.

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Hello. You must be Chris.

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Yes, I am. How are you?

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I'm Michael. Good to see you.

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Pleasure to meet you.

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Right here, basically, tunnel D will come

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up to the right.

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B-C will be built right here in the middle.

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So, from GCT, you'll come out the ground right

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here, and then you can see tunnel A will be on north side.

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Four new tunnels will run from Queens on Long

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Island straight to New York's Railway cathedral, Grand Central

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Terminal, opening access to the Eastside of Manhattan.

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What benefit will commuters see when it's all over?

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The commuters from Long Island will see a reduction in travel time

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of up to 40 minutes a day, and they will have a direct

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shot without having to transfer into Grand Central.

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The great thing about the construction of the terminal

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is that no one knew we were there.

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We've blasted away these huge caverns and people upstairs

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were sipping wine in the restaurant

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and they never knew we were down there.

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You were literally blasting?

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We were literally blasting.

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Wow.

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And their martinis didn't even shake.

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No, not that James Bond would've liked it!

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The extension is due to open in 2023 and is projected to cost

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around $10 billion.

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It will transform the working lives of

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millions of New York commuters.

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It's another example of how the city's

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infrastructure is being revitalised after 9/11.

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It represents a kind of renaissance for New York, doesn't it?

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Yes, it does.

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Without public transport, a city like New York,

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cities like London cannot exist.

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And that's something that...

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I've been in London, I've seen the work being done there.

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We're trying to keep up with you guys.

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That's a very flattering way of putting it.

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I'm impressed by this.

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During the 19th century, trains increased the prosperity

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of Long Island's workers, shuffling them daily

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to and from New York City, but the railroads also

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created fortunes beyond the comprehension of ordinary commuters.

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You might think that the Gold Coast is in Australia, but there's one

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here on Long Island.

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Of course, not where gold was discovered, but where enormous

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wealth was displayed, flaunted, squandered.

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From Queens, it's a journey of just over an hour north-east to Cold

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Spring Harbor, the nearest station to Oheka Castle.

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Ha-ha!

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This is Oheka Castle.

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Unbelievably big, for what was once a private residence,

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it has the look of a French chateaux, but it's

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built on the foundations of a solid American fortune.

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Completed in 1919 and costing the equivalent of $110

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million in today's money, the castle was the private home

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of banker and rail magnate Otto Kahn.

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At the time, it was the second largest residence

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Today, Oheka castle is a hotel and this historian Eunice is taking

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me on a tour of these once exclusive grounds.

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Which names were involved here? once exclusive grounds.

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JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor,

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the Prince of Wales were all coming here

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for the polo season and stay in their summers on Long Island.

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When I think about this era and this

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place, my thoughts are dominated by the parties.

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Sure, F Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby

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may have taken parties to a new level, but it really

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was not an exaggeration of what was going on

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here at the time.

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I imagine the ponds here are probably clogged

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with champagne corks.

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Like many tycoons of the era, Kahn made much of his fortune

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in the railroads.

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This is Otto Kahn.

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Otto Kahn was also known as the figure for Mr Monopoly.

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Really?

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Correct.

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How did he make his money in the railroads?

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He teamed up with great railroads giants of the time and he actually

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would reorganise the facilities and make

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them more streamlined and more profitable.

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Was he a big party giver?

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He was known for throwing parties.

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There were men like Charlie Chaplin here, Douglas Fairbanks,

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many industrialists of the day, so it was a home always filled.

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What happened to be home after he died?

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After Otto Kahn passed away in the 30s, his wife sold it

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to the New York department of sanitation, which

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renamed it Sanitia, and it became the weekend retreat and retirement

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home for the New York City garbage men.

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So, from riches to rags.

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Correct.

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Sensing the ghosts of the bankers and tycoons and the stars of stage

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and screen, I decide to relive for a moment the heady decadence

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of those years by taking to the dance floor.

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Hello, Nancy.

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Hello, Michael.

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You look divine.

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Thank you very much.

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You are very handsome.

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What a beautiful dress.

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Thank you.

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How does one do the Charleston?

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OK, so, it's a very easy dance.

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Forward on the left, and tap front with the right.

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Right, right, left.

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And swing the arms left, forward, right, forward.

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I think you've got it.

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Cue music.

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CHARLESTON MUSIC PLAYS.

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CHARLESTON MUSIC PLAYS.

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It is a little fast.

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Named after the city of Charleston in South

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Carolina, the dance became one of the musical sensations

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of the roaring 20s.

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The mansions of the north once echoed to the Charleston

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and popping champagne corks.

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But, for me, the party is over.

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On many a bright morning like this, Otto Kahn

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must have surveyed his beautiful gardens and thought,

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all that hard work amalgamating railroads, here I stand up

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on the hill that I made, in the castle that I built,

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and it was all worthwhile.

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The wealthy tycoons of New York City are no longer drawn

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to the north shore of Long Island.

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And, while the elites of the past made their money in industry

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and infrastructure, their counterparts

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today are the so-called masters of the universe,

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the bankers, traders and hedge fund managers who prowl

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the canyons of Wall Street.

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Their summer retreat lies some 75 miles

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south-east in the Hamptons.

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East Hampton, says Appletons', is the

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quietest of all quiet towns, with quaint, old houses.

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Its old world charm is seduced many a broker,

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derivatives trader and venture capitalist.

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I may not meet many of them on the Long Island Railroad,

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but their helicopters are much in evidence.

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East Hampton and its sister village of South Hampton was almost entirely

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undeveloped until the arrival of the railroad in 1895.

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Today, the permanent population of the count is around

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21,000 but, in summer, that swells to over 70,000.

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East Hampton is extraordinarily clean and tidy, very

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well-kept, manicured, you might say.

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I'm meeting Diana from the Ladies Village Improvement Society,

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founded in 1895.

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She's invited me to one of the thrift stores,

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where they raise funds for the preservation of the town.

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What brought about the foundation of the Ladies Village

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Improvement Society?

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One of the issues in the 1890s was unpaved

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streets.

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There was a lot of dust any time a cart or the early automobiles

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would drive by.

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The LVIS felt their mission was to sprinkle the street and keep

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the dust down.

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Once that was done, they just started

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beautifying east Hampton.

0:22:140:22:16

Today, as well as preserving East Hampton's

0:22:160:22:19

history, the LVIS funds student scholarships,

0:22:190:22:24

including one for a woman over 25 years old returning

0:22:240:22:27

to higher education.

0:22:270:22:30

What it's like to live in East Hampton?

0:22:300:22:32

Well, it has a bit of a roller-coaster feel,

0:22:320:22:35

because things are nonstop between June and September,

0:22:350:22:38

but then it quietens down.

0:22:380:22:41

I guess people outside might have the impression of East Hampton

0:22:410:22:45

has been populated with the wolves of Wall Street.

0:22:450:22:47

Right.

0:22:470:22:48

Would that be inaccurate?

0:22:480:22:49

No.

0:22:490:22:51

It's not inaccurate.

0:22:510:22:53

I just feel that the Women's Village Improvement Society

0:22:530:22:56

is about as far from the wolves of Wall Street as I can imagine.

0:22:560:23:00

I think there is definitely a sense of

0:23:000:23:04

trying to maintain the historical character and the natural beauty,

0:23:040:23:08

and the LVIS is one of those groups who just want to keep it in the way

0:23:080:23:12

it is, and that's why they work so hard.

0:23:120:23:20

15 miles and two stops further east from the pristine Hamptons,

0:23:380:23:42

the Montauk branch of the Long Island

0:23:420:23:45

Railroad reaches its terminus.

0:23:450:23:48

Montauk Point, Appletons' tells me, is the eastern extremity of Long

0:23:480:23:51

Island.

0:23:510:23:54

On it is a lighthouse with a powerful revolving light.

0:23:540:23:57

The village of Montauk, which clings limpet like to be tip

0:23:570:24:01

of Long Island, is popularly nicknamed "The End".

0:24:010:24:06

We've reached the end of the line and the end of the island.

0:24:060:24:11

We've reached the end of the line and the end of the island.

0:24:120:24:16

There is nothing beyond.

0:24:160:24:18

And so we crawl gently to a halt.

0:24:180:24:22

Montauk is a fishing and surfing town.

0:24:220:24:27

Like the Hamptons, it's a popular weekend

0:24:270:24:29

getaway, but it prides itself on being more rustic than chic.

0:24:290:24:34

Its lighthouse, the first built in New

0:24:340:24:37

York State, stands guard over treacherous waters.

0:24:370:24:41

Henry Osmus, local historian and author,

0:24:410:24:45

can explain its significance.

0:24:450:24:47

Henry, such a beautiful lighthouse.

0:24:470:24:50

What is its importance in history?

0:24:500:24:54

Well, when it was built in 1796, the purpose of it was to guide ships

0:24:540:24:58

safely from England and France to New York City.

0:24:580:25:04

Prior to that being built, there had been no lighthouses

0:25:040:25:07

on Long Island at all, so it became very difficult

0:25:070:25:10

for ships navigating these waters.

0:25:100:25:11

And so it came to the years of president George Washington

0:25:110:25:14

and authorisation was passed to build the lighthouse.

0:25:140:25:17

Did it do a good job?

0:25:170:25:19

It did.

0:25:190:25:20

Apparently the number of ships which had mishaps

0:25:200:25:23

dropped dramatically, so this lighthouse did its job very well.

0:25:230:25:27

For the many new arrivals, who hoped to settle in America,

0:25:270:25:30

this light was their first glimpse of their new

0:25:300:25:32

home.

0:25:320:25:34

And, if one man's vision had prevailed, Montauk rather

0:25:340:25:38

than New York City might have been where they

0:25:380:25:40

first set foot in the New World.

0:25:400:25:47

There was a gentleman named Austin Corbin,

0:25:470:25:49

who was the president of the Long Island Railroad

0:25:490:25:53

from the early 1880s until the mid-1890s.

0:25:530:25:59

He had a dream of creating a port of entry in Montauk.

0:25:590:26:02

It was going to be a docking place for transatlantic

0:26:020:26:09

steamers, and they would continue the journey to New York

0:26:090:26:11

by his railroad line and save about five or six hours

0:26:110:26:13

in travel time.

0:26:130:26:14

This idea sounded outlandish to some, but he extended his

0:26:140:26:17

railroad to Montauk in December 1895, and the first

0:26:170:26:19

passenger train officially rolled into Montauk on December 17th.

0:26:190:26:22

But, only six months after that first

0:26:220:26:27

train came into Montauk, Austin Corbin was dead,

0:26:270:26:31

killed in a freak accident.

0:26:310:26:34

Unfortunately, there was no one else with the drive and stamina

0:26:340:26:37

that he had for this project.

0:26:370:26:39

So, officially, by 1900, the idea was considered dead.

0:26:390:26:42

And the dream?

0:26:420:26:44

The dream went with him.

0:26:440:26:51

Had Austin Corbin's plan succeeded, Montauk would have become one

0:26:510:26:53

of the world's busiest ports.

0:26:530:26:57

As it is, it's been left with extraordinary

0:26:570:26:59

serenity.

0:26:590:27:04

Americans have often thought of themselves as exceptional.

0:27:040:27:09

The city on the hill, a new Jerusalem, a country

0:27:090:27:12

with a manifest destiny.

0:27:120:27:16

The perfect natural harbour of New York, with the East River

0:27:160:27:20

protectively flanked by Brooklyn, must have seemed

0:27:200:27:24

like a gift from God.

0:27:240:27:28

And following that logic the beauty of Long Island's

0:27:280:27:30

surf and beaches would merely confirm the limitless blessings

0:27:300:27:33

heaped upon this land and its people.

0:27:330:27:36

Next time, I'm spooked by a famous American ghost story.

0:27:360:27:46

Next time, I'm spooked by a famous American ghost story.

0:27:480:27:51

This sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow.

0:27:510:28:01

I hear a new take on America's greatest turncoat.

0:28:010:28:05

You think that Benedict Arnold was actually an American

0:28:050:28:07

revolutionary hero?

0:28:070:28:09

He was, absolutely.

0:28:090:28:12

Before learning how the American Civil War divided

0:28:120:28:14

the nation.

0:28:140:28:18

Not only is it father against son and brother against brother,

0:28:180:28:21

but it's classmate against classmate.

0:28:210:28:27

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