Dispatches
Fragments of the journey—quick glimpses, fleeting moments, and raw impressions captured before they drift away. Snapshots from the river, in words, images, and sound.
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Welcome to America.
Welcome to America. Apparently, this is the largest cross in the world. Interestingly, I drove by its only stiff competition in Groom, Texas on this trip. As if God is guiding me to the most kitschy and monumental symbols of His faith. #Crosses #ChristianNation #roadsideamerica #illinois #effingham
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Battened Down. Finally.
After 6 years, I finally got tired of all the shantyboat stuff walking all over the place when I drove. #boatrepair #shantyboat
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Big storm over Vandalia, Illinois
Big storm over Vandalia, Illinois #roadtrip #shantyboat #stormacomin
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Accusatory look. I don’t think either Squirlsey or I thought this trip would take six days.
Accusatory look. I don’t think either Squirlsey or I thought this trip would take six days. #AngrySquirrel #RoadTrip #RoadService #CrossCountry
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Middle of the night truckstop shantyboat repair
Middle of the night truckstop epoxy work to repair the damaged hull of the shantyboat. #epoxy #boatrepair #shantyboat #roadtrip
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First real meal of any kind in three days of travel at the Sunnyside Diner in OKC
First real meal of any kind in three days of travel at the Sunnyside Diner in Oklahoma City. I love stumbling upon places like this. Great peeps, good prices, excellent food. #RoadTrip #Diner #OKC
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There are a lot of abandoned places in the American Southwest
There are a lot of abandoned travel service places in the southwest, gas stations, motels, restaurants. Walking around on the weed-shattered, glass-strewn pavement, the sun pouring through dusty windows, hearing no sound but the crickets in the encroaching vegetation has a very post-apocalyptic feel. #RoadTrip #PostApocalyptic #Route66
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Sometimes you move over the same landscape so many times that you get a sense of déjà vu.
Sometimes you move over the same landscape so many times that you get a sense of déjà vu. I’m nearly certain I have taken this exact same photograph before. #shantyboat #Déjàvu #DejaTruckStop
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30 minutes out of my way to Lake Havasu City to someplace that had fiberglass supplies
30 minutes out of my way to Lake Havasu City to someplace that had the fiberglass supplies I needed to repair the boat. #boatrepair #diy #shantyboat
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As if we need additional confirmation that I am an idiot. Let’s be clear…
As if we need additional confirmation that I am a fucking idiot. Let’s be clear, this was not just a crazy unforeseen unfortunate highway event. I am 100% incontrovertibly unarguably and completely responsible. Mistakes were made: 1) I didn’t get the wheel bearings re-greased and repacked as part of our regular maintenance. 2) When I…
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Chuvas Senior gets replacement tire and rim. Junior packs new bearings with marine grease.
Chuvas Senior gets replacement tire and rim. Junior packs new bearings with marine grease. Meanwhile all the old bearings are replaced and repacked. Chuvas told me he had been in King City for 30 years and spoke little English. He moved from Michoacan to Mexico City where he worked 27 years as a mechanic. #roadtrip…
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Literally lost the tire on the trailer while driving to the tire shop.
Fuuuuck. Literally lost the tire on the trailer while driving to the tire shop. And by lost, I mean lost. No where to be found. #TrailerTroubles #RoadRepair #RoadTrip
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Shantyboat Drydock
In early June, we took the shantyboat to the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard to do some work on the hull. This requires us to launch the boat in the harbor, motor to the boat lift, and get pulled out. We spent a long long weekend repairing dings in the hull, replacing the skeg elbows, painting…
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The annual posting of the punch list ceremony has been completed. Almost everything checked off.
The annual posting of the punch list ceremony has been completed. Almost everything checked off. #Punchlist #ToDoList #ToDo #Shantyboat
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Squirlsey getting excited for trip.
Squirlsey getting excited for trip. #squirrels #3leggeddog #ToughAsNails
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Rebuilt and refinished the shantyboat’s 5-year old camp stove. New crackle finish.
Rebuilt and refinished the shantyboat’s 5-year old camp stove. New crackle finish. #diy #boatrepair #shantyboat #tripprep
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New art in the Shantyboat gallery thanks to our supporters
New art in the Shantyboat gallery thanks to our supporters. #shantyboat #artgallery #whitejesus #artinsitu
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Lookin good a few days before we depart
Lookin good a few days before we depart. #shantyboat #boatprep #ComingForYouOhioRiver
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Definitely one of those things that only a boat captain would care about, new hull numbers
Shantyboat paint! You know you’ve made the right decision when you are done and it looks like it should always have been this way. #shantyboat #diy #boatrepair Definitely one of those things that only a boat captain would care about, new hull numbers. Six years ago when I went to the department of motor vehicles…
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There is something strangely comforting about auto shops
There is something strangely comforting about hanging around an auto shop that comes of much practice with this project. Perhaps it is the comfort of knowing that whatever problems you may be experiencing, you are in mostly competent hands. #AutoShop #Shantyboat #SecretHistory #RoadRepairs
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Secret History at Santa Cruz Ebb & Flow
Thanks to friends who hung out with us and sent us photos of the shantyboat at Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival at the Tannery in Santa Cruz. Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival is a celebration of our local San Lorenzo River and brings together artists from all over the county. The work of…
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Important work before we put the boat in the water
Important work before we put the boat in the water. Thanks to Jess for coming by to help. #boatrepair
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Always disconcerting to see a 7000 pound boat hanging in the middle of the air.
Always disconcerting to see a 7000 pound boat hanging in the middle of the air. #boatrepair #drydock
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Jefe supervising the workers.
Jefe supervising the workers. #boatrepair #diy #shantyboat #UnionMandatedCoffeeBreak Jefe supervising the workers. #boatrepair #diy #shantyboat #UnionMandatedCoffeeBreak
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Replacing frayed keel knuckles. Easier than we feared.
Replacing frayed keel knuckles. Easier than we feared. #diy #boatrepair #skegs
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Benzy paints the underside of the shantyboat trailer.
Benzy paints the underside of the shantyboat trailer. #boatrepair #boattrailer #shantyboat
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Jeremiah painting under the boat.
Jeremiah painting under the boat. #secrethistory #shantyboat #boatrepair #hullpaint Jeremiah painting under the boat. #secrethistory #shantyboat #boatrepair #hullpaint
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Stressful fiberglass work today here at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard. Lots of big things got done.
Stressful fiberglass work today here at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard. Lots of big things got done. #FiberglassTheTickingTimeBomb #Shantyboat #BoatRepair #DIY
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Filthy filthy Jeremiah who has spent the entire day on his back underneath the boat sanding the hull.
Filthy filthy Jeremiah who has spent the entire day on his back underneath the boat sanding the hull. #ToxinsAreFun #BoatRepair #DIY #Shantyboat #SecretHistory
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Want to help? We will be at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard all weekend and there are many jobs
Want to help? We will be at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard all weekend and there are many jobs to do. Beer is available. If you just want to hangout though, another time is probably better. #boatrepair #shantyboat #secrethistory
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This weekend the shantyboat is in drydock to do some needed repairs. We put Dottie into the ocean for the
This weekend the shantyboat is in drydock to do some needed repairs. We put Dottie into the ocean for the first time in two years to bring it to the lift which pulled us out of the water. #shantyboat #secrethistory #harbor #drydock
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The Secret History Crisis Cam. Thanks for the fundraiser support that will enable us to capture moments of terror.
The Secret History Crisis Cam. Thanks for the fundraiser support that will enable us to capture moments of terror. #shantyboat #secrethistory #crisiscam
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Flatboatmen of the Frontier 1941 Ohio River Valley Documentary
Enjoy this charming (and educational) 1941 documentary covers the process of producing wooden flatboats for use on the Ohio River
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Ohio River: Young Man River 1965 US Army Corps of Engineers
An amazing mid-century educational film by the US Army Corps of Engineers
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A push to remove the homeless from the American River
To follow up on our visit to the American River on our 2017 summer fieldwork, you may remember that we interviewed Bar who lived along the river. While we were in Sacramento, we explored the American River north of town. One evening, we camped near a fellow in a neat temp compound a short walk…
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Old photo of the shantyboat on the Tennessee River
Old photo of the shantyboat on the Tennessee River
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Jeremiah and the ordered chaos of the shantyboat mid-journey
Jeremiah and the ordered chaos of the shantyboat mid-journey. Photo by Paul Abitabile
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I made it home safe and sound to the hills above Santa Cruz
I made it home safe and sound to the hills above Santa Cruz after the longest drive of my life: 3200 miles solo over 5 days towing the shantyboat. Nice to see Benzy again. Time for whiskey #shantyboat #roadtrip #longdrive #audiobooks #homeagain
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Hagan, who is 5, was very taken with the shantyboat
Hagan, who is 5, was very taken with the shantyboat and made this in art class #shantyboat #shantyart #artclass #5yoartist #collage #almost6
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There is something so beautiful and surreal about truck stops
There is something so beautiful and surreal about truck stops, a post-apocalyptic Terminator trainyard aesthetic. I used to really hate this kind of urban desolation, until one early morning while train hopping sitting on a curb stop in a dismal mini-mall parking lot waiting for a coffee shop to open I experienced a profound “flip,”…
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The friendly people in the diner insisted I sign the wall
The friendly people in the diner insisted I sign the wall #Diners #Missouri #Ozarks #Shantyboat
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Uh oh. I haven’t had to worry about these tires ever since the good folks Predator Trailer in Omaha replace the trailer suspension, axles, wheels, and tires
Uh oh. I haven’t had to worry about these tires ever since the good folks Predator Trailer in Omaha replace the trailer suspension, axles, wheels, and tires. #shantyboat #tires #trailers
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All the way across the country I am passing up Waffle House
All the way across the country I am passing up Waffle House because of a string of racist incidents where staff are calling the cops on Black people because they don’t like their attitude. @wafflehouseofficial #shantyboat #witeppl #bbqbecky #PermitPatty #BreakfastWhileBlack #blm #BlackLivesMatter #Racism #fuckwafflehouse @wafflehouse
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The Back Rhodes Diner (aka Faye’s Diner), where all the old dudes hang out for their morning coffee and breakfast
The Back Rhodes Diner (aka Faye’s Diner), where all the old dudes hang out for their morning coffee and breakfast, where the delicious signature breakfast is a biscuit, egg, and sausage sandwich smothered in gravy, is located at the edge of the Ozark mountains in southern Missouri #Shantyboat #Ozarks #Missouri #OpenSpaces #Hillbillies #Okies
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People often ask us where we stay while we’re on the road. Answer: wherever we damn well please. Truck stops, parking lots, flat areas alongside the road, wherever
People often ask us where we stay while we’re on the road. Answer: wherever we damn well please. Truck stops, parking lots, flat areas alongside the road, wherever. We are like the turtle who carries his house on his back. As long as we don’t mind living in the chaos that bumping down the road…
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Going through the Appalachian Mountains in Delaware it is rainy AF
Going through the Appalachian Mountains in Delaware it is rainy AF. That’s fun and all, until I go to sleep and find that our sleeping loft in the Shantyboat is completely saturated #Appalachian #RainPacalypse #Driving #Delaware [Edit: Appalachians in Delaware?? Maybe Maryland coming out of New Jersey.]
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The shantyboat trailer started its life with me as part of the Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet fleet
The shantyboat trailer started its life with me as part of the Costco Soulmate Trading Outlet fleet. Even here in 2001, it provided opportunities to stop and see new places that I might have driven through #roadsideservice #ruralnewjersey #trailers #csto
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This is a familiar scene going all the way back to 1999 my first year owning this trailer
This is a familiar scene going all the way back to 1999 my first year owning this trailer #trailerrepair #shantyboat #roadservice #newjersey
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Old friend Seanix and his brood put me up in a soft bed in their Colonial farm house for the night after a day of crazy
Old friend Seanix and his brood put me up in a soft bed in their Colonial farm house for the night after a day of crazy #oldfriends #humansofnewjersey #GradeSchoolersWithShovels
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Should I worry? By truckers now have app audio for this was “in 3.1 miles, enter tunnel and enter tunnel. Then enter tunnel and enter tunnel”
Should I worry? By truckers now have app audio for this was “in 3.1 miles, enter tunnel and enter tunnel. Then enter tunnel and enter tunnel” repeated every half mile. #DrivingInNYCWithA45FootLongRig
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Sweet fucking Jesus H Christ. Driving along the expressway into the Bronx across The Whitestone Bridge when suddenly truck and trailer go squirrley
Sweet fucking Jesus H Christ. Driving along the expressway into the Bronx across The Whitestone Bridge when suddenly truck and trailer go squirrley and the shantyboat overtakes the truck and bashes against the tailgate before pitching violently forward. Do an immediate oh shit stop. What the fucking hell just happened? Cars swerving around me I…
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Rafting up with the Captain D to say hey
Rafting up with the Captain D to say hey #Tugboat #Shantyboat #NYC #FlushingBay
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College Point barge ruins
College Point barge ruins #nyc #beautifuldecay #collegepoint #nycboatride #flushingbay #Shantyboat
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Prison barge across from Rikers Island
Prison barge across from Rikers Island #Shantyboat #firetotheprisons #carceralstate
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Looking back through Hell Gate. Not so hellish at slack tide with a favorable wind. Onward to Flushing Bay
Looking back through Hell Gate. Not so hellish at slack tide with a favorable wind. Onward to Flushing Bay #Shantyboat #bronx #queens #nyc #hellgate
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Our time on the Hudson River and in New York City draws to a close
Our time on the Hudson River and in New York City draws to a close. Today we are piloting the Shantyboat up the East River, through Hell Gate, to Flushing Bay where we will trailer the boat at the Worlds Fair Marina. Then begins the next phase of the adventure, a 3000 mile drive towing…
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Interview with David Sharps director of the Waterfront Museum on the Lehigh Valley No. 79, one of the last wooden railroad barges
Interview with David Sharps director of the Waterfront Museum on the Lehigh Valley No. 79, one of the last wooden railroad barges. We talked about his career as a juggler, clown, and performer and later as a barge owner #Shantyboatweekend! #Interview #SecretHistory #WoodenBarge #LehighValley #Brooklyn #RedHook #WaterfrontMuseum #NewYorkHarbor #NYC
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The beautiful chaos of Katz’s Delicatessen
The beautiful chaos of Katz’s Delicatessen #nyc #eastvillage #lowereastside #manhattan
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Manhattan exhibit packed up with the help of fellow Mariner Ron
Manhattan exhibit packed up with the help of fellow Mariner Ron #ArtShow #Manhattan #NYC #Shantyboat
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Officer Martinez stopped me after I cross Williamsburg Bridge to remind me with the summons that in New York one cannot hold their cell phone
Officer Martinez stopped me after I cross Williamsburg Bridge to remind me with the summons that in New York one cannot hold their cell phone #NYC #Enforcement #NotGuilty
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When your houseboat is at low tide far below the top of the bulkhead and you need to bring up the heavy media kit
When your houseboat is at low tide far below the top of the bulkhead and you need to bring up the heavy media kit #mcgyver #shantyboat #PulaskiBridge #NewtownCreek #Brooklyn #Greenpoint #NYC
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Chicken Shit Bingo at the Bushwick City Farm
Chicken Shit Bingo at the Bushwick City Farm #bushwick #brooklyn #nyc #Shantyboat
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In case you were wondering if they were any traces of old Brooklyn still existing…
In case you were wondering if they were any traces of old Brooklyn still existing… The elevated moves over Bushwick #Brooklyn #NYC #ILoveNY #ElTrain #Bushwick #Shantyboat
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For years friends have been telling me “You’d fit in great in New York.”
For years friends have been telling me “You’d fit in great in New York.” No doubt thinking of my curtness and impatience. I was looking forward to that. While the city didn’t disappoint for authentic and mind-blowing streetscapes, New York City totally let me down in terms of the legendary rudness of New Yorkers.When a…
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I hope I don’t ever become accustomed to New York City streets
I hope I don’t ever become accustomed to New York City streets. The mix of beauty and ugly, old and new, historic and churn is always invigorating. Little Zelda in Crown Heights #Shantyboat #NYC #Brooklyn #CrownHeights #FranklinAve #iloveny
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Swale: a floating food forest, a project by @marymattingly that I wanted to see but accidentally ran into at Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army Terminal
Swale: a floating food forest, a project by @marymattingly that I wanted to see but accidentally ran into at Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army Terminal #shantyboat #foodforest #barges #brooklyn #nyc #nywaterways
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Considering that a combined sewage outflow can be triggered on Newtown Creek by 1/10 of an inch of rain, perhaps this isn’t the day for a swim in the creek
Considering that a combined sewage outflow can be triggered on Newtown Creek by 1/10 of an inch of rain, perhaps this isn’t the day for a swim in the creek #cso #rawsewage #waterquality #shantyboat #newtowncreek #brooklyn #queens #nyc
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Marie Lorenz talks about her experience padding the entire 520 miles of the Erie Canal in 2016
Marie Lorenz talks about her experience padding the entire 520 miles of the Erie Canal in 2016 joined by musician Chris Bell at Red Hook’s Waterfront Museum #eriecanal #brooklyn #redhook @lorenzmarie
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Hard to get tired of this view
Hard to get tired of this view. #shantyboat #nyc #brooklyn #queens #newtowncreek
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Aboard the Mary A Walen, Carolina and Robert show me around the incredible galley, the engine room and on deck
Aboard the Mary A Walen, Carolina and Robert show me around the incredible galley, the engine room and on deck. #Shantyboat #MaryWhalen #NewYorkHarbor #Brooklyn #Redhook #NYC
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So excited to finally visit the Mary A Whalen but alas all the hands may have been swept out to sea
So excited to finally visit the Mary A Whalen but alas all the hands may have been swept out to sea #MaryWhalen #portsideny #shantyboat
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T. Willis Elkins of the Newtown Creek Alliance takes water samples and measurements of temperature, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity in more than a half dozen places on Newtown Creek
T. Willis Elkins of the Newtown Creek Alliance takes water samples and measurements of temperature, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity in more than a half dozen places on Newtown Creek #newtowncreek #Shantyboat #Brooklyn #Greenpoint #NYC
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Dutch Kills off of Newtown Creek on a sampling expedition with T. Willis Elkins
Dutch Kills off of Newtown Creek on a sampling expedition with T. Willis Elkins. #DutchKills #NewtownCreek #Queens #Brooklyn #NYC #Shantyboat
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The marina of broken dreams
The marina of broken dreams #docks #pilings #newtowncreek #brooklyn #nyc
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In the wilds of Brooklyn, in a land of artists’ studios and light industrial garages, the Schamonchi serves as a floating community center at the end of Newtown Creek
In the wilds of Brooklyn, in a land of artists’ studios and light industrial garages, the Schamonchi serves as a floating community center at the end of Newtown Creek #Shantyboat #CommunitySpaces #BlueAnarchy #Brooklyn #NYC
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Passing tow Mister Jim on Newtown Creek
Passing tow Mister Jim on Newtown Creek #Shantyboat #tugboat #Barges #NewtownCreek #Brooklyn #Greenpoint #NYC
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Like a lot of NYC waterways, Newtown Creek is cleaner than it has been in the last 150 years, but dirtier than it should be
Like a lot of NYC waterways, Newtown Creek is cleaner than it has been in the last 150 years, but dirtier than it should be. NYC like a lot of towns up and down the Hudson has a “combined system,” meaning that the sewer and the street runoff go into the same system to be…
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The Thing in Greenpoint Brooklyn where literally millions of unsorted records await you
The Thing in Greenpoint Brooklyn where literally millions of unsorted records await you #recordstore #treasurehunt #needleinahaystack #brooklyn #greenpoint #nyc
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Josephine, Bella and Eric in the West Village who used to live in California and have traveled everywhere
Josephine, Bella and Eric in the West Village who used to live in California and have traveled everywhere #WestVillage #Manhattan #NYC
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Crif Dogs in the East Village where if you give the right password on the telephone in the booth, you slide into a hidden speakeasy
Crif Dogs in the East Village where if you give the right password on the telephone in the booth, you slide into a hidden speakeasy #EastVillage Manhattan #NYC
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Melvins Juice Box / Rum Bar – detox / retox
Melvins Juice Box / Rum Bar – detox / retox #Manhattan #EastVillage##Manhattan #EastVillage #nyc
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Stefania is holding down the bar at The Library
Stefania is holding down the bar at The Library, a place we accidentally ran into that a random stranger in Queens told us to visit just yesterday. #2018bartour #LowerEastSide #EastVillage #NYC @stefaniahatesbrunch
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Entrance to the 1920s speakeasy the Back Room on the lower Eastside
Entrance to the 1920s speakeasy the Back Room on the lower Eastside #Speakeasy #Shantyboat #NYC #Manhattan
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Taking a second look at the WhiteBox exhibition
Taking a second look at the WhiteBox exhibition #shantyboat #artshow #exhibition #lowereastside #manhattan #socialpractice #nyc
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@gooddoghazel is gonna own this city
@gooddoghazel is gonna own this city #shantyboat #dogsofnewyork #cattledogsofnewyork
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Jackson’s Deli in Long Island City, Queens and the 7 Train
Jackson’s Deli in Long Island City, Queens and the 7 Train #LIC #Queens #NYC #deli
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Talking to Jeanette in LIC, Queens about everything…
Talking to Jeanette in LIC, Queens about everything including colloquial expressions, dive bars, traveling, gentrification, writing, finding ones balance, and coming around full circle. #shantyboat #streetmeetings #strangerstories #queens #LIC #NYC
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Want to check out the Secret History shantyboat? We will be showing it at the North Brooklyn Boat Club
Want to check out the Secret History shantyboat? We will be showing it at the North Brooklyn Boat Club open house (of which we are members!) Tue Jul 31st 4-7pm. 51 Ash St, Greenpoint Brooklyn. We’d love to see you.
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Join us tonight for a Secret History lecture and Q&A at the historic Sunview Luncheonette
Hey friends, come join us tonight July 29th for a Secret History lecture and Q&A at the historic Sunview Luncheonette (and collaborative art space) 6 to 9pm at 221 Nassau Ave Greenpoint. Potluck and BYOB to share. #shantyboat #greenpoint #brooklyn #arttalk #nyc