I just happened to stumble across this museum on the way back from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw that they were having an exhibition entitled “A Wonder to Behold: Craftsmanship and the Creation of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate”. The exhibition is on the craftsman who created the ‘Ishtar Gate’ and the ‘Processional Way’ in the Ancient City of Babylon.
Glazed brick art from the ‘Processional Way’
The small exhibition contains many examples of clay bricks that were used to build the decorative walls and pathways, artwork from the ‘Processional Way’ were displayed as well as smaller decorative art pieces from the time period.
Some of the works in the exhibition
The exhibition also showed tablets from the time period, information on the digs on the site of Babylon and some of the recorded history of the civilization.
There are interesting tablets on display
For two small rooms of gallery space, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World covers a lot of information on the time period. One nice thing about the museum is that you can see the whole exhibit in less than an hour and they do have a very nice gift shop.
The History of the Museum:
The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World is a center for advanced scholarly research and graduate education, which aims to encourage particularly the study of the economic, religious, political and cultural connections between ancient civilizations. It offers both doctoral and postdoctoral programs with the aim of training a new generation of scholars who will enter the global academic community and become intellectual leaders.
In effort to embrace a truly inclusive geographical scope while maintaining continuity and coherence, the Institute focuses on the shared and overlapping periods in the development of cultures and civilizations around the Mediterranean basin and across central Asia to the Pacific Ocean. The approaches of anthropology, archaeology, geography, geology, history, economics, sociology, art history, digital humanities and the history of science and technology are as integral to the enterprise as the study of texts, philosophy and the analysis of artifacts. The Institute’s Director and permanent faculty determine particular directions of research but both historical connections and patterns as well as socially illuminating comparisons will always be central to its mission.
The public presence matches its vision, engaging both the public and scholars worldwide in the work and findings of its scholarly community. Exhibitions, public lectures, publications, digital resources and other programs reflect the Institute’s ideal of study that bridges disciplines and ancient peoples.
The creation of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University has its roots in the passion that Shelby White and Leon Levy had for the art and history of the ancient world, which led them to envision an Institute that would offer an unshuttered view of antiquity across vast stretches of time and place. It was founded in 2006 with funding from the Leon Levy Foundation.
Areas of specialty among the museum’s faculty include the Greco-Roman world, the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Central Asia and the Silk Road, East Asian art and archaeology, Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, ancient science and digital humanities.
Disclaimer: This information was taken from the museum’s website and I give them full credit for it.
A trip to the Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-the-Hudson is an interesting step back into the Colonial history of this country. During the summer, there is an interesting walking tour of the home offered usually from the end of July to Labor Day. Then the house is closed to prepare for the huge ‘Pumpkin Blaze’ during the months of October and November and then the house is shut down until the spring.
The house tour is interesting because it shows the home as a working farm and place of commerce for the family. This was not a weekend home for the family working in the City but crops being grown for shipping, vibrant gardens that supplied the house and a small tavern for travelers along the Albany Post Road as well as a place for shipping goods down the rivers.
Van Cortlandt Manor
The home is furnished in the most modern furnishings of the time and you can see how the house reflected the needs of the family at that time. It was more of a home than a luxurious place to entertain. The furnishes are practical, very in fashion of the time and nicely decorated.
The Dining Room
The tour of the kitchens and storage areas show that even in what was the modern era was not such easy living without servants. The estate was somewhat self-contained with animals and provisions being raised on the land and there is even an area where fabric such as flax and cotton where spun and made into clothing.
The kitchen dining area
The upstairs bedrooms show that the linens were under lock and key even with the servants and that the rooms were well-appointed and comfortable. A lot of the family heirlooms still reside in the house and it gives you a perfect look at what life must have been like when the family lived here.
Don’t miss the gardens as well. Some have been over-grown because of the lack of volunteers but still you can see the beauty of the flowers and trees around the house. The house sits right on the cross between the Croton and Hudson rivers and even though it is now grown in, you can see that the house stood at one of the busiest sections of Upstate commerce.
As of 2026, the home is still under renovation and is still not open for inside tours.
The Pumpkin Blaze-Hudson Valley Historical Association:
During the months of Halloween, there are thousands of pumpkins that line the walks and beautiful displays to see along the paths of the estate and the river. This event is sponsored by the Hudson Valley Historical Association and is one of their biggest fundraisers. Don’t miss this annual event every fall.
The Blaze is amazing!
The Pumpkin Blaze in 2019:
Some pictures from the MoMA Pumpkin Museum:
Their version of “The Scream”:
The Van Cortlandt Manor ablaze with lights and sounds
Justin Watrel at the Pumpkin Blaze
My Aunt and I at the Pumpkin Blaze in 2019
The Pumpkin Blaze in 2022:
Entering the Pumpkin Blaze in 2022
Pumpkins greeting you in all shapes and sizes
The Pumpkin Planetarium at the Pumpkin Blaze
My video walking inside
Pumpkin Bee Hive
The “Terror Zee Bridge” at the Pumpkin Blaze
The Pumpkin Carousel
My video on the Carousel
The Pumpkin Fire Services
The Headless Horseman is the theme of many October festivals in the Hudson River Valley
The Pumpkin Blaze in 2026:
The Blaze this year I noticed had less carved pumpkins and more props which led me to believe they have less people to carve pumpkins. Still there were a lot of new displays and new music. Here are some of the things I saw on the Blaze in 2026:
Arriving at the Blaze the weekend before Halloween
I noticed one thing about the Blaze and that is the crowds are much bigger before Halloween than after and the weather is much warmer. When I got there, it was 60 degrees and sunny. When I left at 9:30pm, it was 40 degrees. Quite the drop, so always dress warmly.
The entrance to the Blaze in 2026
The entrance to the Blaze
The shoe has gotten very popular over the years and the crowd was really big when I got there at 8:00pm. All the times from 8:00pm and before were completely sold out.
The dancing Skelatons
The video on the Skelatons
I walked through the exhibition and the carved pumpkins are mostly in this part of the display. After I left this area, it was mostly props.
The carved pumpkins on display
My favorite pumpkin of 2026
The pumpkins lining the entrance to the inside of the Blaze
Some of the pumpkins were really creative
I thought this was very clever
The inside of the Blaze at night
This clever owl was part of the new displays in 2026
My video of the owl
The octopus was new
So was this octopus
The way they lit the grounds was colorful and eerie
The birthday cake was new
The trick or treaters were new and I thought very clever
The Wizard of Oz display
Van Cortlandt Manor was a disco dance that evening. This was led by a pumpkin DJ
My video on the dance
The Pumpkin DJ
My video on the Pumpkin DJ
I thought this was very clever. The music was a lot of fun and people really got into it. There were a lot of lights and sounds.
The Blaze from a distance in 2026
The Headless Horsemen Bridge kept with the theme of the event
The Headless Horseman at the other side of the bridge
Ghosts and ghouls and gravestones lined the paths
The carved pumpkins stare at you as you leave for the evening
The pumpkins staring and saying goodbye at the end of the Blaze
If you dare!
The family displays to take pictures at the end of the Blaze
The ever popular gift shop which raises money for these much needed sites
The annual Pumpkin Blaze takes place each year from the first weekend in October until the second weekend in November. Trust me I have gone many years on the last night of the Blaze and it gets cold by that weekend so plan the visit accordingly.
It is also always busier before Halloween so if you want good picture taking, plan to go after Halloween and late in the evening. On the 9:00pm time slot, you get great pictures.
The event raises money for the upkeep and maintenance of all the organization’s sites. I wonder if the Van Cortlandt’s ever thought a hundred years ago that this would go on at their home?
The History of the Van Cortlandt Manor:
(from the museum site website)
By Royal Charter, Van Cortlandt Manor was originally a 86,000 acre tract granted as a patent to Stephanus Van Cortlandt in 1697 by King William III, stretching from the Hudson River on the west to the first boundary line between the Province of New York and the Colony of Connecticut, on the east, twenty English miles in length by ten miles in width in shape nearly a rectangular parallelogram forming, “The Manor of Cortlandt”.
The massive holding was acquired by direct purchase from the Indians, in part by Stephanus van Cortlandt, a native born Dutch gentleman of New York and in part by others whose titles he subsequently bought, this tract together with a small tract on the west side of the Hudson River opposite the promontory of Anthony’s Nose, which he also purchased from the Indians.
The Manor House was built sometime before 1732 but was not any owner’s principal residence until a grandson, Pierre Van Cortlandt, moved there in 1749. At the time the manor house was on a 1000 acre portion of the original tract.
Pierre brought his family to the estate in 1749 and established the manor into it most vibrant days, according to some. During this period, the manor was operating an apple orchard, dairy farm, a bee house, a kiln, a tavern and a carpenter and blacksmith shops. Van Cortlandt Manor was a self-sustaining community while Pierre and his family resided in the estate. At this time, tensions leading to the Revolutionary War were building and the manor would become a place of wartime retreat.
Pierre sided with the colonies and the manor was used to assist the Continental Army, using its resources to make food and supplies. Pierre was involved with military legislature and his son Philip was a soldier for the Continental Army. Eventually Pierre and his family vacated the manor in the thick of war. The manor was ransacked by the British Army and left in poor standing. Philip, becoming a brigadier general by the war’s end, returned and along with his sister, Catherine, brought the manor back to working order.
Van Cortlandt Manor became an essential stop on the route from New York to Albany in the years that followed the war. The mills were once again thriving and provided the community and travelers with food, supplies and lodging. Pierre and his wife did not return until 1803 once the manor was in full working order again. The manor was passed down in the family until it was sold to a non-relative, Otis Taylor in 1945. By this time, the property had lost its luster and was not the flourishing estate it had once been.
In 1953, John D. Rockefeller Jr. purchased the property and began restoring the manor to previous prominence. In 1961, Van Cortlandt Manor became registered as a National Historic Landmark.
Disclaimer: This information on the history of the house was provided by Wiki and I give them full credit on the information.
Places locally to eat before the Blaze:
Located in the ShopRite Mall next to the Blaze:
The inside of Dong Happy Gardens
The food at Dong Happy Gardens in the Shoprite Mall is excellent and you can sit down in the restaurant. It is the perfect place for lunch or dinner before or after the Blaze. Their Lo Mein and General Tso’s Chicken are excellent. On this trip, I had the Chicken and String beans with an egg roll. Please read my reviews on TripAdvisor.
I recently visited the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum for the first time. I can’t believe that all those years visiting the Met just down the road I had never stopped in the museum to take a peak. I went into see the “Nature-Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial” exhibition that was showing on all three floors of the museum. It was an interesting look on how nature plays a role in design and there is a beauty in the unusual shapes and colors that nature provides us.
Third Floor studio
The first floor was composed of design found in nature. You will see blood samples that move and shiver, electric movements and the role of it in nature and how plants and animals can be shown in simplest terms. On the second floor, you will see the prints in clothing and in home décor and see how color and design enhance beauty in an every day environment. The third floor will show more home décor and design objects.
The First Floor Elements
What is unique about the museum is how the mansion was converted into display areas and the use of the interior was blended into fabric of the museum. Take time to look at the areas around the staircases to admire the ceiling and the walls. It must have been a very grand home in its day.
The stairs of the mansion
Purpose of the Museum:
The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum located in the Upper East side’s Museum Mile in Manhattan. It is the only museum in the United States devoted to historical and contemporary design. Its collections and exhibitions explore approximately 240 years of design aesthetic and creativity. In June 2014, the museum changed its name from Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and reopened to the public that December (Wiki).
History of the Museum: (Provided by Wiki)
The Cooper-Hewitt Museum was founded in 1896. It was originally named Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration and it fell under the wing of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In 1895, the granddaughters of Peter Cooper, Sarah Cooper Hewitt, Eleanor Garnier Hewitt and Amy Hewitt Green, asked the Cooper Union for a space to create a Museum for the Arts of Decoration. The museum would take its inspiration from the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. The museum would serve as a place for Cooper Union students and professional designers to study decorative arts collections. Cooper Union trustees provided the fourth floor of the Foundation Building. It opened in 1897. It was free and open three days a week (Wiki).
The museum and the art school started to distance themselves from on another in regards to programming. Other departments of the Cooper Union were making financial demands and the Cooper Union announced that they would close the museum. This led to the museum being closed on July 3, 1963. Public outcry was strong against the closing. A committee to Save the Cooper Union Museum was formed by Henry Francis Du Pont (Wiki).
The American Association of Museums developed a case study about the future of the museum. Negotiations then began between the Cooper Union and the Smithsonian Institution. On October 9, 1967, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley and Daniel Maggin, the chair of the Board of Trustees signed an agreement turning over the collection and library of the museum to the Smithsonian. On May 14, 1968, the New York Supreme Court transferred to the Smithsonian and the museum was renamed the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design. The following year, 1969, it was renamed as the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. In October of that year, Lisa Taylor became the Director (Wiki).
The museum, which was the first Smithsonian museum outside of Washington DC, moved to its home at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in 1970. The Mansion was renovated and the museum opened to the public on October 7, 1976 with the exhibition “Man transFORMs”. A conservation laboratory was opened in July 1978. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation funded the lab and it focuses on textile and paper conversation. Lisa Taylor retired in 1987 and in 1988 Dianne H. Pilgrim took her place as Director. In 1994, the museum’s name was changed again to Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Pilgrim retired from the museum in 2000. In 2000, Paul W. Thompson became Director. On June 17, 2014, the museum’s name was changed again to Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. A new graphic identity, wordmark and new website was launched on this day. This identity was designed by Eddie Opara (Wiki).
The building is located in the Andrew Carnegie Mansion. The Georgian style mansion was built over the course of years 1899 to 1902 and has sixty rooms. The home served as not only the home for Andrew Carnegie, his wife and daughter but also as his office for his philanthropic work after his retirement. The mansion was designed by Babb, Cook & Willard. It was the first private residence in the United States to have a structural steel frame. It was the first home in New York to have an Otis elevator (Wiki).
I visited the Jewish Museum for the first time this week to see the Leonard Cohen exhibition which had gotten good review online ( I had never heard of him before). It was a combination of video and pictures. The videos were on concerts, interviews, poetry readings and documentaries on his life.
The Leonard Cohen exhibition
After seeing his videos on each floor, which was nice because there were bean bags all over the galleries, I visited the other galleries. There was an gallery dedicated to Jewish religious symbols, Contemporary Jewish Artists and items by Jewish craftsman.
The one gallery that I thought was quite amusing was the depictions of Jews on TV and how stereotypes play a role in comedy. It had everyone in the gallery laughing their heads off. It is good when you can laugh at yourself.
There is some interesting silver works from the Eighteen century on exhibition and the contemporary works were very lively. The museum is not that big so you can visit all the galleries in one afternoon. There is also a branch of Russ & Daughters in the basement level that is very popular with visitors.
The music gallery of the Leonard Cohen exhibition
History of the Jewish Museum:
The Collection that seeded the museum began with a gift of Jewish ceremonial art objects from Judge Mayer Sulzberger to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America on January 20, 1904, where it was housed in the seminary’s library. The collection was moved in 1931, with the Seminary to 122nd Street and Broadway. The Jewish Theological received over 400 Jewish ceremonial items and created. The Museum of Jewish Ceremonial Objects’, previously the Jacob Schiff Library. The collection was subsequently expanded by major donation from Hadji Ephrain Benquiat and Harry G. Friedman. In 1939, in light of WWII, Poland sent about 350 objects to New York City from homes and synagogues in order to preserve them.
Following Felix Warburg’s death in 1937, in January 1944 his widow Frieda donated the family mansion to the seminary as a permanent home for the museum and the site opened to the public as “The Jewish Museum” in May 1947. Frieda Warburg said at the opening that the museum would not be a somber memorial but rather a celebration of the Jewish faith and traditions. The first expansive of the museum was the addition of a sculpture garden in 1959 by Adam List. The building was expanded in 1963 and further by architect Kevin Roche in 1993.
In the 1960’s, the museum took a more active role in the general world of contemporary art with exhibitions such as Primary Structures, which helped to launch the Minimalist art movement. In the decades since, the museum has had a renewed focus on Jewish culture and Jewish artists. From 1990 through 1993, director Joan Rosenbaum led the project to renovate and expand the building and carry out the museum’s first major capital campaign of sixty million. The project designed by architect Kevin Roche, doubled the side of the museum, providing it with a seven story addition. In 1992, the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center teamed up to create the New York Jewish Film Festival, which presents narrative features, short films and documentaries.
Contemporary art galleries
Today, the museum also provides educational programs for adults and families organizing concerts, films, symposiums and lectures related to its exhibitions. In 2011, the museum named Claudia Gould as its new director.
The Warburg Mansion
Architecture:
Felix M. Warburg House was constructed in Francois I style in 1906-1908 for Felix and Frieda Warburg, designed by C.P.H. Gilbert. Francois I style was originally found in New York City in the late 19th century through the works of Richard Morris Hunt. Hunt was a renowned architect throughout the Northeast, particularly in New England and was one of the first American architects to study at the elite Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
The original house is built in limestone with mansard roofs, dripping moldings and gables. This architectural style was based on French revivalism and exuded wealth, a point which Felix Warburg wanted to make to his neighbors. It featured a green yard in front of the house, which was later converted into the museum’s entrance.
Disclaimer: This information was taken from the Wiki story on The Jewish Museum and I give the site full credit for it.)
