Hotel 46-NYC 9-11 Memorial

 Hotel 46-NYC 9/11 Memorial

No visit to New York City would be complete without a visit to the 9/11 Memorial.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed 2,977 people. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six, is also a focus of the museum as it was an act of terrorism as well. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks.  The museum is operated by a non-profit organization and is funded by donations and ticket sales. 

A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and destruction of the World Trade Center for the victims and those involved in rescue and recovery operations. Israeli-American architect, Michael Arad, worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design. They created a forest of swamp white oak trees with two square reflecting pools in the center marking where the Twin Towers stood. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation was renamed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2007.

A dedication ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks was held at the memorial on September 11, 2011, and it opened to the public the following day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014.

The reflection ponds are the same size as the base of the towers.  We were actually surprised by the size- they were smaller than we expected.

Lisa is standing in front of the South Reflection Pool with the One World Trade Center in the background.  The new tower opened in 2014 to replace the Twin Towers. 

One World Trade Center as seen from the Hudson River.

Lisa is standing near St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church with the One World Trade Center in background.

The Koenig Sphere stood as a symbol of World Peace between the Towers in the Austin J Tobin Plaza.  It was recovered largely intact among the ruins following the attack. Though never restored, it was installed at Liberty Park in 2017 as a memorial.

The antennae on the top of WTC 1 is 1776 feet.  It is always lit up in red, white and blue.

This is the last known photo of the New York City Skyline taken by a tourist minutes prior to the first tower being hit.  This is in the entrance of the 9/11 Museum.  The museum is actually underground at Liberty Park.  It wraps around the bottom of the reflection pools and encompasses the slurry wall of the original Towers.

 

The last beam to be removed from Ground Zero shows notes marked on the beam by first responders during the recovery process. Later people left notes and messages in tribute to the first responders lost.

The plaque that was installed during the dedication of the Towers in 1973 was recovered.

The above steel beams stood two floors high at the museum.  All of the beams were numbered for construction purposes prior to being installed.  They were able to identify exactly where these beams were located in the Tower. based on the inscribed numbers. The beams above were the point of impact as the plane crashed into the North Tower. 

The Survivors' Staircase was the last visible remaining original structure above ground level at the World Trade Center site. It was originally an outdoor flight of granite-clad stairs and two escalators which connected Vesey Street to the World Trade Center's Austin J. Tobin Plaza. During the September 11 attacks, the stairs served as an escape route for hundreds of evacuees from 5 World Trade Center, a 9-floor building adjacent to the Twin Towers.

This was a section of the Antennae from the North Tower.  The North Tower had the antennae and the Windows of the World Observation Restaurant on its top floor.  The top floor of the South tower had the Observation Deck.

This elevator motor, the largest model in the world, powered one of the express or service elevators which moved at a speed of 1600 feet/minute.  A total of 99 motors operated the elevator system in each tower.

 New York City Fire Department Ladder Company 3 was ironically created on September 11, 1865, and is one of New York’s oldest ladder companies.

During the September 11 attacks, the company reported to the North Tower of the World Trade Center. As the time of the attacks coincided with the morning tour change, both tours remained on duty, and the company arrived at the World Trade Center carrying more men than usual. Captain Patrick J. Brown and his men were last known to be on the 35th floor of the tower before the North Tower collapsed. Ladder Company 3 received some of the heaviest casualties of any fire company in the FDNY.

Ladder Company 3’s rear mount ladder truck was damaged beyond repair by the collapse of the Twin Towers. It spent ten years housed at John F. Kennedy International Airport prior to arrival at its final resting place in the Museum.

The flag-covered, 60,000-pound truck was lowered by crane 70 feet below ground as the FDNY Emerald Society performed "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes as they would at the funeral of a fallen FDNY member. It is intended to represent and honor all FDNY casualties.

The pictures attempt to show the size of the massive beams that were used in the tower. 

  Slurry walls were erected to prevent water from the Hudson River from leaking into the basement. The bottom picture is the original slurry wall. Some improvements had to be made to the wall for safety purposes prior to the erection of the museum. The original walls were left as intact as possible to allow visitors to see the original construction.

The last column as it was removed from Ground Zero.  This column was not only used to support one of the "roads" that was installed to move debris from the site, it also became its own memorial to the first responders and the Construction workers that performed the excavation.

Welcome to Lady Liberty

 Following the attack, a Statue of Liberty replica stood honor guard outside a firehouse in Manhattan in honor of the 15 men they lost on 9/11. 

It is uncertain how the fiberglass statue suddenly appeared outside the firehouse, but soon after it appeared, people began leaving gifts and tokens for the lives lost and for those who survived.

This distinctive memorial was donated in memory of the heroic 15 firefighters from Engine 54/Ladder 4/Battalion 9 killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. 

Megan and Adrian joined us in NYC for the 9/11 Memorial.

When touring the Memorial, we found it very moving. It is impossible to not be moved and not to experience a variety of emotions when the horrors of the attack are so real. Megan and Adrian signed us up for the guided tour several months ago. Reservations for a guided tour are typically required months in advance. Our tour guide did an excellent job providing information. A guided tour is a definite must.  You cannot fully experience and appreciate the museum without a tour guide.  As we were putting this together, we both felt very emotional all over again.  As we walked out of the Memorial, we were all quiet. It is a lot to process.