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Fort Totten
Queens, NY - Sean Hopkins - Monday, March 9th, 2009 : goo
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Pre 9/11, my father and I would visit the museum at Ft. Totten. It was curated by a man named Jack Fein, who has since passed away. (He met some legal troubles shortly before his passing, as some of you may have heard about.) The museum was fantastic, situated all the way in the back by the actual fort itself. It was basically a house sitting amongst a wall of garages. Next to these garages was a tunnel, at least a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet long (although my memory may be a bit skewed.) I remember seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, as the darkness enveloped us; and revelling in the excitement of emerging out of the other side. Once that happened, wow... there it was. In all of it's glory, the stone fort erected in the 19th century to protect the East River from enemies; and my father and I had free reign! It was great. My father was a supervisor in the Dept. of Parks and Recreation at the time, and he knew Jack Fein which pretty much gave him carte blanche to take me through it. It was awesome.
For some time after 9/11 it was off limits to the public. Not just the fort, but the entire grounds which are beautiful. It has since re-opened, all but the fort, which remains fenced off. They are pretty stringent on photography there. If you plan on going, conceal your cameras so that the officers in the security booth at the front entrance don't see you. Once you're in it's a cool breeze.
This is a picture of the fort taken through the fence that sequesters it from the public. It's all I gots, but I thought somebody may just dig it.
This article has been viewed 7582 times in the last 4 years
CartLegger: 9th Mar 2009 - 01:58 GMT
I passed a wonderful few hours with Jack Fein a few years ago at his Fort Totten historical museum--it must have been right before he died. I was moved by the time and effort he dedicated as an individual to the history or Fort Totten. his "museum" was more a pack rat den of docs. I walked away with a signed copy of his history of the fort.
About his legal troubles, you are pleasantly euphemistic. I hope things were not so bad for the child involved. Jack is gone, but the child still has a life ahead of him to think about being freaked out by an (allegedly) horny old man.
That said, I'd love to go back there again. Is it really that limited now?
Sean Hopkins: 9th Mar 2009 - 02:04 GMT
Let's go! I was there a few weeks ago with some of the fam. FDNY, NYPD, and the Parks Department all have offices there among the military housing. I ran into an old supervisor of mine from when I worked with the Parks, and he invited us into the house that they now use. Ooooh man it was nice. Checked it out from basement to attic, wished I had the camera. It's in my hood so I can pretty much walk there.
CartLegger: 9th Mar 2009 - 02:11 GMT
It definitely qualifies as a great place to view the waterfront, a whole new view of it.
Though I am not too sure about the bourbon ;)
Peter: 9th Mar 2009 - 02:48 GMT
bourbon! without tradition, life is as shaky as a fiddler on the roof...
RickS: 25th Mar 2009 - 23:56 GMT
My family lived on Fort Totten for the better part of 1964 - 1981. I spent some time with Mr. Fein in 1997, and he told me that I was probably the only person who knew almost as much as he did about the Fort. He (jokingly, I'm sure) offered me his job.
http://www.forttotten.org
anon (173-216-220-118.mid.suddenlink.net): 10th Oct 2010 - 21:02 GMT
is there an old train engine at ft totten and a picture of the engineer named totten?
RickS: @anon: Afraid not. Sorry.
Ms. Totten: 22nd Jan 2012 - 22:29 GMT
Jack Fein was my best friend. He was one of kind remarkable man. I know from having a long term marraige to a Columbia educated attorney and knowing Jack that he was innocent of ever harming any child in any way. I would also like to say his son is right about the VA being responsible for his early death and Mac Harris was involved no doubt along with others Mac Harris knows who are not nice people. The worst in my opinion.
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