I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America
with a new travelling companion.
Published in 1879, my Appletons' General Guide
will steer me to everything that's novel, beautiful,
memorable or curious in the United States.
As I cross the continent, I'll discover
America's gilded age, when powerful tycoons launched
a railway boom that tied the nation together and carved
out its future as a superpower.
I'm continuing my American adventure through New York State where,
in Appleton's time, an industrial revolution was under way.
I began in Manhattan and I'll head north
towards Poughkeepsie and the state capital,
Albany.
I'll turn west to the Great Lakes, taking in Rochester
and Buffalo, and finish at the tourist hotspot
of Niagara Falls.
My journey through New York State continues on Long Island -
180 miles long, with a population of 8 million.
It hosts two of New York City's boroughs, Brooklyn and
Queens.
It was often the first sighting of the United States for immigrants
and, even today, air passengers survey its streets and houses
before landing at Kennedy Airport.
The Long Island Railroad daily ferries its commuters to the city
and, at weekends, carries the city's holiday-makers to its beaches.
On today's leg, I'll explore New York's
eastern boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, before heading
north-east on the Long Island Railroad to the Gold
Coast, and then south-east to the Hamptons.
My final stop will be the island's most easterly tip,
Montauk.
Along the way, I'll see how tourists following my guidebook
enjoyed heady views.
People felt like they were flying with the birds, walking
across this bridge.
I'll discover how America's biggest infrastructure project is reshaping
both Manhattan and Long Island.
You were literally blasting.
We were literally blasting.
Wow.
And their martinis didn't even shake.
No, not like James Bond.
And I'll relive the fun and decadence of the roaring '20s.
Brooklyn, says Appletons', is the third-largest city
in the United States.
That's before it was absorbed into New York to become one
of the conurbation's five boroughs.
But, if it were independent and on its own today,
it would still rank alongside all but the very largest
cities on earth.
By the 1860s, Brooklyn's population had swollen,
with huge numbers of immigrants from Europe.
Industry and commerce were booming.
Around a third of Brooklyn's working population
commuted across the East River to Manhattan, and ferries
were reaching capacity.
A long-term solution was needed and, in 1865, plans were put
forward to build a permanent link between the two cities.
The Brooklyn Bridge was under construction when my Appletons'
was published and it remarks that the massive towers
and ponderous cables are conspicuous objects.
The distance across the river is nearly 1600 feet,
affording space for two railroad tracks, four
wagonways and two footpaths.
With those colossal towers and being the
first steel suspension bridge in the world,
it was soon known as the eighth wonder of the world.
It's easy to see why.
The bridge, with its elegant steel cabling, suspended
against the 19th-century skyline, was an historic engineering
achievement.
I am meeting Brooklyn-born historian and tour guide Seth
Kamil under the now iconic structure.
Hello, Seth.
Michael, good to see you.
Welcome to Brooklyn.
Thank you very much, and what a very beautiful bridge.
What were the challenges in building it?
There were financial challenges, the fact the bridge cost more
than $12 million.
Technically, no one had ever built a suspension bridge with a centre
span of 1600 feet.
This is doubling anything that had come
before it.
It's built, I think, with granite towers.
How does it work beneath the water?
Beneath the water are wooden caissons, which are extremely large
boxes flipped upside down, about 100 feet by roughly 70 feet,
floated into place, sunk into the sand.
They pumped out the air, sent workers inside to dig
from inside to lower them while they build the granite towers
upwards at the same time.
A workforce of 600 built the bridge over 14 years,
starting in 1869.
The designer was John Augustus Roebling, a German
immigrant living in Pennsylvania.
Then 61 years old, he was a pioneer of suspension bridges.
But, while he was surveying the site, Roebling's
foot was crushed by a boat coming into dock.
Tetanus set in and, three weeks later, he died.
His son, Washington Roebling, took over the project
and saw his father's bridge as far as he could go until he,
too, was crippled in the process.
With John dead and Washington crippled,
who took over the work?
Washington's wife Emily Lauren Roebling finishes
the bridge.
In those days, a woman.
It's unbelievable.
This is nearly 50 years before an American woman has
the vote, and she begins by simply running messages from the office
in Brooklyn Heights to the job site.
But she is so intelligent and begins to understand the process so quickly
that she is able to make decisions on her own.
Construction was dangerous and two dozen workers lost
their lives.
But, on May the 24th, 1883, the great East River was spammed.
The brilliant design and scale of this piece of engineering
expressed America's growing self-confidence.
It was spectacular.
You had Emily Lauren Roebling leading the procession,
the President of the United States, the mayors of Brooklyn and Manhattan
meeting and shaking hands, a magnificent
fireworks display at sundown...
It was incredible, and memorable for decades.
It was spectacular.
The day it opened, 150,000 pedestrians and 1800 vehicles
crossed the bridge.
Within months, passengers on cable cars were
crossing for a 5 cents fare.
There were no aeroplanes, no tall buildings.
People felt like they were just flying with the birds,
walking across this bridge.
It's been called the eighth wonder of the world.
What do you say?
I live here and I think it should be the first
wonder of the world, but but I'll accept eight.
wonder of the world, but I'll accept eight.
The completion of the bridge and Brooklyn's rail links brought
even more immigrants to the borough which,
in 1898, had been incorporated into New York City.
Immigrants from northern, eastern and southern Europe made up
around a third of the newly amalgamated city.
Italians were one of the largest groups to settle in Brooklyn,
and their influence has left a lasting
culinary mark that I'm keen to experience.
Good evening, sir.
How are you?
I'm very well indeed. I was thinking of having a pizza.
I think you mean a pie.
A pie?
Yes.
OK.
Can I have just a piece or two of pie?
I think you mean a slice.
A slice?
Divided by a common language, eh?
OK.
I think I'll have a margarita pie.
You mean a pizza.
Do I?
I give up!
I'm kidding, it's a pie.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Coming right up.
This slice of pie is infinitely superior to a piece of pizza.
Today, I'm continuing my journey on the
Long Island Railroad in the borough of Queens.
Before tunnels were built to Manhattan Island in 1910,
Queens was the terminus of the railroad and
passengers crossed by ferry.
After the first branch of the Long Island
Railroad was opened in 1836, the mainly rural island was quickly
developed with suburbs.
Today, it's the busiest commuter railroad in America,
with over 700 miles of track.
It's also the site of an ambitious engineering project that
will transform New York City's rail network.
By one of the oddities of railroad history,
many commuters who come from Long Island, which lies
to the east of Manhattan, have to cross
all the way across the island to almost the Westside,
to Pennsylvania Central Station, and then, if their
jobs are in the business district back on the Eastside,
they have to make a subway journey, wasting time and money every day.
The solution is to put a station on the east side of Manhattan,
in fact, deep under Grand Central Terminal,
but that project involves creating a new tunnel
with eight tracks and building 11 miles
of tunnel and absolutely turning the system upside down.
It's said to be the biggest project in the United
States right now.
Doctor Michael Kyriacou is the chief engineer
at the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority and the man responsible for delivering the Eastside Access
scheme.
Michael, you are in charge of the biggest construction project
in the United States today.
What do you feel about that?
Well, humbled by the experience and lucky to be able to do that.
Michael is taking me to survey the ongoing works.
Hello. You must be Chris.
Yes, I am. How are you?
I'm Michael. Good to see you.
Pleasure to meet you.
Right here, basically, tunnel D will come
up to the right.
B-C will be built right here in the middle.
So, from GCT, you'll come out the ground right
here, and then you can see tunnel A will be on north side.
Four new tunnels will run from Queens on Long
Island straight to New York's Railway cathedral, Grand Central
Terminal, opening access to the Eastside of Manhattan.
What benefit will commuters see when it's all over?
The commuters from Long Island will see a reduction in travel time
of up to 40 minutes a day, and they will have a direct
shot without having to transfer into Grand Central.
The great thing about the construction of the terminal
is that no one knew we were there.
We've blasted away these huge caverns and people upstairs
were sipping wine in the restaurant
and they never knew we were down there.
You were literally blasting?
We were literally blasting.
Wow.
And their martinis didn't even shake.
No, not that James Bond would've liked it!
The extension is due to open in 2023 and is projected to cost
around $10 billion.
It will transform the working lives of
millions of New York commuters.
It's another example of how the city's
infrastructure is being revitalised after 9/11.
It represents a kind of renaissance for New York, doesn't it?
Yes, it does.
Without public transport, a city like New York,
cities like London cannot exist.
And that's something that...
I've been in London, I've seen the work being done there.
We're trying to keep up with you guys.
That's a very flattering way of putting it.
I'm impressed by this.
During the 19th century, trains increased the prosperity
of Long Island's workers, shuffling them daily
to and from New York City, but the railroads also
created fortunes beyond the comprehension of ordinary commuters.
You might think that the Gold Coast is in Australia, but there's one
here on Long Island.
Of course, not where gold was discovered, but where enormous
wealth was displayed, flaunted, squandered.
From Queens, it's a journey of just over an hour north-east to Cold
Spring Harbor, the nearest station to Oheka Castle.
Ha-ha!
This is Oheka Castle.
Unbelievably big, for what was once a private residence,
it has the look of a French chateaux, but it's
built on the foundations of a solid American fortune.
Completed in 1919 and costing the equivalent of $110
million in today's money, the castle was the private home
of banker and rail magnate Otto Kahn.
At the time, it was the second largest residence
Today, Oheka castle is a hotel and this historian Eunice is taking
me on a tour of these once exclusive grounds.
Which names were involved here? once exclusive grounds.
JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor,
the Prince of Wales were all coming here
for the polo season and stay in their summers on Long Island.
When I think about this era and this
place, my thoughts are dominated by the parties.
Sure, F Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby
may have taken parties to a new level, but it really
was not an exaggeration of what was going on
here at the time.
I imagine the ponds here are probably clogged
with champagne corks.
Like many tycoons of the era, Kahn made much of his fortune
in the railroads.
This is Otto Kahn.
Otto Kahn was also known as the figure for Mr Monopoly.
Really?
Correct.
How did he make his money in the railroads?
He teamed up with great railroads giants of the time and he actually
would reorganise the facilities and make
them more streamlined and more profitable.
Was he a big party giver?
He was known for throwing parties.
There were men like Charlie Chaplin here, Douglas Fairbanks,
many industrialists of the day, so it was a home always filled.
What happened to be home after he died?
After Otto Kahn passed away in the 30s, his wife sold it
to the New York department of sanitation, which
renamed it Sanitia, and it became the weekend retreat and retirement
home for the New York City garbage men.
So, from riches to rags.
Correct.
Sensing the ghosts of the bankers and tycoons and the stars of stage
and screen, I decide to relive for a moment the heady decadence
of those years by taking to the dance floor.
Hello, Nancy.
Hello, Michael.
You look divine.
Thank you very much.
You are very handsome.
What a beautiful dress.
Thank you.
How does one do the Charleston?
OK, so, it's a very easy dance.
Forward on the left, and tap front with the right.
Right, right, left.
And swing the arms left, forward, right, forward.
I think you've got it.
Cue music.
CHARLESTON MUSIC PLAYS.
It is a little fast.
Named after the city of Charleston in South
Carolina, the dance became one of the musical sensations
of the roaring 20s.
The mansions of the north once echoed to the Charleston
and popping champagne corks.
But, for me, the party is over.
On many a bright morning like this, Otto Kahn
must have surveyed his beautiful gardens and thought,
all that hard work amalgamating railroads, here I stand up
on the hill that I made, in the castle that I built,
and it was all worthwhile.
The wealthy tycoons of New York City are no longer drawn
to the north shore of Long Island.
And, while the elites of the past made their money in industry
and infrastructure, their counterparts
today are the so-called masters of the universe,
the bankers, traders and hedge fund managers who prowl
the canyons of Wall Street.
Their summer retreat lies some 75 miles
south-east in the Hamptons.
East Hampton, says Appletons', is the
quietest of all quiet towns, with quaint, old houses.
Its old world charm is seduced many a broker,
derivatives trader and venture capitalist.
I may not meet many of them on the Long Island Railroad,
but their helicopters are much in evidence.
East Hampton and its sister village of South Hampton was almost entirely
undeveloped until the arrival of the railroad in 1895.
Today, the permanent population of the count is around
21,000 but, in summer, that swells to over 70,000.
East Hampton is extraordinarily clean and tidy, very
well-kept, manicured, you might say.
I'm meeting Diana from the Ladies Village Improvement Society,
founded in 1895.
She's invited me to one of the thrift stores,
where they raise funds for the preservation of the town.
What brought about the foundation of the Ladies Village
Improvement Society?
One of the issues in the 1890s was unpaved
streets.
There was a lot of dust any time a cart or the early automobiles
would drive by.
The LVIS felt their mission was to sprinkle the street and keep
the dust down.
Once that was done, they just started
beautifying east Hampton.
Today, as well as preserving East Hampton's
history, the LVIS funds student scholarships,
including one for a woman over 25 years old returning
to higher education.
What it's like to live in East Hampton?
Well, it has a bit of a roller-coaster feel,
because things are nonstop between June and September,
but then it quietens down.
I guess people outside might have the impression of East Hampton
has been populated with the wolves of Wall Street.
Right.
Would that be inaccurate?
No.
It's not inaccurate.
I just feel that the Women's Village Improvement Society
is about as far from the wolves of Wall Street as I can imagine.
I think there is definitely a sense of
trying to maintain the historical character and the natural beauty,
and the LVIS is one of those groups who just want to keep it in the way
it is, and that's why they work so hard.
15 miles and two stops further east from the pristine Hamptons,
the Montauk branch of the Long Island
Railroad reaches its terminus.
Montauk Point, Appletons' tells me, is the eastern extremity of Long
Island.
On it is a lighthouse with a powerful revolving light.
The village of Montauk, which clings limpet like to be tip
of Long Island, is popularly nicknamed "The End".
We've reached the end of the line and the end of the island.
There is nothing beyond.
And so we crawl gently to a halt.
Montauk is a fishing and surfing town.
Like the Hamptons, it's a popular weekend
getaway, but it prides itself on being more rustic than chic.
Its lighthouse, the first built in New
York State, stands guard over treacherous waters.
Henry Osmus, local historian and author,
can explain its significance.
Henry, such a beautiful lighthouse.
What is its importance in history?
Well, when it was built in 1796, the purpose of it was to guide ships
safely from England and France to New York City.
Prior to that being built, there had been no lighthouses
on Long Island at all, so it became very difficult
for ships navigating these waters.
And so it came to the years of president George Washington
and authorisation was passed to build the lighthouse.
Did it do a good job?
It did.
Apparently the number of ships which had mishaps
dropped dramatically, so this lighthouse did its job very well.
For the many new arrivals, who hoped to settle in America,
this light was their first glimpse of their new
home.
And, if one man's vision had prevailed, Montauk rather
than New York City might have been where they
first set foot in the New World.
There was a gentleman named Austin Corbin,
who was the president of the Long Island Railroad
from the early 1880s until the mid-1890s.
He had a dream of creating a port of entry in Montauk.
It was going to be a docking place for transatlantic
steamers, and they would continue the journey to New York
by his railroad line and save about five or six hours
in travel time.
This idea sounded outlandish to some, but he extended his
railroad to Montauk in December 1895, and the first
passenger train officially rolled into Montauk on December 17th.
But, only six months after that first
train came into Montauk, Austin Corbin was dead,
killed in a freak accident.
Unfortunately, there was no one else with the drive and stamina
that he had for this project.
So, officially, by 1900, the idea was considered dead.
And the dream?
The dream went with him.
Had Austin Corbin's plan succeeded, Montauk would have become one
of the world's busiest ports.
As it is, it's been left with extraordinary
serenity.
Americans have often thought of themselves as exceptional.
The city on the hill, a new Jerusalem, a country
with a manifest destiny.
The perfect natural harbour of New York, with the East River
protectively flanked by Brooklyn, must have seemed
like a gift from God.
And following that logic the beauty of Long Island's
surf and beaches would merely confirm the limitless blessings
heaped upon this land and its people.
Next time, I'm spooked by a famous American ghost story.
This sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow.
I hear a new take on America's greatest turncoat.
You think that Benedict Arnold was actually an American
revolutionary hero?
He was, absolutely.
Before learning how the American Civil War divided
the nation.
Not only is it father against son and brother against brother,
but it's classmate against classmate.