336 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



on Fort Washington Avenue. This fort was gallantly defended on 

 November 16, 1776, by the Maryland and Virginia Eegiment, against 

 the attack of the Hessian troops. 



The following dedications have also been officially recognized by the 

 commission: On Wednesday, September 29, the City Wall Bastion 

 Tablet, at No. 48 Wall Street, New York, marking the site of a bastion 

 in the old city wall to be dedicated by the Society of Colonial Wars in 

 the State of New York; the Port Amsterdam Tablet placed on the 

 United States Custom House in New York City, marking the site of 

 Fort Amsterdam, dedicated by the New York Society of the Founders 

 and Patriots of America. On Monday, September 27, the Palisades 

 Interstate Park, extending for thirty miles along the western shore of 

 the Hudson Eiver, from Fort Lee, N. Y., to Piermont, N. Y., will be 

 dedicated by the commissioners of the Interstate Palisades Park. The 

 date for the dedication of the bust of Verrazzano, the Italian navigator 

 who visited New York Harbor in 1524, has not yet been selected by the 

 Italian societies which have donated it to the city. 



Aquatic sports will be the order of the day on Wednesday, September 

 29, when boat races will be held on the Hudson Eiver, the boats being 

 manned from the crews of the foreign and American warships. There 

 will also be interstate contests between members of the Naval Eeserves 

 from different states, canoe races and motor-boat races. At Yonkers, 

 on the same da}'', high-power motor-boats will compete, and there will be 

 boat races between various amateur crews from clubs. 



The astonishing progress in aeronautics during the past year has 

 excited public interest to the highest pitch, and the celebration commis- 

 sion is making every effort to assure the presence of some of the leading 

 aeronauts and aviators. While the arrangements for this branch of 

 the celebration are not fully completed at the time of writing, the public 

 will certainly be given an opportunity to see many types of dirigibles 

 and aeroplanes, and some sensational flights will be made. If the 

 weather conditions are favorable, the aeronautical exhibitions will begin 

 ■ on Monday, September 27. 



In organizing the various parades and exercises, the celebration 

 commission has not forgotten the children of our city, for whom special 

 festivals will be held, on Saturday, October 2, at fifty different centers. 

 There will be games, historical plays, folk-dances, etc., given by thou- 

 sands of children from the public schools, and accommodations will be 

 provided for a half million children to witness the spectacles. 



The close of the celebration in all its phases will be marked by a 

 chain of immense beacon-fires lighted on mountain tops and heights 

 from Staten Island to the head of navigation on Saturday evening, 

 October 9. All these beacons will be connected by electric wires and 

 will be lighted simultaneously by President Taft. The beacons are 

 made of peat with chemicals, so that they will burn even if it rains. 



