Met up with Eric yesterday and have settled into his very comfortable apartment in Upper Manhattan.
He took me on a tour of the locale Matthanville/Sugarhill neighbourhood.

Here’s a gorgeous portico entrance, beaux arts style.  Sugar Hill got its name in the 1920s when the neighborhood became a popular place for wealthy African Americans to live during the Harlem Renaissance. Reflective of the “sweet life” there, Sugar Hill featured rowhouses in which lived such prominent African Americans Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Walter Francis White and Roy Wilkins.

Sylvan Terrace is a historic mews which is part of the Jumel Terrace Historic District in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. It consists of 20 wooden row houses on a cobblestone street with coachlights leading up to the Morris–Jumel Mansion (Museum). http://www.morrisjumel.org/visit/photo-tour/

The Mansion is the oldest house in the borough, built in 1765 by Roger Morris, a British military officer and served as a headquarters for both sides in the American Revolution. Because the Morris’ were Loyalists, the house was confiscated by the Commissioners of Forfeiture at the end of the Revolution.
The mansion was bought in 1810 by Stephen Jumel, a rich French merchant who had immigrated to the United States, as a home for he and his wife, and former mistress, Eliza Bowen Jumel. Anxious to be accepted into New York society, the Jumel’s remodelled the house, adding the Federal style entrance and redecorated the interior in the Empire style.  Because they were not accepted socially in New York (Eliza was born in a brothel and had been a prostitute herself), the Jumels went to France in 1815. Eliza returned in a few years by herself and laden with 200 European paintings she soon made available for public exhibition. After Stephen’s death in 1832, Eliza, who was now one of the wealthiest women in New York City, married the controversial ex-vice president Aaron Burr in the front parlor of the house. She filed for divorce in 1834 on the grounds of adultery, which was granted in 1836, shortly before his death. Eliza then divided her time between Saratoga, New York, Hoboken, New Jersey and lower Manhattan, living at the property until her death in 1865. She apparently was a very generous benefactor to societies of the day that looked after women interests.

She is buried at the Trinity Cemetery, Riverside Drive…of which I had a tour, together with about 20 NYU students this morning, courtesy of my knowledgeable and entertaining host, Eric.

My spirits remain undampened…ha ha….but we all got soaked with the unexpected bucketing rain!!  Felt very Melbourne.