Bird's Eye View
Check out the Bird's Eye Views, originally photographed from the roof of Main Street School (now Landmark on Main Street) circa 1910. There are two postcards showing a large numbers of houses and buildings, stretching all the way down to Manhasset Bay. Many of the structures are still there! [If anyone wants to volunteer to do a house by house comparison, let us know! ]
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Then take a virtual 360 degree tour from the rooftop in 2013, originally published as the View of the Month, April 2013. If you’ve never seen this before, then you are in for a treat!
On the top is a beautifully hand-colored postcard, shot from the top of Main Street School (now Landmark on Main Street), looking west toward the water. The lower shot is a similar angle taken in 2013, also from the roof of Landmark. The corner shown is South Washington and Webster Avenue. In the lower right corner of the old shot is a building with a gambrel roofline, which housed the Odd Fellows Society for many years. In the contemporary shot, the blue building is now Berest Dance Center at 12 South Washington. Behind that building in both shots is a firehouse, one very old, one new and state of the art. In the distance in both shots you can see Manhasset Bay Yacht Club.
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Now let's take a look a bit more to the right… (a tiny bit north)
Trees have obscured much of the view, but since the spring foliage is still a few weeks away, we can see much of the past in the present. In the lower right corner of the historic photo, circa 1910, is St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, with a house directly in the foreground. These two buildings remain to this day, seen in the view from March 2013. In the center of the historic postcard is a church on Carlton Avenue, which, in the contemporary shot is just to the right of the flag pole with a red roof. Take a careful look around, comparing roof lines or shore lines.
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If you've come this far, you deserve two surprises. First, know that if you click on either of the two contemporary shots above (from March 2013) that they will enlarge in a new window so that you can REALLY see the detail. Just don't forget to come back, because the second surprise is a special view that you may not have seen before. On the morning of March 28th, 2013 I was escorted to the roof of the former Main Street School, now Landmark On Main Street. My guide was Craig Alston, the building Superintendent for the past 17 years; Craig knows the building inside and out and he showed me the way to the views I wanted to capture (above), and waited on the roof while I photographed a 360 degree immersive panorama. Once you click on the link below, your browser will redirect you to a view from the Landmark's roof which you can control with your mouse. Just click and drag your mouse a bit left or right or up or down (or slowly swipe your tablet).
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When you look downward from the clock tower, you'll see Craig, patiently waiting for me. In the distance you can see the Library, the apartments on Carlton Avenue, the president streets off Webster, and a tremendous amount of Port Washington, the town many of us have called home at some point in our lives. There are even two pigeons watching me from a nearby brick chimney.
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Click on this link and you will be transported to the roof of
Landmark on Main Street,
once known as Main Street School,
and before that as
Port Washington High School!
