Derive By Tabitha Pitre
February 19, 2018, by Tabitha
My Derive was located in the Wall Street area. I have been in the Wall Street area before, but in it was in and out to attend the doctors office. I never actually explored this area. My prior knowledge of Wall Street was that this street and area was one of the oldest neighborhoods in Manhattan. The derive app really made my adventure interesting as it told me to do the most oddest things like “Find a cat and follow it“,or “Follow the loudest noise”. These were things I wouldn’t actually do while walking through the city. I went down to Wall Street on a cloudy Friday morning, it was quite quiet for the most part up until I got up to Fulton and Williams Street, where there was much more foot traffic. But what striked me were how there were still 4 floor buildings (that looked like homes) in a cluster with modern day 18 floor buildings. Also, the streets were so narrow and some still had brick stone streets. This gave me even more of a visual about the Santé reading and how he described the horses and carriages.
My starting point was at pier 15 down on Wall Street right under the FDR
highway. Where I saw the Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Heights and it’s promenade.
Then the derive app lead me towards Fulton street which where the
the Seaport Museum is located, which I have never been to. The roads were still 
made of stone giving it an 19th century New York feel. The derive app then told
to make a right and I ended up walking towards Pack Ship street. There wasn’t really
anyone there, so it was very quiet. There were a whole bunch of like mom and pop
stores. It gave off a little old town feel, something I wasn’t expecting
lower Manhattan to look like since all you really see are skyscrapers and modern
day city architecture. I found it quite adorable.
I then went back towards Water Street and Fulton and the derive app told me to
go more up Fulton and pass three traffic lights. The streets became more narrow
and there was much more foot traffic and it started to look more 
like corporate New York as I headed up towards Williams Street
I then made a left on Williams street and went down towards the pier again. The
app then told me to find a bar to have a beer, though I didn’t want one I did
go to try and find a bar. I looked at my map and realized there were a few bars
up on Pearl Street, so I went towards there. As I was walking I walked into a
small triangle shaped park and read that it was Stone Street District. I was quite
intrigued because it reminded me our class discussion on mutability and the life and death
of this part of Manhattan and the picture shows below shows the early beginnings of
New York being formed from the colonial predecessors in the 1600’s forming economy around
culture, but how that all burned down and lost up to $40 million dollars worth
of property and mostly businesses and was re-built yet not the same. It still carries
a culture of finance from the colonial period to now.
