on Fort Washington Avenue. This fort was gallantly defended on November 16, 1776, by the Maryland and Virginia Regiment, 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 Fort 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 River, 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 River, the boats being manned from the crews of the foreign and American warships. There will also he interstate contests between members of the Naval Reserves from different states, canoe races and motor-boat races. At Yonkers, on the same day, 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 commission 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 thousands 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.
