After our trek through Chinatown we managed to find room on a bench (not an easy thing to do on a sunny NYC day) to rest our feet for awhile before continuing over to the East Side Tenement museum. We actually passed by it once because I didn't recognize the outside - it has gone through a major renovation that has renovated the bottom level to take over the first floor of the the building next door and now they have a large store, expanded ticket counters and room for lockers and rest rooms (they allow purses to go along on the tour, but nothing bigger - the stairs are really narrow.)
We reserved tickets in advance because they go so quickly. The museum is popular with school groups because certain tours have actors/actresses who dressup in period costume and take on the persona of a person who had actually lived in the tenement. He or she tells their story and answers questions about life back in the period of which their character lived in the tenement (sometime between about 1865 to the early 1900's.) We didn't take that tour - it was already filled. Our tour was 'The Outsiders" which focused on the Irish Immigrant experience.
Our first stop was at the rear of the tenement where the outhouses and water pump were located. The tenement had a total of 4 outhouses for the entire building which contained four apartments per floor with an average of 4-8 people in each apartment on a total of 4 upper floors - the ground floor was rented to retail businesses - and one was a bar and guess where the patrons went to do their businesss?. In a word...YUCK. I cringe to think of the sanitary conditions, of having to go outside in freezing weather to use the facilities and how much it must have reeked during the steamy summers. Back then the building had no indoor plumbing so right by the latrines was a single water pump. It was used by all the families and the sole source of water for cooking, cleaning, bathing or where the women gathered to do the weekly wash. A water pail filled about half-way up with small stones was sitting next to the pump and our tour group took turns lifting it. It was very heavy and the guide went on to explain that it was the approximate weight of a pail of water and then asked us to imagine having to go up and down four flights of steep stairs several times a day carrying a pail in each hand in order to have enough water for each family's daily needs. Forget the gym!
The guide then led us up to the top of the building via the narrow stairs to the aprtment where the Moore family lived about 1867. The Moores were considered outsiders because they were Irish and were surrounded by a neighborhood of what was at the time, German immigrants. The guide told us (based on historical research) that Mr. and Mrs. Moore moved in with three small girls, one a small baby who subseqeuntly died when she was only five months old.
Their actual apartment occupied by the Moores was untouched - no restoration had been completed so the rooms were in a bad state of disrepair with the only light coming from the window in the front room (sitting room) Space was tight (along with the sitting room was a small kitchen area and a tiny bedroom. Later on, the tenement owners were required to put windows between the rooms too so light from the front room could shine through to the back and open up the space a bit. Also it was eventually required for the owners to install one hall toilet per floor - I'm sure it helped though the tenants would still be sharing with a lot of people - but still its better than latrines and chamber pots.
We listened to a recording of an Irish song typical of the times and learned that the music was similar to that played at a wake - given for those loved ones who were leaving Ireland for America because they would more than likely never return to their native land and so their leaving was considered a death of sorts - (goes without saying it must of been a pretty depressing farewell.)
Our last stop was a restored apartment on the same floor (all the floor plans were the same) and it gave an idea of how the Moore's might have furnished their own apartment back in the 1860's. There was little in terms of deocration, a table and a wooden chairs in the sitting room, and the kitchen displayed some pottery and cookware. It looked charming - so orderly and clean but I doubt it looked that way back when it was occupied, too many people in space barely suited for one. There was also a small white coffin on a table next to the wall that drew our attention. Our guide explained that when the Moore's baby died, there were certain rituals that were most likely followed and she provided an interesting background on a typical Irish ritual - keening.-
The Irish tradition of keening over the body at the burial is distinct from the wake - the practice of watching over the corpse - which took place the night before the burial. The "keen" itself is thought to have been made up of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. While generally carried out by one or several women, the Moore's most likely could only afford one woman for the keening while they would engage in physical movements involving rocking, kneeling or clapping in accompaniment of the keening keening.
The tour was about an hour in length and we covered a lot. I was glad to get back outside - get a deep breath of fresh air & shake off the feeling of claustrophobia, but I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to see the tenement and get a sense of how day to day life might be. If you get a chance, make the effort to see the museum because I doubt you'll be disappointed - you'll definitely appreciate and realize how luxurious our lives are in comparison.
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