As I write, I’ve just returned from New York City after a whirlwind weekend of family memory-making and lengthy walks throughout the city.
While near South Street Seaport, a historic waterfront district along the East River in Lower Manhattan, I had a moment of clarity while considering why this diehard Minnesota gal feels such a deep connection to New York City—one of the country’s birthplaces of innovation and creative thinking. But that’s not why I love the city. Apart from having family living in Manhattan, it’s the historic areas that draw me close.
Uneven stone and brick streets: Who once traveled these roads? What purpose took them from here to there? Early homes: Who first lived within? How did they make a living? What did a typical evening entail? Did my relatives once live in any of the waterfront homes? Historic bridges or buildings: Who designed and constructed them? While visiting an apartment building that once served as a large bank, my mind saw employees and customers of yesteryear, walking with business purpose and waiting at the Art Deco-inspired, silver elevator doors (Gorgeous!). I wanted to step alongside them—just for a brief time.
And my favorite place to dip in and sit awhile—Fraunces Tavern, a historic landmark and said to be the oldest bar in the city, tops my list. It is known as the watering hole for many founding fathers, and George Washington gathered his officers there to bid them farewell after the British Army skedaddled at the end of the Revolutionary War. (Don’t miss the reenactment! I’m obsessed.)
That day’s revelation while looking cityward from the East River was not just that I’m curious, which I already knew, but it underscored my inquisitiveness wrapped around early American city and family life—community lifestyle in an earlier sense!
So what does my curiosity have to do with these pages? In this Education issue, we feature local high school seniors, preparing to close an academic chapter. But one’s education should never end with a diploma or a certificate of completion. Rather, education grows from learning, and learning stems from curiosity. And that is my hope for the Class of 2026: Be forever learners, fortified with a healthy spirit of curiosity.
Until next time,
—Renée Stewart-Hester
