I’ve just read back-to-back books about Mount Everest, so let’s just say the topic of exploration is floating around inside my brain right now. Did you know there is an Explorers Club in Manhattan? Located in an old mansion on East 70th Street, the organization was originally founded in 1904 by a group of former expedition members to promote and share stories of exploration. Over a century’s worth of relics and mementos fill the building’s four floors, including 13,000 books and 5,000 maps on the second floor library. And don’t forget explorers love taxidermy! Besides the polar bear next to the cozy fireplace in the ground floor lounge, there’s the Trophy Room on the top floor full of tusks, antlers, and all kinds of dead animals. Although the Explorers Club is open to the public, don’t think anyone can become a member. According to their website, “the Club’s members (or “fellows” as the club calls them) have been responsible for an illustrious series of famous firsts: First to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the moon.” Yep, that’s right. Fellows Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson were the first to reach the North Pole and so on and so on. We get it, showoffs. So membership is open only to people who’ve sailed to new shores, ascended to new heights, or trekked new paths. Hey, I recently found a shortcut from my house to the nearest Walgreens. Does that count as a “new path?”
Explorers Club in Manhattan
