Annie Edson Taylor - Niagara Falls, NY
Posted by: Don.Morfe
N 43° 05.810 W 079° 02.788
17T E 658980 N 4773419
American Folk Figure. A teacher in Bay City, Michigan, was the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, accomplishing this feat on her birthday in 1901.
Waymark Code: WM12VFZ
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 07/19/2020
Views: 1
She is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Stranger's Rest Section.
Description: From Wikipedia in part: Niagara Falls-Desiring to secure her later years financially, she decided she would be the first person to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Taylor used a custom-made barrel for her trip, constructed of oak and iron and padded with a mattress. Several delays occurred in the launching of the barrel, particularly because no one wanted to be part of potential suicide. Two days before Taylor's own attempt, a domestic cat was sent over the Horseshoe Falls in her barrel to test its strength to see if the barrel would break or not. Contrary to rumors at the time, the cat survived the plunge and seventeen minutes later, after she was found with a bleeding head, posed with Taylor in photographs.
On October 24, 1901, her 63rd birthday, the barrel was put over the side of a rowboat, and Taylor climbed in, along with her lucky heart-shaped pillow. After screwing down the lid, friends used a bicycle tire pump to compress the air in the barrel. The hole used for this was plugged with a cork, and Taylor was set adrift near the American shore, south of Goat Island.
The Niagara lake currents carried the barrel over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, which has since been the site for all daredevil stunting at Niagara Falls. Rescuers reached her barrel shortly after the plunge. Taylor was discovered to be alive and relatively uninjured, except for a small gash on her head. The trip itself took less than twenty minutes,[7] but it was some time before the barrel was actually opened. After the journey, Taylor told the press:
If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat ... I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Fall.
Date of birth: 10/24/1838
Date of death: 04/29/1921
Area of notoriety: Entertainment
Marker Type: Headstone
Setting: Outdoor
Fee required?: No
Web site: [Web Link]
Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Not listed
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