New Dorp - Bonus

Last week, in a rare cliffhanger, I left dangling the question of whether I’d channeled my inner teenager and crawled through a hole to reach the forbidden Vanderbilt Mausoleum, ringed by an imposing steel barrier and under 24-hour surveillance.

But before we get into that, here are some perfectly legal photos from my wanderings around New Dorp.

Foraging for mugwort.

File under things I had no idea were growing on the side of the road in New York City — mugwort.

This unassuming plant has a long history of medicinal use, treating everything from muscle cramps and stiff joints to anxiety, constipation, and irregular periods. It’s also known as a natural insect repellent.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, dried mugwort leaves are burned near acupuncture points in a practice called moxibustion, believed to stimulate the flow of qi (life energy) through the body.

Nicknamed the “dreaming herb,” mugwort is also said to trigger lucid dreaming. Roman soldiers reportedly stuffed it in their sandals to ease foot pain on long marches.

I’ll be sure to report back after testing out a few of these claims.