FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ABSOLUTELY MUST KNOW, during the American Revolution George Washington put a massive chain across the Hudson River (not George Washington himself, obviously, although he was an excellent swimmer and could’ve done it if he really wanted to impress Martha) to keep British ships from sailing up the river and attacking his army at Newburgh. It was not to keep eastern New York and New England from drifting out into the Atlantic Ocean, despite what you may have heard to the contrary. Whoever told you that (and you know who you are) was being facetious.