Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Posted on 12/08/2005 3:09:12 AM PST by Pharmboy
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The top of an old wall was discovered by workers digging a new subway tunnel under Battery Park.
Three weeks after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority started digging a subway tunnel under Battery Park, the project hit a wall. A really old wall. Possibly the oldest wall still standing in Manhattan.
It was a 45-foot-long section of a stone wall that archaeologists believe is a remnant of the original battery that protected the Colonial settlement at the southern tip of the island. Depending on which archaeologist you ask, it was built in the 1760's or as long ago as the late 17th century.
Either way, it would be the oldest piece of a fortification known to exist in Manhattan and the only one to survive the Revolutionary War period, said Joan H. Geismar, president of the Professional Archaeologists of New York City.
"To my knowledge, it's the only remain of its kind in Manhattan," Ms. Geismar said. "It's a surviving Colonial military structure. That's what makes it unique."
Among the items found around the wall are a well-preserved halfpenny coin dated 1744 and shards of smoking pipes and Delft pottery, said Amanda Sutphin, director of archaeology for the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
"It's one of the most important archaeological discoveries in several decades in New York City," said Adrian Benepe, commissioner of the city's Department of Parks and Recreation. "Everybody knows that the Bronx is up and the Battery's down. But I don't think anybody anticipated that the Battery was 10 feet down."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
LOL!
George Wasington slept there possibly?
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The AP story...
Subway Workers Unearth N.Y. History
By RICHARD PYLE
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Workers extending a subway tunnel have unearthed a section of stone wall believed to be part of fortifications from New York's pre-Revolutionary War era, city parks officials said on Wednesday.
The mortared stone wall is more than 40 feet long and 7 feet thick and is 10 feet below the surface of Battery Park near the southern tip of Manhattan, according to preliminary inspections.
It appears to be part of a gun emplacement connected to one of several forts, dating from the early 17th century, that gave Battery Park its name, officials said.
Samples of the stone and crumbled mortar were taken for study by archaeologists of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. Other items found at the site were pipe stems and a British halfpenny coin bearing the likeness of King George II and dated 1744, a parks department spokesman said.
"We knew the present-day Battery was built upon older forts, but we never imagined that such a large portion of this gun battery could survive for so many years beneath the ground," Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe said.
Dutch settlers built the first forts after founding New Amsterdam in 1623.
The discovery was not expected to halt work on the subway.
"They'll work around it," Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Brian Dolan said.
I hate to ask, but where is the wall in the pic?? I am not expecting to see it standing there, but the top of it side, where??
Take a joke or KMA your choice.
"Take a joke or KMA your choice."
Oh, I have lots more choices than that, thanks...
Good question--one I asked myself. I would imagine it's the thick piece running horizontally in the pic.
BTW, many moons ago (mid-70s), I lived in Valhalla and White Plains, NY - I remember my folks driving around town and I saw a sign that read "Washington's Headquarters." After years of badgering my parents, they finally brought me there for a tour. I remember the guide mentioning that during Washington's time at the headquarters the soldiers would cast bullets out of silver (at the time I thought it was because of people like the Headless Horseman of Irving's Sleepy Hollow - Tarrytown not being far away). I also distinctly remember looking out the windows and the view was distorted - panes still held the original glass from the 18th century. Good stuff.
I once read that there were still many of dutch ancestory in NYC and they thought the British would win so they backed the Loyalists.
I think they are working on the top of the wall in the picture
Well, based on what I have read, the Dutch didn't want much to do with the war at all. The majority of Dutch farmers in Brooklyn at the time just wanted to continue farming, and had no use for the war. They also mainly spoke Dutch and not English. They fell into the camp that was neither Patriot or Loyalist (for the most part) but rather, "neutral."
Thanks Pharmboy! That makes better sense, I had ancestors that fought as patriots from MASS and N.H. but I had a few dutch ancestors that were farmers in the Brooklyn area during that time and I have not been able to find them fighting on either side.
Amazing!
Now, what will they do about the subway? (I'm not familiar with NYC, could they back up and run the line up higher, or what? Are there laws in place to protect archaeological discoveries?
"No blood for tea," perhaps? ;)
Do you have an early American History ping list, Pharmboy? If so, I'd love to be on it.
LOL, please see my #912. :)
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