Posted on 12/19/2005 7:34:50 PM PST by Pharmboy
Cary Conover for The New York Times
A 45-foot segment of cut and mortared stones, which
archaeologists say was either a Colonial-era battery wall
that protected European settlements in the south end of
Manhattan or a piece of a fort that replaced Fort
Amsterdam. Workers unearthed the wall last month while
digging a subway tunnel in Battery Park.
First came the excitement over the discovery of a Colonial-era fortification in Battery Park. Now it's decision time: What should the New York City do with this massive relic?
City officials have conceded that the thick stone wall, which sits about nine feet below street level and perpendicular to the path of a planned subway tunnel, is too historically significant to cart off to a landfill. Archaeologists believe it was built at least 240 years ago and was either part of the battery wall that protected European settlements at the south end of Manhattan or a piece of one of the forts that replaced Fort Amsterdam.
snip...
...the transportation authority has asked her firm to take two weeks to document the current state of the wall in enough detail so that it can be taken apart and reconstructed. Still, she said it would probably require three.
snip...
Mr. Benepe said the wall extends beyond the edges of the trench dug by construction crews on the eastern side of Battery Park, but only the 45-foot-long segment that has been uncovered will be removed. His preference, he said, is for that section to be rebuilt in the park after the trench is filled.
"We will move the wall out of harm's way in such a way that it can be reinstalled, preferably in the park in a location as close as possible to its current site," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Naw, I walked along Battery Park Place between The Ocean (that building on the left in the picture of Battery Park and Castle Clinton) and Battery Park. They dug up Battery Park Place and the parking lot that used to be in front of The Ocean as well as part of the sidewalk, and then covered much of the surface with those big steel plates you can walk or drive over.
I had an apartment in The Ocean for a few years. Indeed, I was finishing breakfast there and looking out at the harbor when the second plane flew by within a hundred feet or so on 9/11 before it evidently climbed higher and hit the second Trade Tower.
I suspect they are doing this project on federal funds, because the feds have been supporting a huge project in response to 9/11 to fix all the infrastructure under the streets of Manhattan from Canal Street south to the Battery. So holes and steel plates are a common sight down there.
ping
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