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 ...
"I highly recommend this book and its prequel "Rise to Rebellion"."
Just finished reading it last Saturday.
An interesting side note: The Brits were aghast at the way the Dutch farmers in Brooklyn treated their slaves. The Dutch ate with them and treated them in a quite humane way, whereas the slaveholding Brits in Manhattan would NEVER have eaten with their slaves (or white indentured servants for that matter).
Population then was maybe 30,000. New York didn't really take off until the Erie Canal was built.
No blood for tea! Excellent--I will start a RevWar/Colonial American Ping list now--I will post a thread on chat.
No argument there...Philly was the largest American city back then, and I think Boston was second. NYC had the key strategic position, though.
sounds like something out of National Treasure.
One has to wonder about the genius bureaucrat who years ago said,
"...What? You say there is a large gun emplacement from when our country was being founded? Fuhgedaboutit...just cover it up under ten feet of landfill and nobody will miss it..."
~ Blue Jays ~
I totally agree with you about Jeff Shaara's two excellent books about the Revolutionary period. I read them both and wish he would do more on that period, which I find more interesting that the Civil War period he also writes about.
Well, down in the financial district (Old Niew Amsterdam) they can't do anything above ground. They will have to tunnel through the wall as it lays (hopefully they will bring that section above ground and place it in Battery Park so we all can see it).
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