Gothamist: Very Old Wall Found in Battery Park

Sterling

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 21:17:02 -0500

So it's about 40 yards west of State St., in the north part of the park, and runs roughly parallel to State St.? It couldn't be the fort foundation, because State St. was itself on the west side of the fort. If the thing is ten feet down, maybe it's a bulkhead for State St, which used to front on the water. Or maybe it's a bulkhead for the slip that was SW of the Bowling Green, below the windmill. I also found a factoid in Booth's History of New York (1859) that indicates that St. Nicholas Church, built in 1642, would have been 72' x 52' with walls 16' in height - all cut stone. That would be roughly on the same scale as the wall that's there. Maps put the church inside the fort in the northwest corner, though, so that theory has the same problem as the fort foundation hypothesis.

steve

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:57:34 -0500

It was not expected. We knew about the possibility of finding artifacts, but a large wall like this is really a wrench in the plans. as for the "grand battery", there never was a subway tunnel in this location. the current #1 tunnel is 40 yards away. the best guess of the LPC archeologists is that this is either the "half moon battery wall" or part of the ft. george foundation.

me

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:53:50 -0500

what's that sound? oh wait – i think it's jake on his way to put some "street art" on it!

Sterling

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 14:49:15 -0500

Hate to be a killjoy but I'd be really surprised if they didn't know it was there beforehand. It's probably the old "Grand Battery", which I *think* I've read had to be cut through when the subway line was originally put through there, about 100 years ago. What they ought to be looking for while they're down there is any marble from the original city hall. There's one old bit that's supposed to say something like "Nieuw Amsterdam Staat House" that's been missing for about 250 years. It's not unreasonable to think that the British might have used it to reinforce the battery during the Revolution.