Whiteclaws and the Dead

Bygone History
Written By Lydia "Dia" Griffiths

Springtime is coming. You can practically smell spring in the air. The squirrel outside my window ate all the winter food it stashed in my flowerbeds, and there is an obnoxiously loud blue jay that has taken up residence and has a lot to say at 6 A.M. 

This means that soon I will join the millions of other New Yorkers on our warm pilgrimages to the city parks to vie for a small piece of worn-out grass. We will bask in the sun, not letting our minds wander to the thousands of dogs who do their business in the same spot. We don’t ask what’s in the grass we lay on. Maybe it’s better that way, because dog poo is the nicest of things that have been on… and under the ground of the parks. In the not too distant past, these very city parks were once burial places for the dead, and some of them are still there! 

I know that I should have saved this article for Halloween, but I will pass at nothing to talk about the macabre.

I was that middle schooler who liked all things morbid. Who am I kidding? I never outgrew it. I squealed out loud in college when the history professor talked about the Black Death. Now, I’ve made it a point to visit as many old graveyards as I can in NYC, even those that are now parks.

Courtesy: Unsplash

History of Graveyards Parks

Many, if not most, of the public parks in NYC were a plot of burial land once upon a time. In the pre-American Revolution period, the city, was small and mainly “the area south of city hall.” Anything north of that was rural, filled with farms and plantations. Can you imagine Times Square being rural farmland?!   

The local churches like Trinity Church in lower Manhattan (stop by if you are a Hamilton Fan to see his grave) was where respectable people got buried. But the city grew, and that meant more dead people. The poor, criminals, epidemic victims, enslaved, and war casualties couldn’t fit in the regular churchyards nor did they have the money for proper burials, so the city created potter’s fields. Potter’s fields are plots of unmarked graves for the unclaimed and indigent. However, the city that never sleeps didn’t stop growing and eventually overtook and outgrew graveyards.

By 1851 the city passed a law that stated that no burials could happen below 86th street. Only the historic cemeteries such as Trinity Church, Old St. Patrick’s, and private ones could remain. The city turned the graveyards into public land. Sometimes the city exhumed and moved the bodies to places like Ward’s Island, but in other cases, they didn’t, and public parks were made over the top of the dead bodies. Now, for the fun part, the parks themselves!  

 

Fort Greene in Brooklyn

Much of the American Revolution was fought in Brooklyn and surrounding areas. The British occupied the city for most of the war. Fort Green’s Prison Ship Martyrs Monument was installed to recognize the 11,500 colonists who died aboard British prison ships docked in the New York Harbor. However, it’s not just a monument. It is also a tomb. Bones of the dead were placed into the crypt. 

Courtesy: NYC Gov Parks

Madison Square Park 1794-1797

This was a short-lived burial ground for those who died at the Belle Vue Farm (Now Bellevue Hospital) during the Yellow Fever Epidemic. With the impending War of 1812, the site was taken over and transformed into an arsenal. 

Courtesy: Madison Square Park Site

Washington Square Park 1797-1825

In 1797 the rapidly growing city purchased part of an old farm to create a potter’s field. It was in operation for about 30 years. This area was perfect because it was “a rural northern suburb” of the city. This place was popular! Several churches nearby added bodies to it. The current day fountain in the park was a gallows, and about half a mile away was a prison. However, Yellow Fever Epidemic victims overwhelmed the lot. 

By 1827 Phillip Hone got the courts to approve his desire to turn the old potter’s field into a public space. The bodies were never moved. It’s estimated that around 20,000 people were buried in the land, and the bulk of them was never disinterred, which means they are still under the pavement of Washington Square Park. 

Courtesy: Unsplash

African Burial Ground

One that was once forgotten but rediscovered in the 1990s and been rightfully memorialized is the African Burial Ground. The memorial is located on the old site, Duane and Elk Street. Starting in the 1690s, it was the burial site of enslaved peoples and black freedmen and women. Both were forced to bury loved ones outside the city limits and churches. The city almost forgot about it, building on top of it until excavations and construction in the 1990s brought it to light. 

Courtesy: New York Public Library

Union Square late 1790s-1815

Union Square was, you guessed it, another potter’s field. (I’m beginning to think that that whole of the city was at once just a large, unmarked grave.) Like the others,  the exponential growth of the city overtook the site.

Courtesy: NYC Go

Bryant Park 1823-1840 

Bryant Park was also potter’s field, though later than some other parks and evidence of the city growing northward. It didn’t last long as a site, as the city bought it for public works. There are no remaining bodies here since the area was transformed into a reservoir for city drinking water, called The Croton Distributing Reservoir. After that, the park became the home of the famous Chrystal Palace (which then later burnt down in a glorious fire, but that’s another story). 

Courtesy: NYC Gov Parks

Astoria Waldorf Hotel

After the potter’s field at Bryant Park was taken over by The Croton Distributing Reservoir, it moved to the area that now houses the Astoria Waldorf Hotel. The site was short-lived, and quickly the city exhumed the bodies and sent them to Ward’s Island. Local legends say the hotel is haunted.  Guests have reported visits by ghostly specters.  I know where I’m spending my next Halloween. 

The next time you visit one of these parks, make sure to say hello to any lingering ghosts. Maybe offer them a White Claw and a bit of your Wholefood’s Sushi to thank them for providing opening space in the city to enjoy the warm sun. 

Courtesy: DNA Info

Lydia "Dia" Griffiths

Lydia loves all things stories. She moved to NYC to be in the film-making industry but realized she liked stories more than film so she went back to school to study mythology. When not immersed in dusty old tomes and writing, she wanders around NYC, gazing and imagining all the people and stories that have happened. She lives in Brooklyn with her very needy and chatty cat Coco.

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