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Tombstone Unearthed in Washington Square Park
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 26, 2009
Modified Oct 26, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 26, 2009
Modified Oct 26, 2009
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This past Friday, as construction on Washington Square Park's redesign entered Phase II, a tombstone was unearthed. Dun dun dun. An eagle-eyed reader of the WSP Blog wrote in to that website Friday after "he noticed that there was a large hole dug about 6 feet below the surface in the fenced-off construction area" where two people were seen dusting off the tombstone. Creepy!
Washington Square Park was a potter's field from 1797 to 1826, and in early 2008, during a soil testing, four bodies were discovered (and left buried) there. In fact, there are still 20,000 (known) bodies down there. The tipster for the recent tombstone find, however, wondered if this tombstone could have been from the original land owner, and perhaps part of a "family cemetery from 200 years ago or more." Curbed notes that if WSP has a history of private cemetery usage that we don't know about, that could make things more mysterious. We say it'll only get more mysterious when the area starts smelling like onions, which we all know means GHOSTS.
While the Parks Department confirmed the new find, they didn't go in to much detail, only saying that "archaeologists and engineers are on the scene to make a preliminary report and nothing further is known at this time."
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bodies
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potter's field
tombstone
washington square park
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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