Bowling Green

Tomorrow morning I need to give a three hour walking tour of lower Manhattan.  It's always daunting to me to give new tours, but it's also an exciting opportunity to learn something new.  Tonight, I deciding to learn more about Bowling Green Park.

Bowling Green Park is the oldest park in NYC.  It was built in 1733.  You have to bear with us Americans, we get REALLLLLLLLLLY excited about landmarks that are 300 years old.  I know to Europeans that is a NEW landmark.  For example, Hyde Park in London was "acquired" by Henry VIII in 1536 and made open to the public in 1637.  St. James' park dates back to 1532.  But we New Yorkers have our 1733 park, and it's dear to us.  

Bowling was a park built to - well - bowl.  Or play "lawn bowls" - a bizarre game you can learn about here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PonGXrse4MU  Apparently wearing white is of utmost importance and you actually use tape measures for precision.  But before the days trying to get your balls closest to the "jack," the land was a council ground for the Lenape Indians.*  Legend has it this was also the location where Peter Minuit basically tricked the Lenape Indians into selling the Dutch the island of Manhattan in 1626 for a mere $24.**  Sixty years after this infamous deed the land became public and acquired the name "Bowling Green" after the aforementioned lawn bowling.  

King George III sent over a little present in 1770 that was erected in Bowling Green. It was a led statue of himself.  He was modest like that.  A year after his statue was erected they put up an iron fence.  It is actually the same exact fence that is still at Bowling Green to this day! 

On July 9th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read at City Hall.  Excited, enraged, adrenaline hyped colonists ran to Bowling Green and tore down the statue of King George III.  The dragged it up and down the streets, and then the led it was made of was melted down.  The colonists decided to regift King George III 's present back to the English.  They decided to do this in the form of musket balls made from the statues melted down led.The citizens also took saws to remove the gold finials from the top of the fence.  This is why to this day, if you go up to the fence that has stood there since 1771, the fence points are uneven and you can see saw marks. 

By the turn of the century, Bowling green became up upscale residential area - where many political families lived.

In 1989, Arturo Di Modica installed his "Charging Bull" on the north end of Bowling Green. IN my opinion this must go down as the most successful piece of guerrilla art fare the world has ever known.   The bull has been move up the street, but Bowling Green remains open tot he public and it a beautiful piece of NYC history.  You can literally touch the past by touching the fence.  Remember, we Americans get realllllllly excited about things that are 300 years old.  We lack London's White Tower of 1078 - so let us revel in our old gate and all the beautiful things around it.

*I will need to write an entry about the poor Lenape Indians in the future.

**This story will be including in the entry about the Lenape Indians.