Revolutionary Era Fortification Found Below Ground in Manhattan
airplanenut
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I thought this was a neat story--some cool history involved, and yes, a coin found as well 
New York Times Article
Ancient Wall Found in Path of New Subway Tunnel
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: December 7, 2005
Three weeks after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority started digging a new 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 archaeologists have found around the wall are a well-preserved half-penny 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."
Some city officials already are excited about the discovery and what it can teach historians and tourists alike about life in New York under British rule. But its discovery has posed a dilemma for transit officials, who are in a hurry to replace the 100-year-old South Ferry station.
Ms. Geismar and other archaeologists said it was too soon to say exactly when the wall was built or by whom. Most likely, it is the base of a barrier at what was then the shoreline, built to protect soldiers as they fired guns and cannons at attacking ships, they said.
Several historians and archaeologists interviewed about the find said they did not have enough information yet to compare its significance to other important discoveries in Lower Manhattan. In 1979, the walls of the Lovelace Tavern, which was built in 1670, were found during excavation for the building at 85 Broad Street that now serves as the headquarters of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank. And in 1991, digging for a federal building a block north of City Hall turned up the African Burial Ground that dates back to the early 1700's. In both cases, at least some of the remains were preserved.
A battery wall appears on maps from the 1760's, but some archeologists said they have a hunch that this wall may predate that one by as much as 60 years. Some say the discovery of the coin near the base dates it to at least the 1740's. There is no way to tell for sure exactly how old the wall is, but the archeologists want to study the material in and around it more closely, and perhaps even dig under it to find more clues.
What is clear about the battery wall, which sits on bedrock about nine feet below street level, is that it stands in the way of the M.T.A.'s plan to build a section of tunnel for the No. 1 train that will connect to a new transit station at South Ferry.
The M.T.A. planned to spend about $400 million on the project, which began in late 2004 and is scheduled to be completed in two years. The money came from the Federal Transit Administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But the M.T.A. has not estimated how much the discovery will add to the cost of the project or to its duration, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the M.T.A.
"It's premature to discuss this thing at all, other than to say that we have made this find and we are protecting it," Mr. Kelly said. But the M.T.A.'s handling of the site has already rankled some preservationists.
When an excavation crew discovered the 8-foot-thick wall in early November, it was one continuous stretch of cut and mortared stones about 45 feet long, archaeologists familiar with the project said. But pictures and drawings produced by M.T.A. employees show that the wall is now in two smaller pieces about 10 feet apart. The gap, the archaeologists said, was created by the steel claw of a backhoe before they could halt work at the site.
For the past month, work on the tunnel there has been at a standstill while officials of the various city agencies involved have argued about how to preserve some or all of the wall and proceed with construction of the tunnel.
The M.T.A.'s contractor on the project, the Schiavone Construction Company of Secaucus, N.J., was being paid extra to complete its work in Battery Park quickly so that the park could be reopened by summer. In exchange for the right to tear up the park, the M.T.A. agreed to spend more than $10 million cleaning up the mess and helping to reconfigure the park as the parks department has envisioned. That redesign would include the creation of a bicycle path to link the riverfront on the east and west sides.
But the contractor is already a few weeks behind schedule and engineers are anxious about a prolonged delay. One idea the M.T.A. floated was to remove a 3-foot-long section of the wall to be preserved elsewhere, then plow ahead with the excavation. But Mr. Benepe and Robert B. Tierney, the chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said they had been assured that no decisions had been reached on the matter.
"I'll talk to parks about that and look at the options and see how much could be and should be preserved," Mr. Tierney said.
The uneasiness between the various officials was apparent today when archaeologists from Landmarks and representatives of the parks department arrived at the site, which has been cordoned off with a plywood fence. A group of officials from the M.T.A. Capital Corporation turned the visitors away, telling them that the wall had been hidden under wooden planks that could not easily be lifted.
That response came as a surprise to the parks department representatives, who were preparing to hold a news conference there on Thursday with remarks provided by officials including Mr. Benepe and Katherine Lapp, the executive director of the M.T.A. Late today, the various agencies said two planks would be removed Thursday to provide a glimpse of the wall and the news conference would go on without Ms. Lapp.
The inter-agency squabbling did not dampen the enthusiasm of the preservationists, though.
"This is thrilling," said Warrie Price, president of the Battery Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization that supports revitalization of the battery. Ms. Price added that she hoped the wall could be reconstructed, at least in part, above ground in the park.
"If these stones are able to be reused, it would be wonderful to be able to actually touch this history."
New York Times Article
Ancient Wall Found in Path of New Subway Tunnel
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: December 7, 2005
Three weeks after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority started digging a new 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 archaeologists have found around the wall are a well-preserved half-penny 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."
Some city officials already are excited about the discovery and what it can teach historians and tourists alike about life in New York under British rule. But its discovery has posed a dilemma for transit officials, who are in a hurry to replace the 100-year-old South Ferry station.
Ms. Geismar and other archaeologists said it was too soon to say exactly when the wall was built or by whom. Most likely, it is the base of a barrier at what was then the shoreline, built to protect soldiers as they fired guns and cannons at attacking ships, they said.
Several historians and archaeologists interviewed about the find said they did not have enough information yet to compare its significance to other important discoveries in Lower Manhattan. In 1979, the walls of the Lovelace Tavern, which was built in 1670, were found during excavation for the building at 85 Broad Street that now serves as the headquarters of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank. And in 1991, digging for a federal building a block north of City Hall turned up the African Burial Ground that dates back to the early 1700's. In both cases, at least some of the remains were preserved.
A battery wall appears on maps from the 1760's, but some archeologists said they have a hunch that this wall may predate that one by as much as 60 years. Some say the discovery of the coin near the base dates it to at least the 1740's. There is no way to tell for sure exactly how old the wall is, but the archeologists want to study the material in and around it more closely, and perhaps even dig under it to find more clues.
What is clear about the battery wall, which sits on bedrock about nine feet below street level, is that it stands in the way of the M.T.A.'s plan to build a section of tunnel for the No. 1 train that will connect to a new transit station at South Ferry.
The M.T.A. planned to spend about $400 million on the project, which began in late 2004 and is scheduled to be completed in two years. The money came from the Federal Transit Administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But the M.T.A. has not estimated how much the discovery will add to the cost of the project or to its duration, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for the M.T.A.
"It's premature to discuss this thing at all, other than to say that we have made this find and we are protecting it," Mr. Kelly said. But the M.T.A.'s handling of the site has already rankled some preservationists.
When an excavation crew discovered the 8-foot-thick wall in early November, it was one continuous stretch of cut and mortared stones about 45 feet long, archaeologists familiar with the project said. But pictures and drawings produced by M.T.A. employees show that the wall is now in two smaller pieces about 10 feet apart. The gap, the archaeologists said, was created by the steel claw of a backhoe before they could halt work at the site.
For the past month, work on the tunnel there has been at a standstill while officials of the various city agencies involved have argued about how to preserve some or all of the wall and proceed with construction of the tunnel.
The M.T.A.'s contractor on the project, the Schiavone Construction Company of Secaucus, N.J., was being paid extra to complete its work in Battery Park quickly so that the park could be reopened by summer. In exchange for the right to tear up the park, the M.T.A. agreed to spend more than $10 million cleaning up the mess and helping to reconfigure the park as the parks department has envisioned. That redesign would include the creation of a bicycle path to link the riverfront on the east and west sides.
But the contractor is already a few weeks behind schedule and engineers are anxious about a prolonged delay. One idea the M.T.A. floated was to remove a 3-foot-long section of the wall to be preserved elsewhere, then plow ahead with the excavation. But Mr. Benepe and Robert B. Tierney, the chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said they had been assured that no decisions had been reached on the matter.
"I'll talk to parks about that and look at the options and see how much could be and should be preserved," Mr. Tierney said.
The uneasiness between the various officials was apparent today when archaeologists from Landmarks and representatives of the parks department arrived at the site, which has been cordoned off with a plywood fence. A group of officials from the M.T.A. Capital Corporation turned the visitors away, telling them that the wall had been hidden under wooden planks that could not easily be lifted.
That response came as a surprise to the parks department representatives, who were preparing to hold a news conference there on Thursday with remarks provided by officials including Mr. Benepe and Katherine Lapp, the executive director of the M.T.A. Late today, the various agencies said two planks would be removed Thursday to provide a glimpse of the wall and the news conference would go on without Ms. Lapp.
The inter-agency squabbling did not dampen the enthusiasm of the preservationists, though.
"This is thrilling," said Warrie Price, president of the Battery Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization that supports revitalization of the battery. Ms. Price added that she hoped the wall could be reconstructed, at least in part, above ground in the park.
"If these stones are able to be reused, it would be wonderful to be able to actually touch this history."
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Comments
I'm sure the site holds a lot of promise for numismatic items (as it's already shown) as well as other great historical treasures. Thanks for posting the article.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
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Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
TorinoCobra71
What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake
<< <i>Among the items archaeologists have found around the wall are a well-preserved half-penny coin dated 1744 >>
I wonder where it is from? There weren't any colonial coins with that date, and I don't believe there are any British 1744 half pence either. 1774 would be possible, and I think 1754 is possible.
<< <i> Some say the discovery of the coin near the base dates it to at least the 1740's. >>
Or the coin could have been lost long after it was minted. (They said it was well preserved, not high grade. Do they mean it has lots of detail, or that it wasn't badly corroded? And is the person making the statement about its condition qualified to judge it? How many of us have had people tell us they have old coins that are in really great shape and then they bring us VG graded coins?) The date of the coin may not have much relevence to the date of the wall. Massachusetts silver from 1652 were still circulating in the late 1700's. If someone lost one by Independence Hall and we find it today would we think Independence Hall was built in 1652?
(Just think of city streets clogged with a hundred thousand horses each generating 15 lbs of manure every day...)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
<< <i>I wonder where it is from? There weren't any colonial coins with that date, and I don't believe there are any British 1744 half pence either. 1774 would be possible, and I think 1754 is possible. >>
Actually, both farthings and halfpence were minted bearing the 1744 date. Whether the individuals quoted really know what they have is another story. It could be a Dutch coin for that matter. Also, George II halfpence do not have the denomination noted on the coin.