City Unveils 300 Artifacts From 19th-Century Central Park Village

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — A new online exhibit will let the public look at artifacts from a once-hidden Central Park village for the first time.

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission launched "Seneca Village Unearthed" last week, a collection of almost 300 artifacts from what was known as Seneca Village, New York City's largest community of free African-American landowners back in the 19th century.

The exhibit about the historic village, which sits in what is now Central Park's west side, comes after decades of archaeologists uncovering the village's past, including the 2011 Seneca Village Project that found the artifacts that will be displayed online.

Officials said the new exhibit won't just let the public explore Seneca Village's history, but could reveal even more stories from it.

“We hope that people will be drawn to the remaining traces of what was once a vital 19th-century African-American community and from them better understand what life would have been like for Seneca Villagers,” LPC Director of Archaeology Amanda Sutphin said. “We welcome scholars to study this collection and reveal more about the stories of Seneca Village.”

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Seneca Village was founded in the 1820s in a rural area that now sits between 82nd and 89th Street and Central Park West and the Great Lawn, the LPC said.

The village was an important escape for free African Americans from restrictive covenants and housing codes that prevented them from owning their own land and the discrimination that they likely faced in the center of New York City, even after slavery was outlawed in the state in 1827.

"By 1855, this predominantly African-American community was a vibrant, middle-class, multi-ethnic settlement with at least 220 residents that included Irish and German immigrants in addition to the predominant African-American population, three churches, a school, planting fields and orchards," the commission said.

Little was known about Seneca Village after its residents were displaced to build Central Park until the 1990s when scholars began to study it, LPC said.

The online exhibit specifically highlights artifacts that belonged to the Wilson family. The Seneca Village Project found the stone foundation of the Charlotte and William Godfrey Wilson house and the original ground surface that Seneca Villagers walked upon.

Central Park Conservancy also has a outdoor exhibition of interpretive signs about Seneca Village in the park.

“The artifacts found in 2011 provide a tangible connection to the residents of Seneca Village, and give us a sense of what life was like there,” Central Park Conservancy Historian Marie Warsh, said. “Being able to view and explore this invaluable historic material will be a great benefit to those seeking to learn about this extraordinary community."