Hark: Tribeca Park Remarks

Greensward here. Benches too. Perfect for weary feet and the halfhearted watching of that heterogeneous mix of a human landscape, what with its guffawing Italian/Irish manual laborers; its happily sequestered young people on lunch break; its quietly reading Latinas; its crazy old bags; its circular seating space making all these disparate, outdoor-dwelling gals and gents accessible to your eyes. Tribeca Park is a relatively temperately cool park and that is a soothing fact in times as humid as these. Tribeca Park used to be a swamp of a park. Did you know? A onetime portion of the Lispenard Swamp, as of 1735 the muck was drained, and in 1809 it was delineated as future park land. For a hundred years, ‘twas known as the Beach Street Park (in connection with its northern boundary) and in 1936, six trees, six benches, a walkway of granite and railings of iron and a water trough were installed. A water trough? I don’t recall a water trough on any of my hungry, time-worn visits. However, all of those visits were in Summer 2009, so perhaps things have changed though it pains me to learn it. Ah, for a water trough. In the middle of my park. A water trough, was our castle and our keep…