View source for Seneca Village

{{short description|Former settlement in Manhattan, New York}}
{{distinguish|Seneca, New York}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{good article}}
{{coord|40.784002|-73.968892|type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:US-NY|display=title}}
{{Maplink|frame=yes|frame-align=right|frame-width=300|frame-height=300|frame-lat=40.782|frame-long=-73.965|zoom=13|type=shape|stroke-color=#000|stroke-width=1|id=Q2103252|type2=point|marker2=town|coord2={{coord|40.78316|-73.96917}}|text=Location of Seneca Village in [[Central Park]]}}

'''Seneca Village''' was a 19th-century settlement of mostly [[African American]] landowners in the borough of [[Manhattan]] in [[New York City]], within what would become present-day [[Central Park]]. The settlement was located near the current [[Upper West Side]] neighborhood, approximately bounded by [[Central Park West]] and the axes of 82nd Street, 89th Street, and [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]], had they been constructed through the park.

Seneca Village was founded in 1825 by [[free blacks|free Black Americans]], the first such community in the city, although under Dutch rule there was a "half-free" community of [[Land of the Blacks (Manhattan)|African-owned farms north of New Amsterdam]]. At its peak, the community had approximately 225 residents, three churches, two schools, and three cemeteries. The settlement was later also inhabited by [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Germans|German]] immigrants. Seneca Village existed until 1857, when, through [[eminent domain]], the villagers and other settlers in the area were forced to leave and their houses were torn down for the construction of Central Park. The entirety of the village was dispersed.

Several vestiges of Seneca Village's existence have been found over the years, including two graves and a burial plot. The settlement was largely forgotten until the publication of [[Roy Rosenzweig]] and [[Elizabeth Blackmar]]'s book ''The Park and the People: A History of Central Park'' in 1992. After a 1997 [[New-York Historical Society]] exhibition, the Seneca Village Project was formed in 1998 to raise awareness of the village, and several archaeological digs have been conducted. In 2001, a historical sign was unveiled, commemorating the site where Seneca Village once stood. In 2019, the [[Central Park Conservancy]] installed a temporary exhibit of signage in the park, marking the sites of the Village's churches, some houses, gardens, and natural features.

==Etymology==
[[File:Seneca's-Morals title-page.jpg|thumb|''Seneca's Morals'', 1817, American edition, first book published by Harper. [[Letter 47 (Seneca)|Letter 47]] may have influenced the naming of Seneca Village.]]
The origin of Seneca Village's name is obscure, and was only recorded by Thomas McClure Peters, rector of [[St. Michael's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Michael's Episcopal Church]];<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Leslie M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E73iOQSkHdwC&pg=PA222|title=African Or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784–1861|date=December 21, 2011|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-07853-8|pages=222–223|language=en}}</ref> however, a number of theories have been advanced.<ref name="NYC Parks 1939">{{cite journal|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/daily-plant?id=18599|title=Central Park's Secret History|volume=XIX|number=4042|journal=The Daily Plant|date=June 26, 1939|publication-date=February 9, 2004|publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331204505/https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/daily-plant?id=18599|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HuffPost 2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-resurrection-of-senec_b_935566|title=The Resurrection of Seneca Village|date=August 25, 2011|website=HuffPost|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331181028/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-resurrection-of-senec_b_935566|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1995-04-07">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/07/nyregion/before-park-black-village-students-look-into-a-community-s-history.html|title=Before Park, Black Village: Students Look Into a Community's History|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=April 7, 1995|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=May 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710054019/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/07/nyregion/before-park-black-village-students-look-into-a-community-s-history.html|archive-date=July 10, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

# One theory suggests that the word "Seneca" came from Roman philosopher [[Seneca the Younger]], whose ''[[Moral Epistles]]'' – particularly [[Letter 47 (Seneca)|Letter 47]] – were appreciated by African American activists<ref>{{Cite book|last=Malamud|first=Margaret|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHmGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67|title=African Americans and the Classics: Antiquity, Abolition and Activism|date=January 24, 2019|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78831-579-1|pages=67|language=en}}</ref> and abolitionists.<ref name="NYC Parks 1939" /><ref name="HuffPost 2011" /> The scholar [[Leslie M. Alexander (professor)|Leslie M. Alexander]] notes this as a possible influence of the [[African Free School]].<ref name=":0" />
# The village could have also been named after the [[Seneca nation]] of Native Americans.<ref name="NYC Parks 1939" /> Although the presence of Seneca specifically would be unlikely as their territory was distant, Peters did mention "white and black and Indian" as among the diverse population at the site, as well as "white and black and all intermediate shades" worshiping at All Angels',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=John Punnett |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofstmichae00pete/page/n117 |title=Annals of St. Michael's; being the history of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, for one hundred years 1807–1907; |date=1907 |publisher=New York, London, G. P. Putnam |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=90–95}}</ref> and there is a later report of "aborigines and cross-breed Indians" at its Sunday school.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 12, 1959 |title=ALL ANGELS' HERE MARKS 100 YEARS; West Side Church Started as Sunday School for 'Cross-Breed Indians' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/01/12/archives/all-angels-here-marks-100-years-west-side-church-started-as-sunday.html |access-date=March 1, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After 1857, Peters was involved in a church mission to the multi-racial [[Ramapough Mountain Indians|Ramapo Lenape]] of a nearby section of New Jersey by his friend [[Abram Hewitt]]'s [[Ringwood Manor]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=John Punnett |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofstmichae00pete/page/n189 |title=Annals of St. Michael's; being the history of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, for one hundred years 1807–1907; |date=1907 |publisher=New York, London, G. P. Putnam |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=149–150}}</ref>
# According to Central Park Conservancy historian Sara Cedar Miller, "Seneca" could have been influenced by anti-Native American and anti-Black slurs.<ref name="nyt-1995-04-07" />
# Another theory posits that Seneca Village could be named after the West African nation of [[Senegal]], which may have been the origin country for some of the village's residents.<ref name="NYC Parks 1939" /><ref name="HuffPost 2011" />
# The name could have also come from use as a code-word on the [[Underground Railroad]], when fugitive slaves from the [[Southern United States]] were being hidden in nearby areas.<ref name="NYC Parks 1939" /> In the socially active "[[burned-over district]]", there was a noted concentration of [[History of Rochester, New York#Rochester abolitionism|abolitionism around Rochester]] [[Seneca Falls (CDP), New York#Social movements in the village and surrounding area|and Seneca Falls]] in the former Seneca territory of Western New York.<ref name="CPC-Discover" />

==Existence==
[[File:Seneca Village from Map of Central Park by Viele 1856 (1697276).png|right|thumb|300x300px|Map showing the former location of Seneca Village (Egbert Viele, 1856)]]

===Development===
Natural features on the Seneca Village landscape which still survive today are Summit Rock, then known as Goat Hill, the highest natural elevation in modern Central Park, and [[Henry S. Tanner (doctor)|Tanner]]'s Spring near its southern base.<ref name=":3" /> The settlement's main street was "Spring Street" as marked on an 1838 map, or as "old Lane" on an 1856 map,<ref name="CPC-Discover" /> and it connected to "Stillwells Lane".<ref>{{Cite web |title=West Side Rag » Research Brings New Light to the Lost 'Seneca Village' in What is Now Central Park |url=https://www.westsiderag.com/2019/01/20/research-brings-new-light-to-central-parks-lost-seneca-village |access-date=March 11, 2022 |website=www.westsiderag.com|date=January 20, 2019 }}</ref>

The previous landowner before African American settlement was a white farmer named John Whitehead, who purchased his property in 1824.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Seneca Village: A Teacher's Guide to Using Primary Sources in the Classroom|publisher=New-York Historical Society|year=2010|url=https://www.nyhistory.org/sites/default/files/Seneca_Village_NYHS.pdf|pages=3|access-date=October 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021212004/https://www.nyhistory.org/sites/default/files/Seneca_Village_NYHS.pdf|archive-date=October 21, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> One year later, Whitehead began selling off smaller lots from his property.<ref name="Blakinger 2016">{{cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/seneca-village-black-town-razed-central-park-article-1.2639611|title=A look at Seneca Village, the early black settlement obliterated by the creation of Central Park|last=Blakinger|first=Keri|date=May 17, 2016|website=New York Daily News|access-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518101320/https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/seneca-village-black-town-razed-central-park-article-1.2639611 |archive-date= May 18, 2016}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1995-04-07" /><ref name="nyt-2018-02-07">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/nyregion/uncovering-the-ruins-of-new-yorks-first-free-black-settlement.html|title=Uncovering the Ruins of an Early Black Settlement in New York|last=Williams|first=Keith|date=February 7, 2018|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331042658/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/nyregion/uncovering-the-ruins-of-new-yorks-first-free-black-settlement.html|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 65">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=65}}</ref> At the time, the area was far from the core of New York City, which was centered south of 23rd Street in what is now [[Lower Manhattan]].  On September 27, 1825, a 25-year-old African American man named Andrew Williams, employed as a [[Shoeshiner|bootblack]] and later as a [[Teamster|cartman]], purchased three lots from the Whiteheads for $125.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 65" /> On the same day, [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]] (AME Zion Church) trustee Epiphany Davis, employed as a [[Animal feed|feed]] [[Retail clerk|store clerk]], bought twelve lots for $578.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 65" /> Both men were part of the [[New York African Society for Mutual Relief]], an organization whose members supported each other financially.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilder |first=Craig Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fiQUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |title=In The Company Of Black Men: The African Influence on African American Culture in New York City |date=February 2005 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9369-5 |pages=101 |language=en}}</ref> The AME Zion Church bought six additional lots the same week, and by 1832, at least 24 lots had been sold to African Americans.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref name="nyt-1995-04-07" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 65" /><ref name="maap.columbia.edu">{{cite web|url=http://maap.columbia.edu/place/32.html|title=Seneca Village|website=MAAP: Mapping the African American Past|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=September 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222051213/http://maap.columbia.edu/place/32.html|archive-date=February 22, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Additional nearby development was centered around "York Hill", a plot bounded by where Sixth and Seventh Avenues would have been built, between 79th and 86th Streets. York Hill was mostly owned by the city, but {{Convert|5|acres|ha|abbr=}} were purchased by William Matthews, a young African American, in the late 1830s. Matthews's African Union Church also bought land in Seneca Village around that time.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 66">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=66}}</ref>

More African Americans began moving to Seneca Village after [[History of slavery in New York (state)#Gradual abolition|slavery in New York state was outlawed in 1827]].<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /><ref name="NPS">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/seneca-village-new-york-city.htm|title=Seneca Village, New York City (U.S. National Park Service)|date=January 28, 2019|website=NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service)|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331203915/https://www.nps.gov/articles/seneca-village-new-york-city.htm|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1830s, people from York Hill were forced to move so that a basin for the [[Croton Distributing Reservoir]] could be built, so many of York Hill's residents migrated to Seneca Village.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 66" /> The reservoir's massive granite walls formed a prominent landmark, bordering Seneca Village on the east. Seneca Village provided a safe haven during the [[New York anti-abolitionist riots (1834)|anti-abolitionist riot of 1834]].<ref name="Alexander 2011">{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=Leslie M.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E73iOQSkHdwC&pg=PA154|title=African Or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784–1861|date=December 21, 2011|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-07853-8|pages=154–173|language=en|chapter=The Story of Seneca Village}}</ref>

Later, during the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine of Ireland]], many Irish immigrants came to live in Seneca Village, swelling the village's population by 30 percent during this time.<ref name="NYC Parks 1939" /> Both African Americans and Irish immigrants were marginalized and faced discrimination throughout the city. Despite their social and racial conflicts elsewhere, the African Americans and Irish in Seneca Village lived close to each other.<ref name="Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City">{{cite journal|last1=Wall|first1=Diana|last2=Rothschild|first2=Nan A.|last3=Copeland|first3=Cynthia|year=2008|title=Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City|journal=Historical Archaeology|volume=42|issue=Living in Cities Revisited: Trends in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Urban Archaeology (2008)|pages=97–107|doi=10.1007/BF03377066|jstor=25617485|s2cid=159520312}}</ref> By 1855, one-third of the village's population was Irish.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 66" /> [[George Washington Plunkitt]], who later became a [[Tammany Hall]] politician, was born in 1842 to Pat and Sara Plunkitt, two of the first Irish settlers at the western edge of the village on Nanny Goat Hill.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 66" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Burrows|Wallace|1999|pages=747–748}}</ref> This location was in the vicinity of a cluster of Irish-American households led by John Gallagher.<ref name="CPC-Discover" /> [[Richard Croker]], who later became the leader of Tammany, was born in Ireland, but he came with his family to Seneca Village in 1846, and lived there until his father received a job that enabled them to move.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 66" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Burrows|Wallace|1999|page=1104}}</ref>

By 1855, there were 52 houses in Seneca Village. On maps of the area, most of the houses were identified as one-, two-, or three-story houses made out of wood.<ref name="CPC-Discover">{{Cite web|last=Central Park Conservancy|title=Discover Seneca Village| date=2019|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.centralparknyc.org/new_images/programs/Seneca-Village-Signs.pdf?mtime=20200207092028|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref> Archeological excavations uncovered stone foundations and roofing materials, indicating that they were well-built.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Central Park Conservancy|date=February 7, 2019|title=Dishes, Shoes, and Tiles: The Excavation of the Seneca Village Site.|url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/articles/uncovering-seneca-village|access-date=February 3, 2022|website=centralparknyc.org}}</ref> Some of the houses were identified as shanties, meaning that they were less well-constructed.  Land ownership among Black residents was much higher than that in the city as a whole: more than half owned property in 1850, five times the property ownership rate of all New York City residents at the time.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 70-71">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=70–71}}</ref> Many of Seneca Village's Black residents were landowners and relatively economically secure compared to their downtown counterparts in the [[Little Africa, Manhattan|Little Africa]] neighborhood by Greenwich Village. Many African-Americans owned property in Seneca Village but lived downtown, perhaps seeing it as an investment.<ref name="CPC-Discover"/>

===Inhabitants===
Based on analysis of various documents including census records, maps, and tax records, researchers have estimated that in 1855, approximately 225 people lived in Seneca Village.<ref name=CPC-Discover/> On average, the residents had lived there for 22 years. Three-quarters of these residents had lived in Seneca Village at least since 1840, and nearly all had lived there since 1850.<ref name="GMU Census">{{Cite web|title=1855 NYS Census Page|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/numbers/census.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912191907/http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/numbers/census.html|archive-date=September 12, 2016|access-date=March 31, 2019|website=historymatters.gmu.edu}}</ref><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 67">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=67}}</ref> The unusually high level of [[Geographic mobility|address stability]] gave a sense of permanence and security to the community. At this time in New York City's history, most of the city's population lived below 14th Street; the region above 59th Street was only sporadically developed and was semi-rural or rural in character.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 67" />

Under a New York state law created in 1821, African American men in the state could vote only if they had $250 worth of property and had lived in the state for at least three years.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 72">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=72}}</ref> Owning property was a way to gain political power, and the purchase of land by Black people likely had a significant effect on their political engagement.<ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 73">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=73}}</ref> Of the 13,000 Black New Yorkers in 1845, either 100<ref name=CPC-Before/> or 91 were qualified to vote that year.<ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 73"/> Of the voting-eligible Black population, 10 lived in Seneca Village.<ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 73"/><ref name=CPC-Before>{{Cite web|last=Central Park Conservancy|date=January 18, 2018|title=Before Central Park: The Story of Seneca Village|url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/articles/seneca-village|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref>

Nevertheless, many of the residents were still poor, since they worked in service industries such as construction, day labor, or food service. Only three residents could be considered middle-class as measured by occupation, of which two were grocers and the other was an innkeeper. Many Black women worked as domestic servants.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 68-69">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=68–69}}</ref> However, historian [[Leslie M. Harris]] holds that the [[African-American middle class]] of the time should be judged by educational and social criteria that were different from that of the white middle class.<ref name="Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City" /> Many residents boarded in homes they did not own, demonstrating that there was significant class stratification even with Seneca Village's high land ownership rate.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 76-77">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=76–77}}</ref> Maps show that residents had gardens, likely to grow food for their own consumption. The residents likely also relied on the abundant natural resources nearby, such as fish from the nearby [[Hudson River]], and the firewood from nearby forests, as well as driftwood.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=John Punnett |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofstmichae00pete/page/n531 |title=Annals of St. Michael's; being the history of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, for one hundred years 1807–1907; |date=1907 |publisher=New York, London, G. P. Putnam |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=445–451}}</ref> Some residents also had barns and raised livestock. Tanner's Spring likely supplied the Village with fresh water.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Warsh|first=Marie|date=February 1, 2021|title=How the Landscape of Seneca Village Can Reveal its History|url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/articles/how-the-landscape-of-seneca-village-can-reveal-its-history|access-date=February 3, 2022}}</ref>

===Community institutions===
The economic and cultural stability of Seneca Village enabled the growth of several community institutions. The village had three churches, two schools, and three cemeteries;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/jan/31/seneca-village-black-history-central-park/|title=Seneca Village: Black history in Central Park|website=amsterdamnews.com|date=January 31, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021204437/http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/jan/31/seneca-village-black-history-central-park/|archive-date=October 21, 2019|access-date=October 21, 2019}}</ref><ref name="NPS" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 70-71" /> by 1855, approximately two-thirds of the inhabitants were regular churchgoers.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 72" /> Two of the churches, First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Yorkville and African Union Church, were all-Black churches, while All Angels' Church was racially mixed.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 70-71" />

The [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church|AME Zion Church]], a denomination officially established in lower Manhattan in 1821, owned property for burials in Seneca Village beginning in 1827. The Seneca Village congregation was known as the AME Zion Branch Militant from 1848. In 1853, the Church established a congregation and built a church building in Seneca Village. AME Zion maintained a church school in its basement. The church building was destroyed as part of the razing of Seneca Village.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Randall Sharon|chapter=Seneca Village |editor1-link = Kenneth T. Jackson |editor1-last = Jackson |editor1-first = Kenneth T. |year = 2010 |title = The Encyclopedia of New York City |edition = 2nd |location = New Haven |publisher = [[Yale University Press]] |isbn = 978-0-300-11465-2 |pages=1167–1168|title-link=The Encyclopedia of New York City}}</ref>

The [[A.U.M.P. Church|African Union Church]], a Methodist denomination, purchased lots in Seneca Village in 1837, about {{convert|100|ft|m}} from AME Zion Church.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 70-71" /> It had 50 congregants.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 72" /> There was also a branch of the [[African Free School]] next to the African Union Church, founded in the mid-1840s, which had become Colored School No. 3 as part of the public school system by the 1850s,<ref name="Alexander 2011" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 70-71" /> serving 75 students.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wUUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA70 |title=Annual Report |date=1856 |pages=70 |language=en}}</ref> The school was led by teacher Caroline W. Simpson.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Education |first=New York (N Y. ) Board of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=co0dAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA74 |title=Report |date=1854 |pages=74 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:All Angels Church 1887.jpg|thumb|All Angels' Church in 1887, after the church building was physically relocated.]]
[[All Angels' Church]] was founded in 1846 as an affiliate of [[St. Michael's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Michael's Episcopal Church]], a wealthy white church whose main campus was located at Amsterdam Avenue and 99th Street in the [[Bloomingdale District]].<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 70-71" /> St. Michael's had earlier established a [[Sunday school]] in the area in 1833, founded by William Richmond and led by his brother James Cook Richmond as part of a [[Christian mission|church mission]] to Seneca Village and nearby areas, and accommodating at first forty children. Initially the church was hosted in a white policeman's home, but a wooden church at 84th Street was built in 1849. The congregation was racially diverse, with Black and German Protestant<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=John Punnett |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofstmichae00pete/page/n473 |title=Annals of St. Michael's; being the history of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, New York, for one hundred years 1807–1907; |date=1907 |publisher=New York, London, G. P. Putnam |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=393–396}}</ref> parishioners from Seneca Village and nearby areas. It had only 30 parishioners from Seneca Village.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 72" /> There was a cemetery set up to serve the congregation, which was much used during the [[1846–1860 cholera pandemic|1849 cholera epidemic]], but was closed by city law in 1851 along with all cemeteries south of 86th Street;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bailey |first=Rosalie Fellows |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmeTLBqpYFUC&pg=PA43 |title=Guide to Genealogical and Biographical Sources for New York City (Manhattan), 1783–1898 |date=1954 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |isbn=978-0-8063-4801-8 |pages=43–44 |language=en}}</ref> [[St. Michael's Cemetery (New York)|St. Michael's Cemetery]] in Queens was established thereafter as a replacement for this and other communities.<ref name=":5" /> When the community was razed, the church was physically relocated a few blocks west<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=88–89}}</ref> and was officially incorporated at the corner of 81st Street and West End Avenue.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our History|website=All Angels' Church|url=https://allangelschurch.com/our-history/|access-date=September 15, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Inventory of the Church Archives of New York City, Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of New York: New York, Bronx, Richmond|publisher=Historical Records Survey|issue=v. 2|year=1940|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9pssN9bOiioC|access-date=September 15, 2019|page=102}}</ref>

== Nearby settlements ==
[[File:New York City Blockhouse.JPG|alt=|thumb|[[Blockhouse No. 1]], a structure that predated Central Park]]
While Seneca Village was the largest former settlement in what is now Central Park, it was also surrounded by smaller areas that were occupied mainly by Irish and German immigrants.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 73-74">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=73–74}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Berman|2003|page=18}}</ref> One of these areas, called "Pigtown", was a settlement of 14 mostly Irish families located in the modern park's southeastern corner, and was so named because the residents kept hogs and goats.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 73-74" /> Pigtown was originally located farther south, from Sixth to Seventh Avenues somewhere within the "50s"-numbered streets, but was forced northward because of complaints about the pungent animal smells.<ref name="McNeur 2014 p. 161">{{cite book | last=McNeur | first=Catherine | title=Taming Manhattan | publisher=Harvard University Press | series=ACLS Humanities E-Book | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-674-72509-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OT4yBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 | pages=160-161}}</ref> An additional 34 families, mainly Irish, lived in an area bounded by 68th and 72nd Streets between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 73-74" /> Nearby, on the current site of [[Tavern on the Green]], were a collection of [[Rendering (animal products)|bone-boiling plants]], which employed people from Seneca Village and nearby settlements.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 75">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=75}}</ref> To the southwest of Seneca Village was the settlement of Harsenville, which is now part of the Upper West Side between 66th and 81st Streets.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/nyregion/thecity/17fyi.html|title=Knowing the Distance|last=Pollak|first=Michael|date=September 17, 2006|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331202320/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/nyregion/thecity/17fyi.html|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

There were also two German settlements: one at the modern-day park's northern end and one south of the current [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir]]. Many of the Irish and German residents were also farmers with their own gardens.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 73-74" /> An additional settlement in the northeast corner of Central Park included a portion of the former [[Boston Post Road]]. That corner contains [[McGowan's Pass]], a topological feature that was the site of a Hessian encampment during the [[American Revolutionary War]], and [[Blockhouse No. 1]], a still-extant fortification built during the [[War of 1812]].<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 75" /> [[College of Mount Saint Vincent|Mount St. Vincent's Academy]] was also sited near McGowan's Pass until 1881.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=89–90}}</ref> A later Irish settlement was known as "Goatville".<ref>{{cite book | last=Neuwirth | first=Robert| title=Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-135-95412-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dhgfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA219| page=219}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Kellner | first=Bruce | title=The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era | publisher=Greenwood Press | year=1984 | isbn=978-0-313-23232-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HoIYAAAAIAAJ | page=XIV}}</ref>

==Demise==
=== Planning of Central Park ===
By the 1840s, members of the city's upper class were publicly calling for the construction of a new large park in Manhattan. Two of the primary proponents were [[William Cullen Bryant]], the editor of the ''[[New York Post|New York Evening Post]]'', and [[Andrew Jackson Downing]], one of the first American landscape designers.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Heckscher|2008|pages=11–12}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pp=15, 29–30}}</ref> The Special Committee on Parks was formed to survey possible sites for the proposed large park. One of the first sites considered was [[Jones's Wood]], a {{Convert|160|acre|ha|abbr=|adj=on}} tract of land between 66th and 75th Streets on the [[Upper East Side]].<ref name="New York (State). Legislature. Assembly 19112">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0AbAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA458|title=Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York|author=New York (State). Legislature. Assembly|year=1911|pages=451–458|access-date=March 28, 2019|volume=29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405050610/https://books.google.com/books?id=W0AbAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA458|archive-date=April 5, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|451}} The area was occupied by multiple wealthy families who objected to the taking of their land, particularly the Jones and Schermerhorn families.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 45" /> Downing stated that he would prefer a park of at least {{convert|500|acre|ha|abbr=}} at any location from 39th Street to the [[Harlem River]].<ref name="New York (State). Legislature. Assembly 19112" />{{Rp|452–453}}<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Berman|2003|p=17}}</ref> Following the passage of an 1851 bill to acquire Jones's Wood, the Schermerhorns and Joneses successfully obtained an [[injunction]] to block the acquisition, and the transaction was invalidated as unconstitutional.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 45">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=45}}</ref><ref name="Taylor p. 260">{{harvnb|ps=.|Taylor|2009|p=260}}</ref>

The second site proposed for a large public park was a {{convert|750|acre|ha|adj=on}} area labeled "Central Park", bounded by 59th and 106th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 45" /><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1851|title=First Annual Report|journal=Board of Commissioners of Central Park}}</ref> The Central Park plan gradually gained support from a variety of groups.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=49–50}}</ref> After a second bill to acquire Jones's Wood was nullified,<ref name="Taylor p. 260" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=51–53}}</ref> the New York State Legislature passed the Central Park Act in July 1853;<ref name="New York (State). Legislature. Assembly 19112" />{{Rp|458}}<ref name="nyt-1853-09-19" /> the act authorized a board of five commissioners to start purchasing land for a park, and it created a Central Park Fund to raise money.<ref name="nyt-1853-09-19">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1853/09/19/archives/the-central-park.html|title=The Central Park.|date=September 19, 1853|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328163717/https://www.nytimes.com/1853/09/19/archives/the-central-park.html|archive-date=March 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Heckscher|2008|pages=15–16}}</ref>

In the years prior to the acquisition of Central Park, the Seneca Village community was referred to in pejorative terms,<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 67" /> including racial slurs.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 66" /><ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /> Park advocates and the media began to describe Seneca Village and other communities in this area as "[[shantytown]]s" and the residents there as "squatters" and "vagabonds and scoundrels"; the Irish and Black residents were often described as "wretched" and "debased".<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar p. 67" /> The residents of Seneca Village were also accused of stealing food and operating illegal bars.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 76-77" /> The village's detractors included [[Egbert Ludovicus Viele]], the park's first engineer, who wrote a report about the "refuge of five thousand squatters" living on the future site of Central Park, criticizing the residents as people with "very little knowledge of the English language, and with very little respect for the law".<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 63-64">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=63–64}}</ref> Other critics described the inhabitants as "stubborn insects" and used racial slurs to refer to Seneca Village.<ref name="NPR 2015">{{cite web |date=September 4, 2015 |title=Lives Displaced By Central Park Take Center Stage In New Play |url=https://www.npr.org/2015/09/04/436938527/lives-displaced-by-central-park-take-center-stage-in-new-play |access-date=May 20, 2023 |website=NPR}}</ref> While a minority of Seneca Village's residents were landowners, most residents had formal or informal agreements with landlords; only a few residents were actual [[Squatting in the United States|squatters]] with no permission from any landlord.<ref name="Berman p. 19">{{harvnb|ps=.|Berman|2003|page=19}}</ref><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 76-77" />

=== Razing ===
In 1853, the Central Park commissioners started conducting property assessments on more than 34,000 lots in and near Central Park.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=81}}</ref> The Central Park commissioners had completed their assessments by July 1855, and the [[New York State Supreme Court]] confirmed this work the following February.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Heckscher|2008|page=17}}</ref> All land owners and long-term lease holders did receive compensation. However, roughly only 20% of those living in Seneca Village owned land.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-31" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /> As part of the tax assessment, owners were offered an average of $700 for their property.<ref name="Berman p. 19" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 82-833">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=82–83}}</ref> These financial settlements were not without contention. For instance, Andrew Williams was paid $2,335 for his house and three lots, and even though he had originally asked for $3,500, the final compensation still represented a significant increase over the $125 that he had paid for the property in 1825.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-31">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/31/arts/a-village-dies-a-park-is-born.html|title=A Village Dies, A Park Is Born|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=January 31, 1997|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426202041/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/31/arts/a-village-dies-a-park-is-born.html|archive-date=April 26, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /><ref name="Williams Affidavit" />

Clearing occurred as soon as the Central Park commission's report was released in October 1855.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-31" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 82-833" /> The city began enforcing little-known regulations and forcing Seneca Village residents to pay rent.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 90-91">{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=90–91}}</ref> Members of the community fought to retain their land.<ref name="Williams Affidavit">{{cite web|url=http://projects.ilt.columbia.edu/seneca/affidavit3.html|title=William's Affidavit|publisher=The New York Historical Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010919101219/http://projects.ilt.columbia.edu/seneca/affidavit3.html|archive-date=September 19, 2001|access-date=May 15, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Burrows|Wallace|1999|ps=.|page=792}}</ref> For two years, residents protested and filed lawsuits to halt the sale of their land.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-31" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /> However, in mid-1856, Mayor [[Fernando Wood]] prevailed, and residents of Seneca Village were given final notices. In 1857, the city government acquired all private property within Seneca Village through [[eminent domain]], and on October 1, city officials in New York reported that the last holdouts living on land that was to become Central Park had been removed.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 90-91" /> A newspaper account at the time suggested that Seneca Village would "not be forgotten{{nbsp}}... [as] many a brilliant and stirring fight was had during the campaign. But the supremacy of the law was upheld by the policeman's bludgeons."<ref name="maap.columbia.edu" /><ref name="NPS" />

All of the inhabitants of the village were evicted by 1857, and all of the properties within Central Park were razed.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=85}}</ref> The only institution from Seneca Village to survive was All Angels' Church, which relocated a couple of blocks away, albeit with an entirely new congregation<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /> except for one person.<ref name=":4" /> There are few records of where residents went after their eviction, as the community was entirely destroyed.<ref name="Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City" /><ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 63-64" /> In the 20th century, no one had been identified as a descendant of a Seneca Village resident.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-31" /> A later call for descendants found the lineage of first land purchaser Andrew Williams, who has been the [[namesake]] for successive generations of his family until the present day, as documented by family genealogist Ariel Williams.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Seneca Village Landscape |url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/locations/seneca-village-site |access-date=March 1, 2022 |website=Central Park Conservancy |language=en}}</ref>

Elsewhere in Central Park, the impact of eviction was less intense. Some residents, such as foundry owner Edward Snowden, simply relocated elsewhere. Squatters and hog farmers were the most affected by Central Park's construction, as they were never compensated for their evictions.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 90-91" /> Some traces of Seneca Village persisted in later years.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /> As workers were uprooting trees at the corner of 85th Street and Central Park West in 1871, they came upon two coffins, both containing Black people from Seneca Village.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=August 11, 1871|title=Yesterday Afternoon|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1871-08-11/ed-1/seq-4/#|journal=New-York Herald|pages=4|access-date=August 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108125446/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1871-08-11/ed-1/seq-4/|archive-date=November 8, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> A half-century later, a gardener named Gilhooley inadvertently found a graveyard from Seneca Village while turning soil at the same site, subsequently called "Gilhooley's Burial Plot" after him.<ref name="Rosenzweig Blackmar pp. 88-89" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIXZvYmOBGIC&pg=PA3|title=The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian's Guide to New York City Cemeteries|last=Inskeep|first=C. R.|publisher=Ancestry|year=2000|isbn=978-0-916489-89-2|page=3|access-date=March 31, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/01/10/paddys-walk|title=Paddy's Walk|date=January 10, 1959|magazine=The New Yorker|url-access=subscription|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331202320/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/01/10/paddys-walk|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Rediscovery==
The settlement was largely forgotten for more than a century after its demolition. It came to the attention of Peter Salwen in the late 1970s, who noted a discrepancy in city maps of the village's impressive architecture that belied its negative reputation, and he included it in his 1989 ''Upper West Side Story''.<ref name="nyt-1995-04-07" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Salwen|first=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSAx9tm6hMEC&pg=PA46|title=Upper West Side Story: A History and Guide|date=1989|publisher=Peter Salwen|isbn=978-0-89659-894-2|pages=46–47|language=en}}</ref> Public interest in Seneca Village was invigorated after the publication of [[Roy Rosenzweig]] and [[Elizabeth Blackmar]]'s 1992 book ''The Park and the People: A History of Central Park'', which described the community extensively.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /> Seneca Village was also the subject of a 1997 [[New-York Historical Society]] exhibition.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=January 31, 1997|title=A Village Dies, A Park Is Born|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/31/arts/a-village-dies-a-park-is-born.html|access-date=March 9, 2024|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The historical example of Seneca Village has been cited in the context of racialized [[community displacement]] and more recent [[urban renewal]] initiatives.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mystal |first=Elie |date=February 28, 2022 |title=Let's Talk About the Taking of Black Land |journal=The Nation |language=en-US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/society/black-land-seneca-village/ |access-date=March 6, 2022 |issn=0027-8378}}</ref>

===Commemoration===
The Seneca Village Project was formed in 1998 as a collaboration between Cynthia Copeland of the [[New-York Historical Society]], Nan Rothschild of [[Barnard College]], and Diana Wall of [[City College of New York]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Seneca Village – People |url=http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/htm/people.htm |access-date=March 1, 2022 |website=projects.mcah.columbia.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archaeology.cityofnewyork.us/about/news/the-seneca-village-collection-is-now-at-the-repository/page/1/view_as/grid|title=The Seneca Village Collection is now at the Repository!|website=NYC Landmark Preservation Commission|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331181026/http://archaeology.cityofnewyork.us/about/news/the-seneca-village-collection-is-now-at-the-repository/page/1/view_as/grid|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> and was later organized under the non-profit Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=February 18, 2020 |title=Uncovering the History of an African American Settlement in Central Park |url=https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/colinpowellschool/blog/uncovering-history-african-american-settlement-central-park |access-date=March 1, 2022 |website=The City College of New York |language=en-us}}</ref> It is dedicated to raising awareness about Seneca Village's significance as a free, middle-class Black community in 19th-century New York City. The project facilitates educational programs, which engage school children, teachers, and the general public, and bring Seneca Village into public knowledge.<ref name=":1" />

In February 2001, former Parks Commissioner [[Henry Stern (New York politician)|Henry Stern]], State Senator [[David Paterson]], Borough President [[C. Virginia Fields]], and New York Historical Society Executive Director [[Betsy Gotbaum]] unveiled a plaque commemorating the site where Seneca Village once stood.<ref name="Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City" /><ref name="nyt-2018-02-07" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/media-advisories?id=8572|title=Remembering a Lost Village in Central Park|publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|date=February 6, 2001|access-date=September 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331204542/https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/media-advisories?id=8572|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The plaque is located near the modern-day Mariners Playground, near 85th Street and Central Park West.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/highlights/13602|title=Central Park Highlights – Seneca Village|publisher=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|access-date=October 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021204433/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/highlights/13602|archive-date=October 21, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ny.curbed.com/maps/central-park-new-york-city-things-to-do|title=20 hidden gems of Central Park|last=Plitt|first=Amy|date=July 1, 2017|website=Curbed NY|access-date=March 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328213838/https://ny.curbed.com/maps/central-park-new-york-city-things-to-do|archive-date=March 28, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Maritcha Remond Lyons.jpg|thumb|[[Maritcha Remond Lyons]] came from a family owning property in Seneca Village.]]
In 2019, the city announced a request for proposals for a statue honoring the Lyons family, property owners in the village: [[Albro Lyons Sr.]] (another member of the [[New York African Society for Mutual Relief]]) and Mary Joseph Lyons (née Marshall) and their children, most notably [[Maritcha Remond Lyons]]. The statue would be placed at 106th Street in the [[North Woods and North Meadow|North Woods]] section of the park, and has received funding from several private donors including the [[Andrew W. Mellon Foundation]], [[Ford Foundation]], JPB Foundation, and Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/arts/lyons-seneca-village-monument.html|title=Their Land Became Part of Central Park. They're Coming Back in a Monument.|last=Jacobs|first=Julia|date=October 20, 2019|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=October 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021014646/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/arts/lyons-seneca-village-monument.html|archive-date=October 21, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Also in 2019, the outdoor exhibit "Discover Seneca Village" opened with temporary [[Commemorative plaque|historical markers]] at points across the Seneca Village landscape of Central Park. The exhibit was originally scheduled to run until October 2020,<ref name="Rosenberg 2019">{{cite web | last=Rosenberg | first=Zoe | title=Central Park highlights historic sites of erstwhile African American village | website=Curbed NY | date=October 24, 2019 | url=https://ny.curbed.com/2019/10/24/20930452/seneca-village-central-park-history-monument | access-date=March 1, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Scotto 2020">{{cite web | last=Scotto | first=Michael | title=Seneca Village History Uncovered in Central Park | website=Spectrum News NY1 &#124; New York City | date=February 5, 2020 | url=https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/02/05/central-park-seneca-village-history-uncovered | access-date=March 1, 2022}}</ref> but its run was extended.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guide to Seneca Village Outdoor Exhibit |url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/activities/guides/discover-seneca-village |access-date=March 1, 2022 |website=Central Park Conservancy |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

===Archaeological excavations===
Following the 1997 exhibition "'Before Central Park: The Life and Death of Seneca Village" at the [[New-York Historical Society]],<ref name="nyt-1997-01-31" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Before Central Park: The Life and Death of Seneca Village {{!}} May + Watkins Design |url=https://maywatkinsdesign.com/interpretive-exhibits/before-central-park-the-life-and-death-of-seneca-village/ |access-date=March 6, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> Wall, Rothschild, Copeland, and Herbert Seignoret decided to see if any archaeological traces of the village remained. They worked with local historians, churches, and community groups to shape the direction of their research project on the site.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /> In June 2000, Wall, Rothschild, Copeland, and other researchers started performing imaging tests to determine if any traces of Seneca Village remained.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/27/nyregion/a-technological-dig-scientists-seek-signs-of-central-park-past.html|title=A Technological Dig; Scientists Seek Signs of Central Park Past|last=Arenson|first=Karen W.|date=July 27, 2000|website=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331203915/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/27/nyregion/a-technological-dig-scientists-seek-signs-of-central-park-past.html|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> With student participation, the project conducted exhaustive archival research and preliminary remote sensing. Researchers used soil boring to identify promising areas with undisturbed soil. In 2005, the team used [[ground-penetrating radar]] to successfully locate traces of Seneca Village. After extended discussions with the [[New York City Department of Parks]] and the [[Central Park Conservancy]], researchers were granted permission for test [[Excavation (archaeology)|excavations]] in the regions of the village thought most likely to contain intact archaeological deposits.<ref name="Seneca Village and Little Africa: Two African American Communities in Antebellum New York City" />

Digs took place in 2004,<ref name="NPS" /> August 2005,<ref name="NPS" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Seneca Village – Archaeology|website=Media Center for Art History|publisher=Columbia University|url=http://www.learn.columbia.edu/seneca_village/htm/archaeology.htm|access-date=September 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129025853/http://www.learn.columbia.edu/seneca_village/htm/archaeology.htm|archive-date=November 29, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> and mid-2011.<ref name="Blakinger 2016" /><ref name="NPS" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Seneca Village 2011 Excavation|publisher=Columbia University|date=November 11, 2011|url=http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/2011.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111131815/http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/2011.html|archive-date=November 11, 2011|access-date=September 17, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="nyt-2011-07-28">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/nyregion/unearthing-an-african-american-village-displaced-by-central-park.html?_r=1|title=Unearthing an African-American Village Displaced by Central Park|last=Foderaro|first=Lisa W.|date=July 27, 2011|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201082450/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/nyregion/unearthing-an-african-american-village-displaced-by-central-park.html?_r=1|archive-date=December 1, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2011 excavation uncovered the foundation walls and cellar deposits of the home of William Godfrey Wilson, a [[Sexton (office)|sexton]] for [[All Angels' Church]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/excavation.html|title=Seneca Village – The Excavations|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=October 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321152636/http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/excavation.html|archive-date=March 21, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> and a deposit of items in the backyard of two other Seneca Village residents. Archaeologists filled over 250 bags with artifacts, including the bone handle of a toothbrush and the leather sole of a child's shoe.<ref name="NPS" /><ref name="nyt-2011-07-28" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Dishes, Shoes, and Tiles: The Excavation of the Seneca Village Site|url=https://www.centralparknyc.org/articles/uncovering-seneca-village|access-date=February 6, 2022|website=Central Park Conservancy|language=en}}</ref> In 2020, the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] launched an online exhibit, ''Seneca Village Unearthed'', with around 300 artifacts from the 2011 excavation.<ref name="CityLand 2020">{{cite web | title=Landmarks Announces Online Exhibit for Seneca Village Artifacts | website=CityLand | date=February 28, 2020 | url=https://www.citylandnyc.org/landmarks-announces-online-exhibit-for-seneca-village-artifacts/ | access-date=February 12, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Herman 2020">{{cite web | last=Herman | first=Gabe | title=Hundreds of Seneca Village artifacts available to view online for first time | website=amNewYork | date=February 24, 2020 | url=https://www.amny.com/new-york/manhattan/hundreds-of-seneca-village-artifacts-available-to-view-online-for-first-time/ | access-date=February 12, 2022}}</ref>

=== Art and culture ===
Keith Josef Adkins's play ''The People Before the Park'' had its first performances at [[Premiere Stages]] in 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jaworowski|first=Ken|date=September 10, 2015|title=Review: 'The People Before the Park,' a Family Clash Rich in New York History|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/nyregion/review-the-people-before-the-park-a-family-clash-rich-in-new-york-history.html|access-date=February 6, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Marilyn Nelson]]'s poetry collection ''My Seneca Village'' was published the same year.<ref name="Ritter 2016">{{cite web | last=Ritter | first=Cindy | title=Q & A with Marilyn Nelson | website=Publishers Weekly | date=January 21, 2016 | url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/69192-q-a-with-marilyn-nelson.html | access-date=February 6, 2022}}</ref>

''[[Before Yesterday We Could Fly]]'', a period-room exhibition at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], opened in 2021.<ref name="nyt-2021-11-17">{{cite news|last=Tillet|first=Salamishah|date=November 17, 2021|title=Afrofuturist Room at the Met Redresses a Racial Trauma|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/arts/design/metropolitan-museum-afrofuturist-seneca.html|access-date=February 6, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131131858/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/arts/design/metropolitan-museum-afrofuturist-seneca.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The period room in the exhibit recreates the house of a fictional Seneca Village resident as it may have existed at the time, but also how their descendants may have lived in the present and future, as if the settlement had not been destroyed.<ref name="nyt-2021-11-17" /> The latter parts are influenced by [[Afrofuturism]], an art genre, aesthetic, and philosophy which imagines possible futures through the lens of the [[African diaspora]], touching on themes of imagination, self-determination, technology, and liberation.<ref>{{cite web|last=Marius|first=Marley|date=November 2, 2021|title=In 'Before Yesterday We Could Fly,' Visions of a Fictive Black Future Take Flight at the Met|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/before-yesterday-we-could-fly-afrofuturist-period-room-met-museum|access-date=February 6, 2022|website=Vogue|language=en-US|archive-date=January 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108031739/https://www.vogue.com/article/before-yesterday-we-could-fly-afrofuturist-period-room-met-museum|url-status=live}}</ref>

The history of Seneca Village was chronicled in a play staged by [[Kean University]] in 2015, ''The People Before the Park''.<ref name="NPR 2015" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jaworowski |first=Ken |date=September 10, 2015 |title=Review: 'The People Before the Park,' a Family Clash Rich in New York History |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/nyregion/review-the-people-before-the-park-a-family-clash-rich-in-new-york-history.html |access-date=May 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>  The animated musical sitcom [[Central Park (TV series)|''Central Park'']] (2020) references Seneca Village in its first episode, with the ensemble referring to it as a "dark chapter" of the park's history.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 28, 2020 |title=Central Park {{!}} Apple TV+ |url=https://tv.apple.com/us/show/central-park/umc.cmc.4qe3i11erof30x0vz8nwnjkw3 |access-date=March 24, 2022 |website=Apple TV |language=en-US}}</ref>

<!-- Please do not add a mention of Seneca Village's appearance in the 2024 Netflix series [[Eric (miniseries)]] without a reliable source, as outlined in [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]]. Any unsourced content will be removed. Thank you. -->

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[List of freedmen's towns]]
* [[Allensworth, California]]
* [[American Beach, Florida]]
* [[Brooklyn, Illinois]]
* [[Bruce's Beach]]
* [[Butler Beach]]
* [[Fargo, Arkansas]]
* [[Five Points, Denver]]
* [[Glenarden, Maryland]]
* [[Goldsboro, Florida]]
* [[Greenwood District, Tulsa]]
* [[Hayti, Durham, North Carolina]]
* [[Highland Beach, Maryland]]
* [[Hogan's Alley, Vancouver]]
* [[Idlewild, Michigan]]
* [[North Brentwood, Maryland]]
* [[Kowaliga, Alabama]]
* [[Mound Bayou, Mississippi]]
* [[Robbins, Illinois]]
* [[Rosewood, Florida]]
* [[Slocum, Texas]]
* [[Sparrow's Beach]]
* [[Weeksville, Brooklyn]]
* [[Wilmington, North Carolina]]
{{div col end}}
==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |author-link=Edwin G. Burrows |last1=Burrows |first1=Edwin G. |name-list-style=amp |author-link2=Mike Wallace (historian) |last2=Wallace |first2=Mike |title=Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-195-11634-8 |title-link=Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 }}<!--{{cite gotham}}-->
* {{cite book|last=Berman|first=John S.|title=Central Park|publisher=Barnes and Noble Books|series=Portraits of America|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7607-3886-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPeWTsgpxE0C}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx_GNFFLSXsC&pg=PA17|title=Creating Central Park|last=Heckscher|first=Morrison H.|date=2008|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-0-30013-669-2|language=en}}
* {{cite Central Park history}}
* {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Dorceta E.|title=The Environment and the People in American Cities, 1600s–1900s: Disorder, Inequality, and Social Change|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2009|chapter=section 3|isbn=978-0-8223-4451-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8i-xIrryL4C&pg=PA260|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/environmentpeopl02tayl}}
<!--
==Further reading==
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lostvillageofcen0000kill|url-access=registration|title=The Lost Village of Central Park|last=Killcoyne|first=Hope L.|last2=Majno|first2=Mary Lee|publisher=Silver Moon Press|year=1999|isbn=978-1-893110-02-1|series=Mysteries in time|postscript=– a historical fiction account of Seneca Village}}
-->

==External links==
* {{official website|https://www.centralparknyc.org/seneca-village}}, [[Central Park Conservancy]]
* [https://archaeology.cityofnewyork.us/collection/digital-exhibitions/seneca-village-unearthed Seneca Village Unearthed], Digital Exhibitions, NYC Archaeological Repository, 2020
* [http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/1828.pdf Seneca Village, A Forgotten Community: Report on the 2011 Excavations], 2018
* [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/numbers/map2.html Central Park Condemnation Map, 1856]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120405224155/http://www.heritageradionetwork.com/episodes/2073-The-Naturalist-Episode-88-Seneca-Village-Central-Park The Naturalist Podcast on Seneca Village, November 2011]
* [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uncovering-the-history-of-seneca-village-in-new-york-city/ Uncovering the history of Seneca Village in New York City], February 6, 2022 – CBS Sunday Morning (Video)
* [https://www.myleszhang.org/2024/06/11/envisioning-seneca-village/   Envisioning Seneca Village], A project by Gergely Baics, Meredith Linn, Leah Meisterlin, and Myles Zhang - In collaboration with the Central Park Conservancy and the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History

{{Central Park|state=collapsed}}
{{Manhattan}}

[[Category:Central Park]]
[[Category:History of New York City]]
[[Category:Populated places in New York (state) established by African Americans]]
[[Category:African-American history in New York City]]
[[Category:Former New York City neighborhoods]]
[[Category:Squats in New York City]]
[[Category:Evicted squats]]
[[Category:1825 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1857 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Underground Railroad in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Forcibly depopulated communities in the United States]]