Bowling Green

You are standing at the foot of Broadway in the oldest public park in New York City. Long before the skyscrapers of the Financial District rose around you, this small plot of land served as a vital council ground for Lenape Native American tribes. The Dutch later used the area as a cattle market and a central parade ground located conveniently next to their protective fort. By the early eighteenth century, local landlords officially leased the space for a yearly rent of one peppercorn with the specific goal of transforming the rugged site into a place of beauty and recreation for the city inhabitants.