Madison Square Park

Madison Square Park sits on land that once held a much grimmer purpose. In the late eighteenth century, this ground functioned as a potter's field, serving as a burial site for people who could not afford a private funeral or whose identities remained unknown. It eventually transitioned into a military parade ground and even housed a home for juvenile delinquents, which burned down in eighteen thirty-nine. You are walking through a space that has been completely redefined from its origins as a site for the city's outcasts and its military defenses.