Sarah J.S. Tompkins Garnet Playground

You are standing at the Sarah J.S. Tompkins Garnet Playground, a site that honors a true pioneer of New York City. Sarah Garnet was the first Black woman to serve as a principal within the city's public school system, a role she attained in the nineteenth century while also managing a dual appointment across two different schools. Before this space was transformed into a park in 1937, the land hummed with the noise of industrial machinery, serving as a hub for various lumberyards and the New York and Brooklyn Casket Company.