Famous Ankles

Right next to the Church of St. Luke’s in the Fields is the Garden of St. Luke’s in the Fields.  Those are long names, I tell ya.

It’s located on Greenwich Street in Greenwich Village.  (This is getting to be a double/repetitious post.)

It’s a walled garden, but only the front and back of it appears to be brick.  The rest is fencework, including my least favorite type:  chain link on the southern part.

I really like this garden.  It’s wonderful.  And pretty popular.  I was there on a Saturday and it was relatively crowded.  The weather wasn’t bad, so that helped bring in people.  But this is just a beautiful place in and of itself.

There’s a nice birdbath/fountain.

It’s small, but the seating is nicely spaced out.  In the center are some seats and then at the four corners.  The tree below is at the center.

And below is a picture of the southern side, looking eastward.

The only problem with the place?  Traffic noise.  It can be described in a lot of ways, but anyone who calls it a “haven” from the City noise isn’t quite putting the full truth into it.  But it is nonetheless a wonderful little place.

-H

On Greenwich Street, in Greenwich Village stands the long-named “Church of St. Luke’s in the Fields“. 

I have no idea if the limo is associated in any way with the church or its members.  It was just there and parking one of those monsters would make you want to park near an intersection or crosswalk.  Actually, the church appeared closed at the time so I presume it was just someone parking there.

I loved their front area, though.  Usually, I like to take pictures of the front doors, but this Cross to the side grabbed my attention.

The next day was Palm Sunday, hence the foilage.  (Yeah, this is a delayed post.)

Okay, I had to get the doors, too.  I’m so predictable.

Not imposing, so I presume they’re just old.

There was a plaque nearby.

It reads:  “Landmarks of New York.  St. Luke’s Chapel.  This third oldest existing Church edifice in Manhattan was build in 1821 on farmland donated by Trinity Parish to the independent parish of St. Luke’s Church of which Clement C. Moore was a founder and first senior warden.  When that congregation moved uptown the land was bought back and the structure became St. Luke’s Chapel of Trinity Parish in 1892.”

Clement Moore was the author of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.  Yeah, the real name is “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, but that’s not how people think of it.

There’s another sign that I couldn’t get too close to due to the gate being locked.

It reads, “St. Luke’s Chapel 1892 Trinity Parish 1976.  The Old Village Church of Greenwhich Village build 1822.  Friends this village church open stands for thee, that thou mayest enter, think, kneel, and pray.  Remember who thou art and what must be thine end.  Remember us, then go thy way.”

-H

I received a recent comment from “Blayze” asking me to take a look at Washington Square Park and the status of the renovations.

The park, if you know it, is located at 5th Avenue and 1st Street what would have been 6th/7th Street if they hadn’t stopped the count just north of there (corrected, thanks to Cat).  It is considered part of the heart of Greenwich Village, although it is surrounded by New York University.  The great arch is an icon for the entrance to the park.

The arch is now blocked off for the renovations.  They are taking place over the entirity of the northwest portion of the park.

And these aren’t minor repairs.  Not even close.  What do you think belongs in the space below?

That’s where the fountain is supposed to be!  They’ve removed the whole thing.  An earlier commenter said they were moving it from the original location.  I don’t know how far it’s being moved, but here it is right now…in pieces.

Here are other parts of the area being renovated.

It looks like there’s a long, long ways to go.

-H

Jimmy Walker was one of NYC’s great (or perhaps “controversial” is a better term) mayors.  In Greenwich Village, they’ve got a small, but somewhat unusual park, named after him.

The park isn’t very big, just a few acres.  Among other things, it has a children’s playground and a ballfield.

Something I found interesting:  it also has a handball court.  You don’t see too many of these.

Oh, and a bocci/bocce ball court.  You see very few of these.

All pleasant, but not particularly unusual.

What’s unusual for a park is a grave.  Perhaps a mass grave as the place was a cemetery for quite some time.

Okay, it looks like a monument.  It has two plaques on it (okay, one plaque and one engraving, well, two ‘cuz one’s on the other side).

It reads, “This ground was used as a cemetery by Trinity Parish during the years 1834-1898.  It was made a public park by the city of New York in the year 1897-8.  This monument stood in the cemetery and was removed to this spot in the year 1898.”

The engraving on the monument reads:  “Here are interred the bodies of Eugene Underhill aged 20 years 7 months and 9 days and Frederick A. Ward aged 22 years 1 month and 16 days.  Who lost their lives by the falling of a building while engaged in the discharge of their duty as FIRE MEN on the first day of July MDCCCXXXIV.”  I believe that’s Roman numeral for 1834.

 That would make the monument one of the first in the cemetery.  I presume the “removed to this location” in the first plaque means somewhere on the block to this side of a relatively unused area, instead of perhaps in the middle of the ballfield.

-H