At over 840 acres, Central Park is bigger than the nation of Monaco—and every hill, pond, and path was built by hand. But the real history of New York’s most famous park lies below the surface. Beneath the lawns are traces of forgotten neighborhoods, lost infrastructure, and tunnels that shaped Manhattan’s rise to power.
In this episode, we uncover what truly lies under Central Park: the remains of Seneca Village, one of America’s first communities of free Black landowners; the massive Croton Reservoir that once supplied New York’s water; and the modern tunnels that keep the city alive today. Along the way, we’ll separate fact from legend and reveal how the park’s buried past tells the story of New York itself.
#ItsHistory #CentralPark #NewYorkCity
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IT’S HISTORY – Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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Scriptwriter – Ryan Socash
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I really enjoy your videos and I especially like that you don’t use an AI bot to narrate them! I really dislike those videos that people put out that are full of mispronunciations and inflections. I usually stop them and skip them.
New York screwed up when they freed them.
If you've played ghost busters you'd know that there's a boss battle under there
I know what’s under there… Wesley and Woody stealing the Money Train!!!
There is a park in Mexico that’s bigger than Central Park
Very interesting old facts I'm not aware of growing up in Manhattan. Specially the McGowan's Pass, I'd climbed up that cannon few times when I was a kid living on 5th. 😂
Central Park is large enough to contain all of Boston proper.
I wish I had the ability to time travel to this period of NYC history.
4:10 What’s the big deal?
There’s still only 1600 people living between 59th and 106th.
4:09 Wow the first World Trade Center was a cathedral?