This is Washington Square Park, located in Greenwich Village in the Manhattan borough of New York. Although it is considered to be one of New York's most famous of the 1900 public parks in the city, it is technically on the campus of New York University. The school uses the park for its graduation ceremonies every spring. The enormous arch seen on the left is used as a symbolic "transformation" in their graduation ceremonies. Thee 9.75 acres that comprise the park lay between west 4th Street on the east and west sides and MacDougal Street to the north and south.
The area was inhabited in between 1643 and 1664 by African-Americans, and earned itself the nickname "Land of the Blacks." Laterit was used as a mass burial ground for people who died of yellow fever in an attempt to exile them towards the outskirts of the city. Many indigents were also buried here, and the makeshift cemetery had over 20,000 bodies buried in it by the time the cemetery closed in the early 1800's.
Much of the area is comprised of pavement paths which join the park's landmarks, including the arch, a gigantic water fountain, nd monuments or statues honoring George Washington, Garibaldi (an Italian soldier), and Alexander Lyman Holley (an engineer who invented the Bessemer process to aid in mass production of steel. However, these paths also invite artists and musicians to come out and peddle their wares or play their music on sunny afternoons. one can find everything from imprompteau bands to human "bird houses" to speed chess competitions going on in various corners of the park. This magnificent park has created many social spaces for the artists and their patrons as well as the average New York City lo
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