Figure 1: Perfume bottle from Seneca Village found in the Wilson’s family residence. Image from NYC Archeological Repository: The Nan A. Rothschild Research Center.
The History of Seneca Village’s Perfume
Michelle Attoh
What you might now know as Central Park used to be land where African-Americans and immigrants lived, and it was named Seneca Village. The people who inhabited Seneca Village were forced to evacuate their homes in the mid-1800s in order to build what you now know as Central Park. Even though the land has since been demolished, about two centuries ago, if you dig deep, you can uncover many artifacts that still lie deep underground. In this essay, I will examine and unfold the history of perfume bottles that were found in one of the homes in Seneca Village, that of the Wilson family.