The Landscape of Seneca Village
This tour focuses on the landscape of Seneca Village and was developed by the Central Park Conservancy as part of our work researching Seneca Village and uncovering its presence in Central Park today. Just as the archives of various libraries and cultural institutions and the artifacts discovered during excavations have allowed researchers to piece together the history of Seneca Village, this landscape is also a resource, an archive that can provide new insight into how residents lived and what they valued. This tour will encourage participants to read the landscape and to visualize how the residents of Seneca Village inhabited it and shows how this place provided resources for building community that had particular value for African-Americans seeking freedom in 19th century New York.