Dig What They Found in Washington Square Park

By ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA

New York City has some skeletons in its closet – or rather, in a tomb under Washington Square Park.

City workers discovered an underground burial site that contains the decomposed remains of at least a dozen bodies from the 19th century between Waverly Place and Washington Place on Tuesday, said officials of the Department of Design and Construction.

Contractors for the department found the vault while removing century-old water main pipes to replace them with new ones, officials said. The city workers who made the discovery contacted the Landmarks Preservation Commission, archeologists and anthropologists, and even medical examiners. Workers discovered a second vault nearby on Wednesday.

The skeletons belonged to a cemetery attached to the Presbyterian Church, Archaeologist Alyssa Loorya told reporters. Officials restricted the site to allow examination and documentation of what was found.

Though the investigation may cause minor delays, the department will not stop any of its ongoing construction and will redesign its plan around the newly discovered burial ground, said Department of Design and Construction Spokesperson Shavone Williams. The department’s employees will work outside the impacted area while archeologists and anthropologist review the site.

“We were just here to do an infrastructure job,” Williams said. “We had no idea this was something we were going to encounter.” The department has found artifacts in other parts of the city in the past, but it’s the first time they found skeletal remains, she said. “New York has such a rich history, but we weren’t expecting this at all.”

But while city workers restricted the east section of the park, passersby, many of whom were students at New York University, which is located near the tombs, paid no attention to the contractors as they dug up human remains.

Dog-walkers, joggers, and skateboarders passed the burial site without even glancing. “I just thought it was a typical construction work site,” said Madison Krause, a student at the university. “No one ever pays attention to those things.”

Roberta Allem and Lisa Lee, also New York University students were stunned by the discovery. They said they visit the park often and consider it a major part of their school campus. “It’s a big deal,” Allem said surprised.

And we thought Halloween was over.