Planning a Park and Respecting History

The picture above shows an overlay photo of the current plot at the corner of South and Grand Streets with outlines of structures found on historical maps from 1884 to 1959. After mapping out the area, digging, sifting, and cataloging, archaeologists from Landmark Archaeology found historical artifacts and structures. Some were only a few inches below the surface. These photos, courtesy of the report by Landmark Archaeology, Inc., show some of the structures that were found:


Fortunately, this summer the City of Newburgh Planning and Development Office, working together with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), project architects, and community representatives, found solutions that allow the park to move forward, while still respecting the history of the location. The solutions involve relatively minor adjustments to the park design, along with extra care during construction.

The drawing below shows yet another overlay, with the park drawing on top of the plot photo and the locations of the historical structures from the maps. It looks like instead of a sunken ampitheater facing the south-east corner, we'll need to have more of a level field facing a raised "earth-stage" to be located in the south-east corner of the park.



In another piece of good news, the city was awarded a grant by KaBOOM, Inc. toward Spring 2010 construction of the playground. We are now looking forward to the Sept. 10, 2009 7pm City Council Worksession for approval to move forward with the latest solutions.

At least one of us is ready to listen to some live music watching the Hudson River roll on in the background and a picnic blanket on the lawn. : )

Phase II of the Archelogical Dig Pictures

Here are some on site pictures of the Phase II of the archeological dig. They are all of pictures of the holes they dug, on Monday June 22, looking for historical artifacts. Since these pictures were taken, the archeologists have found a water well near the middle of the park. Hopefully the archeologists won't find anything too important that it will prevent us from building the park.

Phase II of the Archelogical Dig -- Comming soon!

The second phase of the archeological dig will start this Monday, June 15th and it will last for about two weeks. Pictures coming soon!

Archeological Dig Phase I

Here are some pictures site of the prospective park, and the first phase of the archeological dig.

Dreaming of a Community Park

Newburgh residents and community members have been dreaming for years of a public park to be built in the empty lot at the corner of Grand and South Streets in Newburgh. Here are some preliminary design drawings from 1998 and April 2008 for the park, now called, "Tyrone Crabb Park":

Just Getting Started

Before we begin construction we have to do an archaeological dig to make sure there are no major historical artifacts under the site of the prospective park.