Grab a seat in Greenwich Village’s unofficial town square and you’ll see it all: NYU students scurrying between classes, street vendors selling handmade clothes, fearless squirrels, socializing canines, speed-chess pros, brassy buskers, barefoot children splashing around the fountain – and ghosts, possibly. Take it all in.
From Graves to Gilded Towers
Centuries ago, this site was a marshy area crossed by Minetta Creek. Dutch colonists granted land rights (for a price) to settlers of African descent, who created a community known as "Little Africa." Later, the plot became a public cemetery for the unidentified deceased. When the burial grounds turned into a space for military parades in the 1830s, real estate developers followed, and some of the city’s toniest homes sprouted on the park’s north border. Today, this row of historic townhouses evokes the Gilded Age; Edith Wharton lived at 7 Washington Square N.
A President's Arch
The iconic Stanford White–designed Washington Square Arch dominates the park with its 73ft of gleaming white Tuckahoe marble. Originally made of wood to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration in 1889, it proved so popular that it was replaced with stone six years later.
Revolutionary Roots
Head to the park’s northwest corner to see an English elm considered one of Manhattan’s oldest trees. Known as ‘Hangman’s Elm,’ legend says traitors were hanged from its branches during the American Revolution.
