ari talks what you didn't know about prospect park
TRANSCRIPT
It was a popular spot for farm animals
• After Prospect Park first opened in 1867, it was a popular hangout spot for local livestock
• Dozens of stray farm animals were regularly found on the park
• While they weren’t allowed on the land, it was a tough law to enforce
It was built on !a battle site
• During the American Revolution, it played a part in the Battle of Brooklyn
• Soldiers of the 1st Maryland Regiment fought off a vastly superior British force to cover for the rest of American soldiers so they could retreat
It used to have a full replica of Mt Vernon
• It was built to honor Washington’s 200th birthday
• It was torn down after just two years
It used to be part of an Indian trail
• The Lenape Indians used a well-worn trail that later became the best route of travel between the Dutch towns of Brooklyn and Flatbush
• When Prospect Park was established, part of the road became East Drive
It’s the final resting place of around
2,000 people
• Prospect Park was originally a Quaker cemetery
• Since Quakers rejected headstones, most of their graves were unmarked
It was made by people paid $1.70 a day
• The construction workers who helped build the park were paid on a daily salary that today couldn’t even buy a Starbucks coffee
• The exact value is hard to calculate because of inflation, but it wasn’t much
It used to host “ice baseball”
• In the 19th century, the frozen lake hosted “ice baseball” • It attracted thousands
of spectators and players from as far away at Baltimore
• Basically baseball with ice skates