![]() ![]() Tamm’s introduction to the existence of Seneca Village started young and was driven by her mother’s persistent interest in the village. Another example she gives: What would it look like to grow rice in New York City? “But also what does it look like for her to exercise creativity? Does she want to grow in rows? Does she want to grow in circles and spirals? Let her flesh out what her vision is and let her work through what it’s like to revitalize soil while also supporting community through what she yields,” says Tamm. If there is someone interested in herbalism, Tamm says she would find a mentor to teach her how to grow herbs. Tamm envisions running a training program where she and a small team would teach people how to farm their acre with room for creative innovation. Her vision is that one person would farm an acre each and people would apply for one of the 14 spots. Tamm is hoping to reclaim Central Park’s narrative and make it a more inclusive one. “I think calling out Central Park is powerful because it’s the biggest park in New York City and it has the most flatland,” she says. Tamm wants to call it Seneca Village Farm. It would also serve as an educational resource for teaching New Yorkers about urban farming. Amber Tamm, a farmer for a nearly six-acre New York rooftop farm called Brooklyn Grange, wants to give part of the park back to that history, by taking 14 acres of the 55-acre Great Lawn and turning it into a community farm that would feed under-resourced Manhattanites, many of whom are Black. Seneca Village was razed and subsumed into what is now Central Park. The city acquired the land through eminent domain, paying owners “just compensation,” (though letters from the time reveal that Seneca Village residents did not always feel the compensation was actually fair). Though the media of the time painted the region as a largely empty save for some poor squatters, Seneca Village fell right inside its bounds. Though several sites were up for consideration, including a tract of private land along the East River, the city decided on a large swath at the center of the island. By 1850, there was a school, three churches, gardens, livestock, some 50 homes, and roughly 225 residents, the majority of whom were Black.īut the New York Williams had tried to escape was growing too: The city doubled in population between 18, and citizens began clamoring for green space to be set aside for recreation. But land ownership provided an opportunity for upward mobility and Black landowners with property worth $250 or more could vote in elections. ![]() Residents there, like Williams, were largely laborers. That was the beginning of a neighborhood called Seneca Village. Shortly thereafter, a church bought up a plot with plans to create a cemetery for African Americans. For $125 he bought three parcels of land between what is now West 85th Street and 86th Street and where once there was just farmland. Then, as now, racism made New York an uncomfortable place for Black Americans, so Andrew Williams, a Black shoeshiner, took an opportunity to move north, away from the hubub of lower Manhattan. In 1825, downtown New York City was growing crowded. Amber Tamm wants to honor the legacy of that neighborhood with a farm to feed New York’s neediest. A corner of Central Park was once home to a thriving Black community.
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