Search This Blog

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Pumphouse Park

This park is a mystery. Listed neither under the New York City Parks Department, nor under the Battery Park parks website, Pumphouse Park is just…there, with no explanation.

Adjacent to World Financial Center Plaza and the North Cove Marina in lower Manhattan, the park is a vaguely foot-shaped expanse of trees and flowers, surrounding a modest central lawn with plenty of room for small children to cavort. Lots of benches and lots of oxygen make it a very pleasant place to while away a free half hour.

This isn't the only Pumphouse Park in the world. There's one in Richmond, Virginia, although it's often spelled Pump House Park. Perhaps in preparation for invasion aliens have planted a sinister network of Pumphouse Parks in various cities around the world as nexi for their nefarious forthcoming attack.

Well, it's possible. This woman pretending to read a book might actually be an alien scout.



There's a feeling of health here in the summertime. Even the pigeons look sleek and slim—a clear sign that something unnatural is going on.



Dogs, however, aren't welcome. Probably because of the carefully landscaped flora. Or, more likely, because their superior olfactory sense might suss out traces of the aliens.



Things were pretty quiet on a recent summer evening…



…and construction was finished for the day on the new One World Trade Center, just steps away from this little mystery park. (No, it's no longer being designated the Freedom Tower, but many of us are still thinking of it that way.) As of this writing, the concrete workers are on strike. But how could you have a big city without some kind of strike going on or being threatened? In any case, the tower's looking good. If you head downtown to check on its progress, take a detour through Pumphouse Park. And if you know anything about the park—who maintains it, what pumphouse it's named for and where that pumphouse was, anything—please leave a comment!

1 comment:

  1. Here is a link to a PDF.there is a Pumphouse under the park that was used in the cooling system for the world trade center.whats strange to me is that they are going to use it again for some of the new construction but not the old.this states that the reason is enviromental,less hot water beeing dumped in the river.if thats the case then why use it at all?why not use the new system that is being put into the rest of the place?.while we are on conspirict therorys.there has been alot of talk about the Gathom City map in the "Dark Knight Rises" among them is the apperance of a place called Sandy Hook.anyway,there is also a Battery Park on that map(strirke zone #4)In the movie the reactor that was stolen was located underground in a larg pumphouse that could be flooded if there was a problem.as you know there are many fincial builings in Battery Park City NY including the Securitys exchane commision and Goldman Schas.am I nuts or what?

    ReplyDelete