OF OLD NEW YORK
 

OBSOLETE NAMES OF LOCALITIES
ON MANHAT'rAN ISLAND

Thc Polters Field—In 1794.—The triangular piece of
ground at the then junction of the Post and Bloomingdale
Roads (now Madison Square), was appropriated to the use
of the Alms-house for a burial-ground, and received the
name of the Potters Field.

In 1797.—A portion of the Corporation property in that
vicinity was granted to the State for arsenal purposes, and
about the same time thc place was abandoned as a public
burial-place, on account of the opposition made to the
public exhibition of fnnerals on the much frequented
roads leading to this spot, and it was resolved to purchase
a more secluded locality for the Potters Field.

A piece of ground, containing about ninety lots, parcel
of the land of William S. Smith, bounded on the road
leading from the Bowcry lane, at the two mile stone to
Greenwich, having been purchased at public auction, and
off^ered to the Corporation as a proper place for a public
burial-ground, at the price of £1,800, it was resolved to
purchase the same.

Opposition was made to this by the property owners in
the vicinity, and the matter being referred to a committee,
they reported, "That they had viewcd a piece of ground
which the petitioners will purchase at their own cost, and
eonvey the same to the Corporation for a public cemetery,
and find it well caleulated for the purpose, so far as that
it is removed a convenient distance from the Greenwich
and Albany roads. That the soil is sandy and covered
with brush, which will hide the graves and yet not inter-
fere with digging them. But the Committee are obliged
to remark, that to get to this ground the hearse (the
great subject of complaint) must travel either of the
roads above-mentioned."

The Board, however, refused to alter their purpose, and
in spite of great opposition, the ground, recently purchased,
was established as the new Potters Field. This was the
present Washington square.

Crummashic Hill, was an eminence near Governor Stuy-
vesant's farm. Mr. De Witt, in his compilation of the
old farms of New York, has written the name Kroin-
incssie, and given a derivation of that name to the shape
of the farm upon which it was situated, as being that of
a shoemaker's knife. The present Grainercy park is said to
have derived its name from the old Crummashie hill.

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