Before Central Park

Sunday, April 6 th - 1:30 p.m.

Speaker-Sara Cedar Miller

With more than eight hundred sprawling green acres in the middle of one of the world’s densest cities, Central Park is an urban masterpiece. But before it became a model for city parks worldwide, the land was the site of farms, businesses, churches, wars, and burial grounds – and home to many different kinds of New Yorkers. We invite you to join us for an illustrated talk with Sara Cedar Miller, historian emerita of the Central Park Conservancy, and author of Before Central Park. In her talk Miller will chronicle two and a half centuries of history. She will tell the stories of a secret Revolutionary War meeting of George Washington and his generals and the 10,000 troops once stationed there, the Dutch taverns in Harlem, and the Hewlett family of Seneca Village, the earliest community of Black landowners in America. Miller will also discuss how the land became what is today the most celebrated urban park in the world.

Fee: $10; $8 seniors. Members free. Check is to be payable to the Friends of Rock Hall. Space limited. Reservations required.