Friday, June 11, 2010

Digging for the past while forgetting it

From the Daily News:

RESEARCHERS are hoping the excavation of a municipal parking lot in Flushing will reveal vital clues about 17th-century life - a rarely discussed effect of the controversial Flushing Commons development.

Archeological work slated for the Union St. lot could turn up artifacts from farms, a school and other sites that occupied the area over the last three and a half centuries, preservationists said.

...historians are salivating over the prospects of unearthing the past - during testing required by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The commission ordered tests because of the project's proximity to the Macedonia AME Church, which began in 1811 and is considered the third-oldest religious organization in Flushing.

Eichenbaum figured Dutch settlers in the 1600s also might have crossed the plot, located between early downtown and where they docked boats in Flushing Bay.

Starting in the early 1800s, the site housed a school for the poor run by the Flushing Female Association. Archivists crave the school's long-lost student records.

"It's a longshot, but I'm hoping it will be recovered," said Jim Driscoll, the historical society's longtime president.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission instructed the site's developers, TDC Construction and the Rockefeller Group, to hire an archeological expert as part of any underground work.

Michael Meyer, the president of TDC Development, said the developers will likely pick a consultant early next year.

"We don't expect, frankly, there will be much of anything," he said. "But you never know. We may be surprised."

Others held out hope.

"Excavation could fill in gaps in the documented history we have in our collection," said Marisa Berman, executive director of the historical society. "It would ultimately give historians a better understanding of that area."


How could all of these historians and preservationists fail to mention the artifacts most likely to be discovered there and the population they belonged to? HELLOOOO?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Eichenbaum figured Dutch settlers may have crossed the lot.... "

Hey, just what we need. Another Vibrant! Diverse! Ethnic spewing Borough Hall operative.

Flushing was settled by ..... the English.

No problem.

Just like Bowne House is slowly being converted into a location on the Underground Railroad, you will likely go apeshit over the African American remains found there (with perhaps a sentence on the other 90% of people that lived in Flushing)

Can someone tell us why borough historians are never chosen from the 75% of the borough that is not Flushing?

And can someone tell us why the Underground Railroad is tundled out ad nauseum to the exclusion of just about everythin else?

Anonymous said...

i thought flushing was founded by ecuador?

Anonymous said...

i thought flushing was founded by ecuador?
--------------------------------------------------
Ecuador? I can't find it on this Asian map.

Anonymous said...

hahahahahahaha
hohohohohohoho
hehehehehehehe

Anonymous said...

Flushing is an Anglicized version of a Dutch name. Of the European settlers, they were there before the English.

Anonymous said...

Was this not an African-American burial ground?

georgetheatheist said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flushing,_Netherlands

Claire, Vicki, that's not the Flushing in Scandinavia.

Claire D. Kow said...

Can ya dig it?

Anonymous said...

Flushing is an Anglicized version of a Dutch name. Of the European settlers, they were there before the English.

oh? when?

Anonymous said...

Jack is an advisor to QHS.

Stanley was president of QHS.

Hank Ludder was on the board of QHS.

Conflict of interest.

Anonymous said...

Was this not an African-American burial ground?

----

So? From Astoria to Elmhurst burial grounds are being built upon. No one seems to care.

Socrates Park has headstones from St Michaels it is rumored. No one seems to care.

What makes Africans so special?

Anonymous said...

How about St Saviours burial ground?

Anonymous said...

How about the Native American burial ground? Or, how about the dinosaur burial ground? No one cares about the poor wittle dinosaurs.

Anonymous said...

Flushing was named after the town of Vlissingen in Holland.

The entire parking field should merit review. We will unearth a tremendous amount of material dating back to the mid 1600's

Anonymous said...

What about St Saviours?

Funding should be spread around the borough, not just NE Queens.

Anonymous said...

Jeez...no kidding...an "intelligent" guess Dr. Jack-off (burro historian)...Dutch artifacts (LOL)!

After all it was called Vlisingen!

What a dim bulb he is!

No wonder Beep Marshal picked him... so he wouldn't outshine her...which is rather difficult generating 4 watts herself.