Rare Letter of Walt Disney’s “Silly Symphony” Discovered Plus: The Man with 575 Capitol Buildings, among interesting and unusual historical collectibles in November 12th auction.
While not in any auction, the Liberation Lawn harbors over thirty specific points and periods of African-American history, a high number for historical sites of any kind.
These points include: the formal entry tended by slaves of the richest couple in old New York ... George Washington’s 1776 encampment ... land impacted by the very first freedom law of its kind in America - over 75 years before the Emancipation Proclamation, rare written documentation of the Underground Railroad on site, and much more.
City plans call for this Liberation Lawn, adjoining the Philipse Manor Historic District, to be strip-excavated, then flooded with cement, for a garage and condo. Efforts of local citizens to preserve Liberation Lawn are ongoing.
Its secrets were rediscovered by a rather astonished Bob Snyder, Cohasco V.P., who published them in the Yonkers Historical Society’s Quarterly. He remarked, “That so many key chapters in history occurred on one modest piece of land is extraordinary. It’s highly likely that the number of historical discoveries about Liberation Lawn’s role in slavery and freedom in America will continue to grow. But we’re racing the clock.”
