A very thorough piece on Bowery Boogie posits that the Essex Crossing megaproject, formerly known as SPURA, is being built on top of one or more potter's fields (burial grounds for paupers and unidentified dead people) from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The evidence is fairly scattered, but as Bowery Boogie outlines, references to Lower East Side burial sites—many of them specifically mention an African American burial ground—have popped up in the Times, a book called The Common Dust of Potter's Field, New York City and its bodies politic, 1800-1860, and elsewhere. While it doesn't seem particularly likely that his information will lead to the development being halted in the same manner that developer GSA's was after the discovery of the African Burial Ground in 1991, it certainly seems worth looking into.
· What Lies Beneath: The Buried Potter's Fields of the Lower East Side [Bowery Boogie]
· Long Island City Megaproject Will Be Built on a Graveyard [Curbed]
· Preservationists Leave No (Grave)Stone Unturned In EVill Fight [Curbed]
· Effort To Open Hart Island to Public Gets Boost From Lawsuit [Curbed]
· 126th Street slave memorial [Curbed]
· Essex Crossing coverage [Curbed]
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