NYC Cemetery Project

Periodically, we like to run profiles to showcase the hard work of New Yorkers who are dedicated to the history and archaeology of this city. Mary French runs the NYC Cemetery Project, an incredible blog that actually has real writing, and information, and images — not just clickbait “content.” In this world, it’s a rarity.

Round Manhattan’s Rim

In 1933, journalist Helen Worden of the World-Telegram decided to take a jaunt. With her friend Ruth Steinway in tow, she circumnavigated the waterfront of Manhattan island, and wrote it all up in a pithy little number called Round Manhattan’s Rim. This Depression-era travelogue is a wonderful curio that opens up a vintage Pandora’s-hatbox of questions, from “What is a B.E.F.?” to “Where on earth was Spanish-town,” and “When did the Seaport stop being painted in bright colors of blue and white?”