This is the world my characters were born into. I write historical fiction set in New York's Italian immigrant neighborhoods, and when I was researching Five Points for my trilogy, what struck me was how that same cycle of filth, overcrowding, and contaminated water followed families even after the neighborhood was razed. The Santoros in my novels move north to East Harlem, and by 1919 the tenements there still had shared privies in the yard and water you wouldn't trust. The grime didn't disappear — it just relocated. Your piece captures exactly why nostalgia for the old city falls apart the moment you look at the details.
As the saying goes: The best thing about the Good Old Days is that they are old and long forgotten. Thanks for the reality check.
I lived > 20 years at 42 Peck Slip & the Fish Market .
Peck Slip from Water Street out was built on a couple of centuries of trash .
Up a couple of meters from Water is Pearl , named for the oyster shells discarded there .
This is the world my characters were born into. I write historical fiction set in New York's Italian immigrant neighborhoods, and when I was researching Five Points for my trilogy, what struck me was how that same cycle of filth, overcrowding, and contaminated water followed families even after the neighborhood was razed. The Santoros in my novels move north to East Harlem, and by 1919 the tenements there still had shared privies in the yard and water you wouldn't trust. The grime didn't disappear — it just relocated. Your piece captures exactly why nostalgia for the old city falls apart the moment you look at the details.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-41989056
Manhattan Island [ New Amsterdam ] was swapped for Run Island and ended a war in the process
and we still get nutmeg from there !!