Touch History #1

Fence around Bowling Green Park.
In 1770, King George III was rewarded by the colonists with a gilded statue in the center of Bowling Green Park for his alleged efforts in repealing the Stamp Act; a year later this fence was added. It was here that, in 1776, George's statue was beheaded by enraged colonists and members of the Sons of Liberty, hours after they read the Declaration of Independence in what is now City Hall Park. Supposedly, George's molten lead was then cast into musket balls later used to shoot Tory soldiers. The fence around Bowling Green is one of the oldest -- if not the oldest -- in the City. Iron crowns adorned the gateposts until American revolutionaries sheared them off. The larger post on the right-hand side of this photo illustrates this and how, still today, you can actually feel where this happened.
(Historical assistance provided by The Big Onion Guide to New York City: Ten Historical Tours.)