The Wall of New Amsterdam

There is a certain psychological comfort to be derived from a barrier of some sort. It gives the feeling of safety and acts as a deterrent to those you don’t like from invading your space. Of course, not all were successful or to adapt Richard Lovelace’s famous quote, didn’t necessarily provide the level of isolation that the builders anticipated. In this series we will look at some of the more unusual physical barriers erected by man against man.

When the Dutch occupied what is now known as Manhattan Island, they did not have an easy time of it. Not only were they harassed by the local Native Americans, who not unsurprisingly took umbrage at their presumption, they also had to deal with incursions from the pesky British. To strengthen their hold on the island, the Dutch decided to construct a Wall which would seal off their settlement and provide protection against and discouragement to potential invaders.

The wall started out life as picket fence, constructed in 1653, and over time was built into a more solid structure, standing some twelve feet high with guard points dotted along its length. It stretched from Pearl Street, which was situated on one shore of Manhattan to what is now Temple Place on the other side.

However, Construction was nearly sabotaged not by the slings and arrows of outraged opponents but by those of outrageous fortune. The problem was pigs. It was the custom at the time for the Dutch to engage what would now be termed free range farming. In other words, their livestock roamed the streets willy-nilly and were often to be found uprooting orchards and gardens. A favourite spot for animals to run riot was where the wall was being built. So serious was the problem of damage to and interference with the construction work that Peter Stuyvesant was moved to write to the government, detailing with “great grief the damages, done to the walls of the fort by hogs, especially now again the spring when the grass comes out.”

The government, in response to Stuyvesant’s complaints, employed some herdsmen to protect the construction site but their efforts were futile. In August Stuyvesant was at it again, pointing out that the city officials needed to “take care, that what we with great pains and labour have brought us far will not again be destroyed by hogs, and thus all our labour be rendered useless.” The authorities responded this time with more concerted action to allow the construction to be completed, by ordering each resident to “take care of his hogs or keep them in the sty.”

Alas, though, the wall proved to be ineffective and the British seized the colony, renaming it New York, after the King Charles II’s brother, James, Duke of York, and whilst the Dutch temporarily regained it in 1673 it was surrendered permanently to the Brits in 1674 after the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The wall was dismantled in 1699 and replaced with a paved street which commemorated the former structure by being named Wall Street. Nowadays it is used to having bulls and bears wandering along it, although pigs roaming wild and eating the accumulated piles of rubbish were still a feature of the nascent New York well into the 19^th century.

Filed under: Culture, History Tagged: bulls and bears of Wall Street, Peter Stuyvesant, pigs hamper construction of Dutch wall, Richard Lovelace, slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, the Dutch palisade in New Amsterdam, the origin of Wall Street