"Off with Their Finials!" :: The Bowling Green

New York has lots of Revolutionary War history. The Bowling Green is a very old park situated directly in front of (north of) the old U.S. Customs house at the bottom of Broadway.

When the Declaration of Independence was read to the soldiers of Washington's Army, they were so fired up that they stormed the Bowling Green and felled the grand statue of George III and chopped off the crown finials from each major fence post.

The image above shows one of these major fence posts, without its crown. Every crown was cut off, and the metal was used to make shot for the army's fight against the British. The fence that surrounds the Bowling Green today is the original fence, with only black paint coming between today and it's Revolutionary history.