The blocks between 111th and 113th street provided a great opportunity for us to explore contrasting sites, from the highly institutional and grand cathedral to the volunteer-led community garden across the street.
As you explore the space, try to consider these questions:
In what ways do you notice the church and community garden differ? What resources do they have (or not have) access to?
How does the physical construction of these spaces inform their use? How does this restrict or facilitate the kind of activity you see?
How (if at all) does your behavior change when engaging with each sub-site? How does each space make you feel?
Follow the main red-brick entry path and explore the plots to your left. Some dedicated gardeners provide their own supplies and have informal domains in the garden: these are __'s, one of the garden's most prolific caretakers and donators.
NOTE: Due to the cold weather, the garden may be closed so do your best to enjoy it from outside the gates.
Most community gardens receive supplies from New York's GreenThumb gardening program, but this often falls short of their needs: much of the furniture and supplies here were purchased from donations or by gardeners themselves. This area is a popular spot for families and children to play, especially on the warm Saturday mornings when volunteers work.
(507 W 111th St) Residents of this building resisted eviction and urban renewal in the 1960s to create a tenant-sponsored co-op. Many of the active community organizations in Morningside today -- including the garden -rose out of that initial organizing effort.
"You built that little community garden."
"Not me. We all did. It was just like a citizens’ effort, to try to make the place look good."
"So you were building your own home, and your own block, with a community organization here."
"It turned out to be a very good block."
Now make your way across the street from the W 111th St People's Garden to the steps of the Cathedral. Sitting on the steps overlooking the street was a great place to take field notes as there was so much to see...I almost forget I was sitting upon such a grand structure when taking field notes....
Fun fact #1: According to its website, the cathedral's construction is still not finished. Currently, funding is directed to prioritize serving the community through programming and social initiatives
This photo was taken while standing on the side of the street where the community garden is located!
Fun fact #2: The private garden behind the cathedral is home to 3 peacocks and were gifted by one of the cathedral's trustees in the 1980s!
Our next and final leg of our tour is right next to the Cathedral steps on W 111th St. Enter the metal fence that leads into a small circular garden that holds the notable Peace Fountain at its center!
The Peace Fountain was built in 1985 by Greg Wyatt to depict the struggle between good and evil, shown by the archangel Michael vanquishing Satan. Despite it being called a fountain, there is no running water that streams out of it so throughout my field notes, I refer to it as a statue. I noticed that many visitors spent various amounts of time staring at the fountain, as if trying to make sense of all the components and their biblical or non-biblical significance.
As students at Barnard and Columbia, we spent a lot of time reflecting on our positionality when taking field notes in spaces typically used by local residents and community members in the neighborhood. Considering the history of gentrification in Harlem and Columbia's involvement with the process, we sought to better understand this community garden and the purposes it serves to the people who use it most. This is especially true of the garden -- when we spoke to residents, some were skeptical of our interest as students and outsiders, but we quickly found all of the volunteers to be warm and inviting. As we were educated about the garden's history, we discovered student participation in the garden has a long and storied history all the way back to the 1960s: the student protestors of 68' and residents of the Blennerhasset stood in solidarity. Although we were outsiders, our status as students absolutely gave us some currency in the garden.
