A Taste of NYC

New York City, Summer 1894. Central Park. Horse and carriages, the means of primary transport - other than by foot.

Ladies dressed in black from head to toe. A funeral procession? Nuns? It's hard to tell.

I ran across this photo today via a Twitter follower. There were 13 photos from the Summer of 1894 posted on her link. This one fascinated me.

What got my attention was not the barren look of the park in contrast to how it looks today. It wasn't the massive grove of fir trees along the dirt roads.

Look to the back, and what looms over the park?

The Dakota. 72nd St. and Central Park West. A Gothic wonder finished in 1884, 10 years before this photo was taken. Designed for the owner of the Singer Sewing Machine Company in a remote, undeveloped area of New York City.

The home of Yoko Ono. The place where John Lennon was shot in cold blood.

Across the street from Strawberry Fields, a small memorial to a prolific songwriter.

I have visited there. The Imagine Circle is much smaller than I had thought it would be, yet it attracts visitors from around the globe. It is one of the most photographed places in Central Park.

I did not see any strawberries there.

Life in NYC was very different in 1894.

I wonder what these folks were watching and thinking about.

Dont' you?