South Street Seaport has seen both good and bad days but it continues to flourish as a major tourist spot. Located in the lower section of Manhattan, next to the Fulton Subway stop, is a place in which embodies a different form of New York City. It seems so detached from the busy Manhattan essence; as if it is controlled by Manhattan’s predecessors. Cobblestones are laid on the streets where no cars or trucks can disrupt their constant peace. Salt fills the air as small shops stand in its midst; bringing back a retrospective feeling of what a town square would feel like in the 18th or 19th century. Before cars were invented and people gathered in a community of shops to buy, sell, trade, and converse with fellow neighbors; it claims the same historical value of new faces and togetherness.

Throughout the Seaport’s history it has seen its fair amount of ups and downs but it continues to persevere through time with the help of the people. Once the Battle of Long Island concluded in Brooklyn (as I explained in a previous post), British soldiers took hold of the port, taking away New York’s safest port for incoming merchants. They occupied this space for eight long years (1776-1784) before the New Yorkers regained claim to the beloved port.

Then in 1835 there was the great fire of Manhattan that ruined blocks and blocks of homes, businesses, and nature itself. Since all structures were built with wood, something as simple as one ember of fire created a domino effect to the closely knitted buildings; like an urban forest fire. The tragedy consumed 50 acres and over 550 buildings. The inhabitants regrouped and through years of pure dedication and financial struggle they pieced lower Manhattan back together.

Leading onward to October of 2012, a time in which hurricane Sandy tremendously created a major disaster. She tore apart New York City borough by borough and street by street. She showed no mercy; washing away a beautiful piece of history like the Seaport. With her deathly blows of intense winds, the Seaport that we all knew and loved was obliterated in one devastating night. But just as the population in the 18th and 19th centuries, the New Yorkers recollected and worked immensely to rebuild the Seaport. At a point in time the entire street was filled with shipping containers, serving as pop-up shops, which quickly revitalized the business and trading aesthetic back to the Seaport. This was an act of defiance against nature showing our enduring allegiance to our city, doing whatever it takes to see it flourish. Over four years later, we have almost rebuilt the seaport, not back to the way it was, but to something better by adding up and coming businesses making an eclectic hang-out spot for both tourists and city-dwellers.