Visiting Collect Pond Park!

Roar! Today I decided to take a visit to part of New York's "forgotten" history. Most people have heard of New York's infamous Five Points seen in big budget, Hollywood movies like Gangs of New York, but few know the "pints" was built on the former site of Collect Pond Park. Collect Pond Park was a small pond in lower Manhattan that during the 18th century was a popular picnic spot and ice skating location. Then once industry took over in the early 19th century it turned into one of New York City's many dumping grounds and quickly became known as one of the most polluted sites in the city. The pond was filled in and though many people said it was daft to build in a swamp the city went right on to develop Collect Pond Park. After several different developments sank into the swamp, they built the Five Points District, and the Five Points stayed up! Roar! 

The Five Points was so notorious for being the absolute worst neighborhood in the city that when the city was re-developing downtown the city planners made it a point to built right over where the Five points had been and hopefully erase it from memory, even possibly from history! Roar! Here I am at the current day Collect Pond Park. This small, urban park is one of the few reminders of the old area. 

Roar! It's also the most rat infested area in the city! Because the park is still technically below grade it has become a major breeding ground. There are literally hundreds of rats here! Some of them have even broken off into factions! It turns out the Native Rats of Collect Pond Park are fighting with all the rats that are moving there from other parts of the city!

Most of the rats spend there time hiding in all the ivy growing all over the park. It turns out the main immigrant rat group, the Dead Mice, were holing up in the ivy preparing for war with the Native Rats! Things are looking pretty bad down here in Collect Pond Park, someone needs to remind all these rats just whose paws built this park! Roar!