NYC: Gramercy Park | Gramercy Park (sometimes misspelled as Grammercy) is a small, fenced-in private park bounded by E 20th St, E 21st St, Park Avenue S, and 3rd Avenue, in Gramerce. Normally accessible only to residents of certain townhouses in the area who have keys to the park, nearby residents may buy visiting priviliges and it is open to the public on Christmas Day, Yom Kippur and Gramercy Day (which chanes early, but is often the first Saturday in May). It is the only remaining private park in Manhattan.
The name "Gramercy" is almost certainly a corruption of the Dutch word "krom mesje," or "little crooked knife," the name of a small brook that flowed along what is now 21st Street. The area was originally a swamp when Samuel B. Ruggles bought it from James Duane and turned it into part of Gramercy Farm. In 1831 Ruggles donated the property to the city on condition that no commercial enterprise be permitted on the facing streets or in the park proper. To this day, the park contains no amusements, swing sets, snack shops or any other intrusions on its rusticity.
The center of the park contains a statue of one of the area's most famous residents, Edwin Booth. Booth was one of the great Shakespearean actors of 19th century America, as well as the brother of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.
