James Reuel Smith’s Enchanting Journey Into Harlem’s Hidden Wells And Springs, 1897 And 1901
By Bretton Love In the heart of Harlem, a forgotten world of natural wonders lies beneath the bustling streets.
By Bretton Love In the heart of Harlem, a forgotten world of natural wonders lies beneath the bustling streets.
In the heart of bustling Harlem, on the vibrant intersection of W. 119th Street and Claremont Avenue, lies a hidden gem from the past.
A light photograph of Michael Barry’s well and horse carriage, on the north side of West 137th Street, between Lenox and Fifth Avenues in Harlem, NY, on April 21, 1898.
The Central Park fresh water spring photograph by James Reuel Smith at West 109th Street, (150 feet east of) Eighth Avenue, Harlem, New York, on March 18, 1901.
James Reuel Smith was an interesting guy, from the late 19th to the early 20th century, he painstakingly photographed the Wecksquaesgeek Indian water springs and wells in Harlem, all over New York City and further north.
Grading left some lots below street level grading at 117th Street and Fifth Avenue in Harlem, NY.
A great photograph by Harlem documentarian James Reuel Smith of the I. Kunz’s Well, (80 feet west), at 6th Street at West 138th Street, in Harlem, New York, on April 21, 1898.
A photograph of the Central Park natural Spring entrance by photographed by James Reuel Smith at West 109th Street at Eighth Avenue in central Harlem, NY, on March 18, 1901.
An old wooden shack photographed by James Reuel Smith looking southwest on the west side of Broadway between West 123rd and West 124th Streets in Harlem, NY, November 16, 1898.
Unidentified boy with water container photographed by James Reuel Smith at an old rough Well on the Hudson River shore (to the right) looking southeast from West 158th Street, in Harlem, NY, May 13, 1898.
Pinkney’s Well, north of West 139th Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, New York City, April 21, 1898.
A great, clear photograph by James Reuel Smith looking northwest taken of the Wells and Springs building on the shoreline of the Hudson River (with a ship passing in the distance), from the other side of the railroad tracks, between West 122nd and 123rd Streets in West Harlem, New York, on September 28, 1897.
Turn of the century Harlem photograph by James Reuel Smith, a small Harlem boy sitting a top a well on the northeast corner of Broadway and West 124th Street, Harlem, New York, April 9, 1898.
It was spring time in Harlem, when photographer James Reuel Smith, took this image of the Hudson River Well, between West 122nd and West 123rd Streets, looking northeast in West Harlem, on the shore of the Hudson River in New York, 1897-1902.
We love this wonderful photograph by James Reuel Smith of an little boy sitting in front of a Harlem Well at 27 West 115th Street, between Fifth and Lenox Avenues on October 26, 1897.