This is a great photograph looking northwest on the west side of Broadway between West 123rd and West 124th Streets, taken by James Reuel Smith in Harlem, NY, November 16, 1898.
The house directly in front of us works as an invitation to intensely view the remainder of the photograph. Our eyes follow the fence to the left of the wooden Harlem farm-house in front of us surrounded by a tattered wooden picket fence, all happening in a landscape accented with trees and more wooded fencing. As we look farther back another small farm-house sits in front of a large white four story apartment complex that dominates the background landscape.
James Reuel Smith created a series photographs investigating these Indian springs and wells from 1897 to 1901 bicycling throughout Harlem. In 1922, he published Springs and Wells in Greek and Roman Literature, Their Legends and Locations.
Via source
