Accessibility Info
PARK FACT:
Do you know an interesting tidbit about Dawson Playground that you’d like to share? Please send it to us! Be sure to include the park name in your message.
This park honors Henry B. Dawson (1821-1889), who lived in this section of Hunts Point in the Bronx after emigrating from England with his parents at the age of 13. While pursuing a business career, he crusaded against alcohol, and for a short time in 1847 edited a temperance newspaper. He left the business world in 1856 and began making a reputation for himself as a self-taught historian with the publication of several essays and his first book, Battles of the United States by Sea and Land (1858). In 1866 he purchased The Historical Magazine and was its editor until 1876 when it ceased publication. The original inhabitants of Hunts Point were Native Americans of the Weckquaesgeek tribe, who raised corn and tobacco, and called their land Quinnahung, or Planting Neck. In the 17th century, the Weckquaesgeek were displaced by European settlers. They renamed the peninsula Hunts Point for Thomas Hunt, who settled here in 1670. The newcomers built elaborate estates and f…
Directions to Dawson Playground
 |
