Accessibility InfoThis text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.
Located at the corner of the Hamilton and Van Brunt Avenues, this small oasis earned its name from its role as a pleasant backyard garden and park for the surrounding residences. The Backyard occupies an area that for more than 20 years had been a vacant lot. The geography of the land perhaps explains how the area remained empty for so long. In the colonial period, the old shoreline ran directly through the middle of what is now The Backyard, and a creek may have run through the lot and fed into the ocean. Geographers suspect that about half of this park rests on landfill. The land’s high-water table provides unsteady ground for structural foundations.
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