Free Writing – Anna Harsanyi

The beginning of my research began as a simple curiosity of what New York has that makes them historically significant, but people don’t notice in the modern day. I looked around me and really tried to focus on what people don’t notice as much but holds an importance. The topic that fit into this were cobblestones. With some research, I found out they were in danger of being completely gone due to the lack of care. They were once hand carved and placed, and now that time had passed there weren’t anyone who had the skill to do the same job and it’s harder to repair. Due to this problem, cars and bicycles have trouble with the cobblestone roads and some places have a hard time with other issues like sanitation or water draining. Despite these problems, the places I went to with the cobblestones were very pretty and it would be a big shame to have them covered. They have such deep history with New York City, and I think the city should work harder to make them shine and be a part of the city’s history. So far, I have researched what problems people are facing from the cobblestone streets and ongoing debates. I need to look deeper into why the cobblestones are left in certain areas and how they are linked to those specific areas of land.