This past Friday, Mr. Robert Sandler's New York City History class hit the streets for an unforgettable walking tour of Greenwich Village—one of the city's most layered and storied neighborhoods. They began in Washington Square Park, where students traced how this land evolved from 17th-century farms worked by people of African descent under “half-freedom,” to a hotbed of bohemian life, radical politics, and cultural rebellion.
The class walked the same blocks once frequented by socialist playwrights, beat poets, and folk singers like Bob Dylan, and stood where Jane Jacobs took on Robert Moses in defense of the city’s soul. At the Church of the Ascension, we marveled at the stained glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany and the architecture of Stanford White. A highlight was our exclusive visit to the Salmagundi Club, where students explored original artworks and stepped inside one of the last intact 19th-century brownstones on Fifth Avenue.
In the West Village, we connected the area’s unique charm to 19th-century transit decisions, discussed Stonewall and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, and admired the elegant Federal-style homes tucked away on quiet side streets. Students were fully engaged—asking big questions, making bold connections, and experiencing the city not just as a backdrop to history, but as history itself. Pics attached! See a full size photo collage here,
