Decode Bryant Park.

Bryant Park: The Secret Beneath the Grass

Bryant Park sits on top of one of the most unusual structures in Manhattan: the New York Public Library's underground book stacks, which extend seven levels beneath the lawn. When the library at the park's eastern edge was built in 1911, the stacks were added below grade to house the library's growing collection. The park above was relandscaped in the 1990s, and today millions of visitors sit on the lawn without realizing they're perched above millions of books. The Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain at the park's western entrance, installed in 1912, was the first public monument in New York City dedicated to a woman — a social reformer who championed workers' rights.

Before it was Bryant Park, this ground was a potter's field — a public burial ground for the city's unclaimed dead. When the Croton Reservoir was built on the site in 1842 (a massive Egyptian-style structure that occupied the land where the library now stands), the bodies were moved. Or at least, most of them were. Construction projects in the area have occasionally turned up remains that were missed. The park itself has cycled through identities: from reservoir to Civil War training ground to a neglected drug haven in the 1970s to the immaculate corporate lawn it is today. During Fashion Week, the same grass hosts runway shows and celebrity sightings.

A StoryHunt through Bryant Park and its surroundings turns a Midtown lunch spot into an investigation. Your phone sends you searching for hidden details on the library's facade, coded inscriptions on park monuments, and clues that connect the underground stacks to the surface world. You'll decode the park's layered history — from potter's field to fashion runway — and discover why this small rectangle of green holds more secrets than most neighborhoods. Ninety minutes of immersive exploration in the heart of Manhattan.