The final two original core residents that greeted Nick and Gabriele when they arrived at The Hill were “The Chinese Man in the Back,” or as Nick referred to him, the Geomancer, and Mister Lee. They built the two most ingenious dwellings on The Hill.

The Hill is part of a rich history of the landscape, which Nick had researched not long after arriving at The Hill. It includes the Lenape tribe that lived at “Werpoes,” meaning “little hill,” located east of Collect Pond.

In 1802 when Collect Pond was drained through a canal (which is how Canal Street got its name), the surrounding hills began to be leveled to fill it in, until the homeless man, Captain Dundas, living Bayard’s vault was discovered. Operations were halted, and this “frightful specimen” was allowed to live out his life before the leveling operations were resumed.

Nick felt that the metaphysics of the “little hill” made it a site for the eternal recurrence of history and saw the reincarnation of “Captain Dundas” in the two odd men out on the Hill: The Chinese geomancer was the Hermit living in his underground hermitage; Mister Lee was the Ragman living in his tied-together patchwork hut.

Yellow ribbons: https://daily.jstor.org/the-many-meanings-of-yellow-ribbons/

Bayard’s Vault: https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2017/07/life-and-death-of-bayards-mount.html

#conceptualart #guerrillaart #homelessencampment #homeless #outlaws #MelChin #collectpond #bayardsvault #geomancy

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Contact Nick and Gabriele: podcast@thievestheatre.org

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