Municipal workers were in for quite a surprise when a 2006 street excavation in Lower Manhattan in New York exposed wooden pipes that conveyed water to the city two centuries ago.
The intact pipes, believed to date to the 1820s, included the original wrought iron connectors that held sections of the pine together. Once pulled from the ground, the pipes sat for several years in the headquarters of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Last month the pipes were transported to the New York Historical Society where they will be on display.
The 12- and 14-foot-long pipes were laid by the Manhattan Company,
