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Oldest Manhole Cover is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Oldest Manhole Cover

Walk over a 150 year old manhole.

New York, New York

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Oliver Hong
  Michael Busch / Atlas Obscura User
  wherearewedude / Atlas Obscura User
  wherearewedude / Atlas Obscura User
1867 manhole cover. 85th and Central Park West   kgtband / Atlas Obscura User
Croton Aqueduct 1862 Manhole Cover on W 40th Street and 8th Ave   mattiglody / Atlas Obscura User
1866 Manhole cover 85th and Central Park West   kgtband / Atlas Obscura User
The manhole covers looking back at 85th and Central Park West   kgtband / Atlas Obscura User
New cover here now....   NYPL geocacher / Atlas Obscura User
01/27/2017   eharjes / Atlas Obscura User
  Forgotten NY
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About

The manhole cover on Jersey street was New York's oldest manhole cover and used to allow access to the Croton Aqueduct, built in the early 1840s.

Although the aqueduct was drained to create the Great Lawn in Central Park, this tiny manhole in SoHo was a tribute to the infrastructure that supported a growing metropolis from the days of horse and buggy travel.

Update March 2018: Sadly, the city of New York has replaced this manhole cover. There are others you can see around Central Park.

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Know Before You Go

Head to Central Park to see other manhole covers. If you enter Central Park on at 85th Street on the west side and take the smaller path to the left, they're about 70 steps in.

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Oliver Hong

AF profile photo eharjes profile photo kgtband profile photo NYPL geocacher profile photo

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Published

February 14, 2013

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