This park, located along Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, commemorates five wars: WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. The WWII stele bears the following inscription:
TO THE GERMAN GENERAL
"NUTS"
FROM THE AMERICAN GENERAL
They were tied around at least half the trees on this side of the block. An anti-drug statement?
Still labeled as such on many maps, it's now a footpath around Bissel Gardens.
You see this occasionally in New York, although I'm not sure why. At least in this case, I don't think there was ever a streetcar line here from which it could be a remnant. The elevated 5 train is nearby; did the spike wander off one day in search of an easier life? Perhaps spikes make good impromptu tools in road construction?
I passed several complexes like this today in the area just south of Pelham Parkway.
The big machine in the opposite crosswalk is a saw that cuts into pavement. The water is necessary to cool the saw blade and keep the dust from becoming airborne.
It must have been sitting here for years, waiting for the tree to grow.
