Nick Carr was intrigued by a tiny fenced yard that turned out to be the smallest (and one of the oldest) cemeteries in the city. How did this little triangular patch in Manhattan come to be? That called for some research.
The West 11th Street graveyard is all that remains of the Second Cemetery of the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue of the Congregation Shearith Israel. Shearith Israel, the first Jewish congregation in North America, was founded in 1654; the cemetery dates to 1805.
Some further digging revealed how the cemetery became so small with such a strange shape. The real wonder is that it survived at all! Read the rest of the story and see more pictures at Scouting New York. Link -via mental_floss