The Battery’s Beehives (Flickr photo via gigi_nyc)
These little, colorful houses in the Battery Conservancy Garden looks adorable, however, it raises a very important question: why do these small houses look nicer than the larger (and that is putting it lightly) ones most of us live in? The reason: the people behind NYC Beekeeping. Last year, the bee enthusiasts decided to pay homage to NYC’s Dutch roots, by painting these beehives in the style of classic Dutch homes. That’s right, these beautiful mini-houses – located on a corner of the park facing the Staten Island Ferry – are home to the Conservancy Garden’s honeybee population.
According to Guillermo Fernandez, a beekeeper and the man who worked with the NYC Parks Department to set up the beehives, the honeybee migrated alongside the Dutch to Lower Manhattan. The hives, which house about a thousand bees each, have been a part of the Conservancy Gardens since since 2011 – a year after it became legal for New Yorkers to practice beekeeping.
If you would like to know more about the history of Battery Park, you can check out this vintage photo of a time when Battery Park was a beach.
To know why he has a suitcase filled with bees contact the author @TatteredFedora