REVISITING a long-gone Forgotten New York item from the dim past, my thoughts turned to the long-vanished Enchant(ed) Villages of Greenpoint, an art installation on Herbert and North Henry near St. Cecilia’s Church. Greenpoint’s “Enchant Villages” (the ‘ed’ was added later) were the work of a now-deceased Greenpoint resident named Tony, who created the Villages in 1991. The story goes that he suffered a heart attack and was then inspired to create his vision of the world as he saw it, a beautiful place… a global village. The Villages were represented by articles and sundry items from Tony’s house, helpfully hand-labeled.
Tony’s aim was to celebrate different cultures of the USA and of the globe, shot through with good old American patriotism. The Red Sea was represented by a fish tank. I was told that actual fish used to swim in it, and the tank used to be lit. Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed, was signified by plastic deer climbing a mound. Ireland was two Irish coffee mugs; other cultures were represented by Amish doll figurines.
By the time I saw them at the dawn of the Forgotten NY Era in 2000, the Enchanted Villages were in ruins. In the 1990s when Tony was alive, the fish tank burbled, Christmas lights lit up the enclosure, and Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents would walk blocks out of their way to see it.
Tony’s son Frank, a Vietnam veteran, was running a garage sale outside the Villages; his aim was to someday restore the Enchant(ed) Villages and complete his father’s vision of a peaceful world. Maybe the Villages will be restored eventually; maybe there will be a peaceful world; what has a better chance of happening? (Neither, so far, it seems.)
An apartment building occupies the space these days.
Sources:
Scouting Report, Mary Karam, the New York Press, February 6, 2001
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1/19/24