Pearl Street and Broad Street

A bit about this area from Chronicles of Old New York by James Roman: “Pearl Street, originally known as Mother-of-Pearl Street due to all the iridescent shells embedded in its soil, follows an irregular path today because it once wound its way around the foot of a large hill. As Manhattan’s population grew during the 1700s, new land was retrieved from the East River by leveling those hills, literally creating a street from the water: Water Street.”