McCarthy Square: A Marine's Tribute and Elaborate Birdhouses

McCarthy Square in Greenwich Village is on a small island formed at the intersection of 3 streets: Charles Street, Waverly Place, and 7th Avenue South. Here is a view from Charles and Waverly:

If you're at all familiar with Greenwich Village past and present then you probably assumed, rightly, that McCarthy Square is not named for Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. McCarthyism isn't really big around these parts. 

The Square is actually named for Private First Class Bernard Joseph McCarthy, a Marine who was from the neighborhood and died in World War II. There is a plaque that gives information about him and the Square, including some history of the area's geography of crooked streets and how the flagpole was originally at the 1939 World's Fair in Queens.

Another plaque says what is inscribed on the base of the flagpole, adding women to the tribute, which is not actually on the stone writing.

This small island packs in lots of nice plants, flowers, and trees. To go along with them there are some beautiful and finely detailed birdhouses, which is pretty great in its seeming randomness. 

The one above seems almost like a bird mansion. It's also available to rent as a studio apartment for 2000/month. 

I didn't see any birds using the houses but it was a hot day and maybe they were all taking cover and not wanting to fly around. Or maybe they were finding shade inside the birdhouses and that's why I didn't see them... interesting. 

There are beautiful flowers in the center area, along with a rabbit sculpture. 

Some holes in the dirt made me think there might be some real live animals living there too. 

 

Maybe the rabbit was an attempt to scare away animals but it didn't work because it's too cute. If only there were another bunny figure in a nearby store window that was super scary and creepy...

Yup, that'll work. Actually it's really freaking me out, I need to quickly move on to something else... Maybe some more flowers on the island.

To the right on Waverly Place is an Italian restaurant called Morandi.

There is also a Japanese restaurant called Akira across the street on 7th Avenue, towards the left in this panorama:

Here are a few more random looks at the island:

The tree at the center of this photo is apparently an elm that is new to the Square:

This seemed to be a lost piece of jewelry:

It's unlikely that its owner would happen to read this blog, but you never know. 

My freshman high school English teacher would not have accepted 'cans' as rhyming with 'hands' but I think she was too strict about that stuff. I'm okay with it and in fact enjoyed this garbage can poem. 

I can't resist adding one more birdhouse photo:

I think that's all for this post. It was a shorter one but I'm glad I covered McCarthy Square. I had walked by it so many times without even knowing its name, not to mention that it honored a local Marine and all those who served for the U.S. in World War II.

Thanks for reading, and have a happy and safe Memorial Day.