BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — Out and about in New York City, you never know what you will run into.
Obstacles abound. Some garbage doesn’t get a second look.
Other items attract attention.
There’s an apparently discarded piano on the Manhattan side of the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Various city agencies, including the Department of Sanitation and the Film Office, insist they have no knowledge of its origin. It appeared at the beginning of June. Or was it the end of May?
Now, a huge rock in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, has gotten notice.
Recently, the rock was dug up from the grounds of a church a few blocks away. A visit to the rectory confirmed this part of the story.
The rock remained outside the church. Neighbors decided to move the boulder to the present location to honor a certain local legend.
They say 300 years ago, a boulder was near the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 36th Street and, according to the tale, it was the site of a confrontation between a resident and a stranger.
“Some tellings of the story say it was a dance contest, others a fiddling contest,” said Tony Giordano, who is coordinating media inquires about the rock.
He willingly spins the “The Legend of Martense Lane.”
“In the end, the stranger is defeated and in anger stomps his foot against a boulder in the intersection. The foot imprint was that of a hoof – like a devil’s foot,” Giordano said. “And thus the story is one of the devil being defeated.”
Giordano and other neighbors plan to meet with the local community board to discuss the arrangement.
Neighbors say the rock is not blocking the sidewalk.
City departments respond to complaints about discarded items. Currently, none has been officially logged about the piano or the rock.
