Potter’s Field

In Girl in the Glass, the Clypeate covers their escape, making sure nobody comes looking for them. However, Declan has never heard of Potter’s Field. As Captain Noonan explains:

“Potter’s Field currently serves as New York City’s burial ground for indigents, those poor souls whose bodies go unclaimed. But that’s not how the cemetery started. The first two dozen burials were Union soldiers from the Civil War.”

In New York City, Potter's Field is currently located on Hart Island (see pictures). The name "Potter's Field" originates from the biblical story of Judas Iscariot, who used the money he got from betraying Jesus to purchase a potter's field for burial purposes. At present, Potter’s Field is mainly used as a burial ground for the city's indigent, unidentified, and unclaimed deceased.

As mentioned in Girl in the Glass, the first recorded burials on Hart Island were Union Army soldiers. During the Civil War, the Union Army used Hart Island as a training ground and prisoner-of-war camp, and soldiers who died during that period were buried there.

Of note, there were earlier Potter's Fields in New York City. Washington Square Park, Bellevue Hospital, Madison Square Park, and the New York Public Library are all built atop previous burial grounds.

In 1868, the city purchased Hart Island as a permanent location for its Potter's Field. An estimated million-plus people are now buried on Hart Island.

Hart Island, the location of Potter’s Field, is marked with a red arrow

Hart Island, the Potter’s Field

Burial sites. In picture below, NYC’s skyline in the distance