Fort Greene Park Searches For New Manager, Anticipates Visitors Center Reopening

The Fort Greene Park Visitors Center–which has been closed since former park manager Carol Anastasio’s departure–is expected to reopen by year’s end, according to DNAInfo.

The Visitors Center building, erected in the early 1900s as part of a project to honor those who died on Wallabout Bay prison ships during the Revolutionary War, is home to battle memorabilia, photos of park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and hard to find insects. Biodiversity seems to have been a particular wish of Anastasio’s for the park.

“Every year I notice an increased number of the variety of birds, the variety of butterflies and the variety of dragonflies,” she told The Local last February. “That’s because over the last couple of years we’ve been introducing more gardens. And when we design the gardens, we try to make sure that the gardens have a wide diversity of plant life that actually draw those things.”

“Where else are you going to see Madagascar hissing cockroaches,” Anastasio said of the Visitors Center. “Where are you going to get such a large concentration of walking sticks in this part of Brooklyn?”

A representative for the NYC Parks Department told DNA that interviews for park manager candidates were underway. Anastasio’s replacement will allow for the Visitors Center to open its doors once again, and will oversee maintenance and special park events.

If you’ve never been to the center, you can get a look inside here.