Where Did The Castles In Jersey City Come From?

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Jersey City is full of surprises and Liberty State Park is no different — but it's not just the perfect sunny spot on the field that catches some visitors by surprise.

If you wander deep enough into Liberty State Park, you might stumble upon what look like castle ruins. The mounds of cobblestone are not reachable to the public anymore as they're set deep in the tall grass in an area of the park that is protected marsh lands. The exact castle location is not known to the public (Patch tried to find them with no luck).

The castle ruins aren't part of a tiny, mythical regime from Jersey City's past, but rather, were sculptures in a three-part art installation from the 1980s. Titled "Left Turns" sculptor Charles Simonds created the sculptures, tucked into the grass to "establish a close symbolic relationship between nature and civilization," according to a Jersey Journal story that was printed around the time of the installation's opening.

The city recently highlighted the castle's existence in its Instagram series "Strange JC" and mentioned that Simonds was inspired by a "mythical race of little people," which is why the structures are so small.

Simonds was also fascinated by natural decay and purposely made the installations outdoors to allow nature to overtake the sculptures. Of the three pieces, only one remains, the other two fell victim to the marshes and rising tides.

The first piece was a spiral-pathed earth knoll with a fire pit, the second is a miniature city made of cast concrete and the third is a form made of pigmented concrete and an animal made of cast concrete. The three sculptures were not in the same locations or connected, making viewers walk in left turns to view them all.

Have you seen this odd-ball Jersey City landmark? What did you think when you first laid eyes on it, tell us in the comments below!