The People Behind the 9/11 Memorial in New York City
The People Behind the Memorial
When you see the 9/11 Memorial, you probably notice the names. You notice the water. You notice the Survivor Tree. You notice the sheer size of the reflecting pools and the silence that seems to take over, even with New York City happening all around you.
What you probably don't think about is who takes care of all of it.
Because while millions of people visit the memorial, there is a crew of people working behind the scenes to make sure the site remains beautiful and dignified — including the people who clean those enormous reflecting pools.
They Go Into the Pools at Night
The two reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and sit in the exact footprints of the Twin Towers. The waterfalls drop 30 feet into the pools, making them the largest man-made waterfalls in North America.
Five nights a week, the overnight crew gets into the pools when most of New York is asleep.
READ MORE: A Powerful Visit to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum
READ MORE: Field That Never Forgets in NY: Giant “USA” Honors 9/11 Victims
READ MORE: How Budweiser Honored 9/11 With an Ad That Never Ran Again
And apparently, there is a LOT of vacuuming involved. Cleaning one pool requires about 44 trips pushing the vacuum one way and another 44 coming back.
And It's Not Just Leaves
Most of what ends up in the pools comes from the roughly 400 trees surrounding the memorial. But the crew has also pulled out coins, soda cans, children's toys, and even a camera.
One year, they found something even more unexpected: a turtle about the size of a lunchbox.
The water also has to be treated to control algae and other growth, while the workers scrub and clean the surfaces underneath the water.
Even the Survivor Tree Has a Team
Then there's the Survivor Tree, the Callery pear that was found badly damaged in the rubble after 9/11. Its roots had been snapped, and its branches were burned and broken.
It was removed from the site, nursed back to health by New York City Parks workers and eventually returned to the memorial in 2010.
Today, it stands among roughly 400 swamp white oak trees surrounding the pools.
Never Forget
So when you see that tree, the pools and those perfectly maintained grounds, remember that somebody had to make sure they got that way — and somebody is still taking care of them.
For 25 years, we've talked about remembering September 11.
These are some of the people quietly making sure we never forget.
11 Touching 9/11 Tributes For Social Media
Gallery Credit: Polly McAdams
More From Big Frog 104
