A Revolutionary War-era cannon that had been on public display at New York City's Central Park for more than 130 years was loaded and ready to fire the entire time, park officials just discovered.

The cannon, salvaged from a British ship that sank in the East River during the American Revolution and later donated to the park, had been in storage for years. Its dangerous state was only just discovered when the cannon was taken in for restoration, where preservationists discovered the weapon was stuffed with gunpowder, wadding, and a cannonball, according to WCBS-TV.

Experts from the New York Police Department were called to the park to finally render the weapon safe, after years of it being virtually at tourists' fingertips.