PS/IS 187 Hudson Cliffs School
Site developed by a group of parents from the zone of the Hudson Cliffs School (PS 187/IS 287).

Hudson Cliffs Theatre Arts Center, Inc.
"Hudson Cliffs Theatre Arts Center has been developed to provide an alternative to classroom learning and to enhance the academic, cultural, and social enrichment to approximately 100 youths ages 5 to 20 of various ethnic backgrounds."

Mother Cabrini High School and Shrine
Started in 1899 by Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini as the Sacred Heart boarding school for girls, the school was renamed in Mother Cabrini's honor and it has evolved into a highly regarded secondary school for girls.

Café Largo
3387 Broadway (near 137th Street)
Phone: (212) 862-8142

Capo Verde
Ft. Washington Avenue (south of 187th Street)
Phone: (212) 928-6006

La Caridad
2184 Amsterdam Avenue (near 169th Street)
Phone: (212) 568-4294

Charles' Southern Kitchen
2839 Eigth Avenue (north of 151st Street)
Phone: (212) 926-4313

Crab Inn
15 West 125th Street
Phone: (212) 876-6664

Copeland's
547 West 145th Street (Amsterdam-Broadway)
Phone: (212) 234-2357

Emily's
1325 Fifth Avenue (111-112 Streets)
Phone: (212) 996-1212

Empire Szechuan
4041 Broadway (170th-171th Streets)
Phone: (212) 568-1600

Fifth Ave. Seafood
2014 Fifth Avenue (at 125th Street)
Phone: (212) 987-6030

Fort Tryon Café
One Margaret Corbin Drive in Fort Tryon Park

Home Sweet Harlem Café
270 West 135th Street (west of 7th Ave.)
Phone: (212) 926-9616

Jesse's Place
812 West 181st Str. (west of Ft. Washington)
Phone: (212) 795-4168

Jimmy's Uptown
2207 Seventh Avenue (at 130th Street)
Phone: (212) 491-4000

Kismat
603 Ft. Washington Ave. (north of 187th Street)
795-8633 / 8606

Londel's Supper Club
2620 Fr. Douglass Blvd. (north of 139th Street)
Phone: (212) 234-6114

Max
1274 Amsterdam Ave. (at 123rd Street)
Phone: (212) 531-2221

Miss Maude's Spoonbread
547 Lenox Avenue (north of 137th Street)
Phone: (212) 690-3100

New Leaf Café
One Margaret Corbin Drive in Fort Tryon Park
Phone: (212) 568-5323

107 West
811 West 187 Street (west of Ft.Washington A.)
Phone: (212) 923-3311

Perk's Fine Cuisine
553 Manhattan Ave. (at 123rd Street)
Phone: (212) 666-8500

Showman's
375 West 125th Street (at St.Nicholas Ave.)
Phone: (212) 864-8941

Slice of Harlem
2527 Eigth Avenue (at 135th Street)
Phone: (212) 862-4089

Sugar Hill Bistro
458 West 145th Street (Amsterdam-Convent Aves.)
Phone: (212) 491-5505

Sylvia's
328 Lenox Avenue (126-127 Streets)
Phone: (212) 996-0660

Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation:
More commonly referred to as WHIDC (pronounced "WIDIK"), this not for profit local development corporation was organized in 1978 to serve the residents and businesses in the Washington Heights and Inwood section of northern Manhattan.

Hudson Heights Owners Coalition:
The Hudson Heights Owners Coalition is an association of owner occupied residential properties in Manhattan between J. Hood Wright Park (173rd Street) and Fort Tryon Park (Margaret Corbin Circle at 192nd Street), west of Broadway.

AileyCamp


In describing the AileyCamps, the website of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater states that this "unique program, originated by the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, brings under-served youngsters to a full-scholarship summer day camp that combines dance with personal development workshops, creative-writing classes and field trips. The six-week program focuses on inner-city kids between the ages of 11 and 14. This tuition-free camp provides campers with a safe environment in which they can have fun while learning discipline and developing important life skills. The AileyCamp faculty is comprised of professional artists and educators. Committed to personalized and individual attention, the faculty nurtures creativity, builds self-esteem and serves as personal role models." The New York City AileyCamp is co-sponsored by The Children’s Aid Society. Other camps are in Kansas City, MO; Chicago, IL; Bridgeport, CT and Boston, MA. The newest AileyCamps in development are in Kansas City, KS (2001) and Berkeley, CA (2002).

American Numismatic Society
Broadway between 155th-156th Sts

The American Numismatic Society, established in 1858, is the largest private museum for coins, medals, and paper money. The association publishes journals and every year organizes a conference on coinage of the Americas. Its galleries and reference library of 70,000 volumes are open to the public. Info at 212-234-3130.

Armory Track & Field
168th-169th Sts. at Ft. Washington Ave.

Between 1840 and 1940 many armories were built in New York City, originally for the purpose of providing a drill hall and offices to local militias, stationed there to counter upper-class fears of social unrest during increasing immigration. The drill hall commonly was a high, one-story structure built using technology developed for train sheds in order to provide a very large open space where a thousand troops could be drilled. The section housing the administrative offices usually consisted of a multi-story wing that often also held the mess hall, company headquarters, a gymnasium, etc. The Guastavino Company worked on this building.

Artists Unite
150th - 160th Streets

Artists Unite is a not-for-profit organization serving the artistic communities of Washington Heights and Inwood. Its mission is to link artists of all disciplines, to support the creation of a broad-based, multi-cultural arts community, and to strengthen the connection between the artists and the community.

Audubon Terrace
Broadway between 155th-156th Sts.

Three museums, a church and a college are clustered around this Renaissance-style court designed by Charles Pratt Huntington on what once was the 24-acre estate John James Audubon's called "Minnie's Land" after his wife. The site is now on the National Register of Historic Places. (C.P. Huntington was the cousin of the philanthropist Archer Milton Huntington, who had bought the Audubon estate. Anna Hyatt Huntington, creator of many of the Terrace's sculptures, was A.M. Huntington's wife.)

Audubon Theater
622 W. 168th St. at Ft. Washington Ave.

The façade of the former Audubon Ballroom and Theater was incorporated into the hospital's Biotechnology Center (W. 165th at Broadway).

Bailey Residence
10 St. Nicholas Ave.at 150th St.

James Anthony Bailey, partner with Phineas T. Barnum of the Barnum and Bailey circus, had this mansion built for himself in 1888.  The fanciful design includes a corner turret, a Dutch gable, half-moon dormers and granite walls.  It is said that neighborhood children call the building, which now houses a funeral home, the "Beauty and the Beast House."

Baker Field Stadium
218th St. at Broadway

This Columbia University Stadium was built in 1922 with the financial help of George Fisher Baker (1840–1931), the American financier and philanthropist who was one of the founders and presidents of the First National Bank of New York.  For information on Baker Field events, please call 212-942-0431 or visit the Columbia University Athletics site.

Bald Eagles in Inwood Hill Park
Dyckman St. to Spuyten Duyvil

Visit the live camera trained on the four baby bald eagles at the Nature Center in Inwood Hill Park. The eagles were brought to their treehouse cage here in mid-June, 2002, and are in the process of learning to fly. City Parks Department employees anticipate that by the end of July all four eagles will be able to fly.

Bennett Park
183rd-185th Sts. at Ft. Washington Ave.

Here on Manhattan's highest point the Revolutionary Battle of New York was lost.  On 16 November 1776 Fort Washington, commanded by Colonel Robert Magaw, fell with great loss of life and munitions to General William Howe's British and Hessian troops, enabling the British to re-occupy the city until their destructive withdrawal at war's end at the Treaty of Paris in 1783.  Nothing but paving stones in Bennett Park marking its former outline remains of the fort, which had been built by the Continental Army at the top of this western ridge.  (General George Washington's headquarters had been at nearby Mount Morris.)  For more history, visit the Library of Congress' "Today in History" and The History Place. Bennett Park was named for James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872), the newspaper man who in 1835 started the New York Herald. His son James Gordon, Jr., later ran the paper from his Paris home and started what would evolve into the International Herald Tribune. The altitude marker from the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (above left, located in the park) indicates Manhattan's highest point at 265.05 feet above sea level.  The park is currently undergoing a period of refurbishing.

Beth Am, the People's Temple


Beth Am, The People's Temple, is a small, active Progressive Reform congregation in Northern Manhattan with regular Shabbat services and a multitude of programs and services. The congregation, which is affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, is led by Rabbi Karen Bookman Kaplan and meets at the Cornerstone Center, 178 Bennett Avenue (see photographs immediately above).

Boricua College
Broadway between 155th-156th Sts.

Boricua College moved its main campus into the building vacated by the American Geographical Society when the latter joined the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Boricua is a non-residential, non-profit private liberal arts college offering associate and bachelor's degrees to its 1,000-plus students. The first U.S. college to offer bi-lingual education in Spanish and English, it was fully accredited in 1980. It is a member of the White House Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), participates in the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and has a faculty representative for the Harry Truman Scholarship Foundation (Francia L. Castro, e-mail bcm@pipeline.com). One alumnus of local fame is Gilberto Citrón. The College's contact information is 3755 Broadway, New York, NY 10032, 212-694-1000; see also the Boricua College Library.

Cabrini Terrace
900 W. 190th St. at Ft. Washington Ave.

This photograph, looking up from the Hudson River, shows the sixteen-story complex's elevated location. The cooperative building has 217 apartments and 24-hour concierge service. (The row of buildings in front is on Chittenden Avenue and not part of the Cabrini Terrace complex.)

Calliope Hummingbirds
Fort Tryon Park

In November 2001 two young male calliope hummingbirds (Stellula calliope) paid a surprise visit to Fort Tryon Park. Their normal range stretches along the West Coast from British Columbia to Mexico. Their appearance here was so unusual that the New York Times and National Public Radio ran features. For more photos, visit the sites by Phil Jeffrey, the Linnaean Society and the Hudson River Audubon Society. Michael Bochnik, President of the HRAS, was the first to make the correct identification.

Castle Village
120-200 Cabrini Blvd., 181-186 Sts.

These five cruciform apartment buildings were designed by George F. Pelham II, son of the Hudson View Gardens architect, and built in 1938 on the site of the Paterno estate. Forgotton New York has some interesting old photographs.

Church of the Intercession
550 W. 155th Street at Broadway

This cathedral-like Episcopal Church was designed in the Gothic style by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and built, along with a vicarage and parish house, during 1912-14 on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. Once the largest chapel of the Wall Street Trinity Parish, it became independent in 1976 and features a tower, arched cloisters, and a beautiful interior with stone piers and windows that appear medieval. Part of the interior was built by the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company. The architect's memorial tomb is part of one wall. Restoration by Jan Hird Pokorny Associates, Inc. For information about the Church school, bible study and prayer groups, its sports club, etc., call 212-283-6200.

Church of Our Lady of Esperanza
Broadway between 155th-156th Sts.

The Church of Our Lady of Esperanza was the second Spanish Roman Catholic church when it was established in 1912. It still has the stained glass windows, skylight and lamp contributed to its green and gold interior by the Spanish king Alfonso III at its opening. For information about services, please call 212-283-4340.

Cloisters Museum
Margaret Corbin Dr. in Ft. Tryon Park

The Cloisters, situated on the former Billings Estate, house most of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of medieval art, including the Unicorn Tapestries and Robert Campin's Annunciation Triptych. Its core of collections consists of medieval sculpture and architectural remains assembled by the sculptor George Grey Barnard during his frequent trips to Europe. Known as the Barnard Cloisters, the museum was purchased in 1925 by the Metropolitan Museum with the help of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who also bought a parcel of undeveloped land immediately across the Hudson on the New Jersey Palisades, guaranteeing the Museum a pristine view. After extensive remodeling, assisted by the Guastavino Company, the Cloisters were opened as a branch of the Metropolitan in 1938. They now incorporate vaulted passageways, chapels, halls, and courtyards, and a large collection of artifacts from French and Spanish monasteries. There are three courtyard gardens planted with herbs and plants mentioned in medieval writings. Concerts of Early Medieval and Renaissance music are given throughout the year.

Columbia-Cornell Medical Center
622 W. 168th St. at Ft. Washington Ave.

The façade of the former Audubon Ballroom and Theater was incorporated into the hospital's Biotechnology Center (W. 165th at Broadway). The 800,000 sq.ft. Milstein Hospital Complex at 168th Street and Ft. Washington Avenue was designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This new addition adds more than 800 hospital beds, multiple operating rooms and intensive care spaces to the Columbia-Presbyterian teaching hospital.

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum
4881 Broadway at 204th St.

Manhattan's last remaining farmhouse is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday. Built by William Dyckman in 1784 in the Dutch colonial style, the house was restored and opened as a museum in 1916. It has five period rooms filled with 18th and 19th-century American furniture and a porch overlooking a landscaped half-acre park. For additional information, please visit the museum's web site and the The Historic House Trust of New York City.

Dyckman Street Marina
Dyckman St. at the Hudson River

The city in the early 1990's developed the former C.K.G. Billings' yacht landing into a marina.  On the Hudson River at the foot of Dyckman Street, it includes a picnic area and a food stand offering fish and other snacks.  (The marina is just visible in the middle-right of the picture -- much easier to see if you click to enlarge it.  The photo looks north.)

Fort Tryon Park
192nd-Dyckman Streets, Riverside Dr.-Broadway

This was the high and wooded site of Revolutionary Fort Tryon, a northern outpost of Fort Washington (see Bennett Park).  With Fort Washington's fall on 16 November 1776, the British occupied all of Manhattan.  It was during this battle here that Margaret Corbin replaced her slain husband, making her the first American woman soldier in the Revolutionary War.  She fought until severely wounded.  In her honor the South Plaza, at the park's southern entrance, was renamed Margaret Corbin Plaza, and a memorial stela and plaque can be found along Margaret Corbin Drive (see photo and text).  The British fort is named after New York's last colonial governor, William Tryon. During the 19th Century, the camps of the Algonquin-speaking Wiechquaesgecks (Wakashans) in the surrounding area were displaced by farms and pastures.

Fort Tryon Heather Garden
Ft. Tryon Park at 192nd St.

This lovely heather garden consists of 600-ft long terraces high on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and the Jersey Palisades.  This city park, which feels miles away from Manhattan's hustle and bustle, was designed on the former Billings Estate by Frederick Law Olmsted and his son; the original planting plan was by James Dawson.  It is mostly maintained by the City Parks Foundation, a private organization, and volunteers such as the Friends of Fort Tryon Park.

Fort Washington Collegiate Church
Ft. Washington Ave. at 181 St.

"The Collegiate Church is the oldest continually operating church - and the oldest corporation - in the United States. In 1623 there were enough people scattered up and down the Hudson river that church leaders in Holland sent two lay people across the ocean to serve as readers of the Word and comforters of the sick. Within five years, a minister, Rev. Jonas Michalius, was called to formally organize the first church on the island of Manhattan (New Amsterdam). Since the summer of 1628, the Collegiate Church has provided worship services to Manhattan residents every Sunday. "

Fort Washington (outline of ...)
Ft. Washington Ave. at 181 St.

"The Collegiate Church is the oldest continually operating church - and the oldest corporation - in the United States. In 1623 there were enough people scattered up and down the Hudson river that church leaders in Holland sent two lay people across the ocean to serve as readers of the Word and comforters of the sick. Within five years, a minister, Rev. Jonas Michalius, was called to formally organize the first church on the island of Manhattan (New Amsterdam). Since the summer of 1628, the Collegiate Church has provided worship services to Manhattan residents every Sunday. "

Fort Washington Park
158th-Dyckman Sts. along the Hudson River

At 158th Street, Riverside Park ends its bucolic march along the Hudson River and passes the baton to Fort Washington Park. Along with glorious views across the river to the New Jersey Palisades, this park offers 145 landscaped acres with park benches, paths, playgrounds, tennis courts, handball courts, and ballfields, practically all of them available year-round. For more information about the 172nd Street Tennis Park (only!), call 516-883-4551 or pay an on-line visit to Parks and Recreation for a permit. The Little Red Lighthouse is in this park at 178th Street under the George Washington Bridge.

Fresh Youth Initiatives


The mission of Fresh Youth Initiatives is "to support and encourage young people in Washington Heights to design and carry out community service projects, develop leadership skills, fulfill their potential and realize their dreams."

George Washington Bridge
178th St. at Ft. Washington Ave.

When this bridge opened in 1931 it was the world's longest suspension bridge: its main span is 3,500 feet long and the distance between its anchorages in Fort Washington Park and the New Jersey Palisades is 4,760 feet..  Designed by the noted American architect Cass Gilbert and engineer Othmar Ammann and rising 212 feet above the water, it elicited praise such as this: "The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson is the most beautiful bridge in the world.  Made of cables and steel beams, it gleams in the sky like a reversed arch.  It is blessed.  It is the only seat of grace in the disordered city.  It is painted an aluminum color and, between water and sky, you see nothing but the bent cord supported by two steel towers.  When your car moves up the ramp the two towers rise so high that it brings you happiness; their structure is so pure, so resolute, so regular that here, finally, steel architecture seems to laugh.  The car reaches an unexpectedly wide apron; the second tower is very far away; innumerable vertical cables, gleaming against the sky, are suspended from the magisterial curve which swings down and then up.  The rose-colored towers of New York appear, a vision whose harshness is mitigated by distance."

George Washington Bus Terminal
178th St. at Ft. Washington Ave.

The Port Authority's bus terminal at the eastern end of the GW Bridge was designed in 1963 by the Italian architectural engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, famous for his ability to meld exciting form with economical design, and the Port Authority engineering staff.  Nervi developed the light but strong ferro-cement and made frequent use of it in his designs.  It is unfortunate that it is so difficult to get a good view of this terminal's soaring wings.  Nervi's more successful structures include the acclaimed Giovani Berta stadium at Florence and three Olympic buildings in Rome. The terminal's construction coincided with the addition of the GW Bridge's lower deck.  It is estimated that in 1990 close to five million people passed through the station, which is a transfer point between numerous bus lines and the IND Eight Avenue A-train.

Greenmarket
175th Street at Broadway

This farmers' market at Broadway and 175th Street is open from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. every Thursday from July through November.  For more information, please contact Tony Mannetta at 212-477-3220 (fax: 212-533-0242) or Jim's Deli NYC Guide.

Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation
551 Ft. Washington Ave. at 185 St.

The Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation was founded in Harlem in 1906. In the 1930-40s this liberal-reform Congregation, which in 1927 purchased land at 161st Street and Fort Washington Avenue for a new building, grew with the arrival of many German refugees. In its current location since 1973, the Congregation offers a variety of spiritual, cultural and community-oriented programs.

Henry Hudson Bridge
H. Hudson Pkwy at Harlem River

And here, with the Henry Hudson Bridge, we leave Manhattan, crossing into the Bronx as the Harlem River prepares to join the Hudson waters.

High Bridge and Highbridge Watch Tower
173rd-174th Sts. at the Harlem River

The High Bridge, built between 1837 and 1848 across the Harlem River to carry water to the city from the upstate Croton Aqueduct reservoirs, was the first to link Manhattan with the mainland. Its original picturesque Roman-style arches were considered an obstacle to shipping and so around 1923 they were replaced by a single steel span. The N.Y.C. Parks Department is considering reopening the pedestrian walkway closed in the 1970's after a fatal rock-throwing incident. The cost of rebuilding the crumbling stairs and pathways and installing bike ramps is estimated at over $6 million. Meanwhile, the New York Restoration Project, chaired by Bette Midler, has begun cleaning up portions of the Highbridge Park shoreline. The watch tower was rehabilitated in 1958 and outfitted with a five-octave carillon in memory of Benjamin Altman. NB: The Ecological Restoration Committee of the New York Sierra Club will host a climb of Highbridge Tower on Sunday, July 2, at 11:00 a.m., as well as numerous rowing outings on the Harlem River.  Please e-mail the Committee for more info.

Highbridge Park
155th-Dyckman Sts. along the Harlem River

This park offers playgrounds, handball and basketball courts, ballfields and an outdoor summer swimming pool in 119 acres of landscaped grounds along the Harlem River.  The Highbridge Recreation Center at 173rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue is open Monday-Saturday from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m.  To find out more about events such as basketball, weight-lifting and aerobics classes, call 212-927-2400.

Hispanic Society of America
Broadway between 155th-156th Sts.

The Hispanic Society of America was founded by A.M. Huntington. It maintains a museum (in 1908 the first on this plaza to open) and a reference library for art, literature and cultural history of Spain from pre-Roman times to the present. There are paintings by Goya, Velázquez, and the Cretan painter known as El Greco as well as sculpture, furniture, textiles and earthenware. The Society has expanded into the palazzo-like building vacated by the Museum of the American Indian (see my note below). Its interior boasts a Guastavino vault. Admission to the museum and the library is free. For more information, please call 212-926-2234.

Holy Trinity Church
20 Cumming Street

"Holy Trinity Church draws together diverse ages and cultural groups to form a vibrant, growing and caring community in the Anglican tradition."

Hudson Heights Owners Coalition


The Hudson Heights Owners Coalition is an association of owner-occupied residential properties in Manhattan west of Broadway between J. Hood Wright Park (173rd Street) and Fort Tryon Park (Margaret Corbin Circle at 192nd Street). Since 1993, member buildings have worked together and with others in the community to enhance the quality of life and the property values in the neighborhood.

Hudson View Gardens


This complex of fifteen Tudor-inspired buildings was designed by architect George F. Pelham, Sr. and built in 1924-25 on five acres overlooking the Hudson River. One of Manhattan's first cooperative developments, it offers 353 apartments and private gardens, and is located across the street from Bennett Park. The gardens are briefly mentioned in Andrew Dolkart's The Cottages.

Inwood Hill Park
Dyckman St. to Spuyten Duyvil

Legend has it that under a tulip tree in this 196-acre park Peter Minuit, Director General of New Netherland, bought Manhattan from the Indians in 1626 for the Dutch West India Company. He renamed the area New Amsterdam. (More about this tulip tree in the following item.) The area's only natural forest is to be found on these hills, surrounding caves once inhabited by the Indians. Most of the primeval forest was removed during the War for Independence, with cutting continuing into the early 20th century before Inwood Hill was designated parkland. Manhattan's last remaining salt marsh is at the park's northern border. Fort Cock-Hill was once located here, on top of the western ridge of Inwood Hill Park, overlooking the Hudson River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek, approximately where the Henry Hudson toll booth now stands. The Continental Army lost Fort Cock-Hill when Fort Washington fell to the British in November 1776. Around December 2001 the Parks Department installed an historic sign, just east of the Nature Center, describing the fort, using text supplied by James R. Taylor. (On the Parks Department site go to the "Historic Signs" page, select Manhattan, and scroll down to Fort Cockhill. Similarly, there are five entries for Inwood Park.)

Isham Park
Isham-214 Sts. at Seaman Ave.

According to the NYC Parks Deparment: "In 1864 William B. Isham, a wealthy leather merchant, purchased twenty-four acres along the Kingsbridge Road, now known as Broadway, from 211th Street to 214th Street, and northwest to Spuyten Duyvil Creek." The park has benches and a playground. Traces of the Wiechquaesgeck Indian camps were unearthed here. On the Parks Department "Historical Signs" page, see also the reference to Isham Park under "Inwood Marble in Nwe York City Parks - Isham Park."

Jumel Terrace
Jumel Terrace, 160th-162nd Sts.

These landmarked three-story brown- and limestone row houses were built on Jumel Terrace in 1896.  More TK...

Little Red Lighthouse
At the Hudson River under the GWB

The electric arc lamp of the 1921 Jeffries Hook Lighthouse warned grain barges away from the Hudson River shoals of Jeffry's Hook.  When in 1951 navigational lights on the George Washington Bridge made the lighthouse redundant, it was put up for auction.  However, it was saved from demolition by a flood of letters, many from children who had read The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Hoyt Swift and Lynd Ward.  Now owned and maintained by the City, the lighthouse is the site of an annual fall festival. 

Marble Hill
Harlem River to 230th St. along Broadway

Before the Harlem River Ship Canal was dug in 1895 to bypass the river's bend at Spuyten Duyvil Creek and speed up shipping, Marble Hill was physically connected to Manhattan.  It was an island until 1923 when the creek was filled, connecting Marble Hill to the Bronx.  However, it continues to be administered mostly as part of Manhattan Borough.

Margaret Corbin Plaza
192nd-Dyckman Streets, Riverside Dr.-Broadway

This was the high and wooded site of Revolutionary Fort Tryon, a northern outpost of Fort Washington (see Bennett Park).  With Fort Washington's fall on 16 November 1776, the British occupied all of Manhattan.  It was during this battle here that Margaret Corbin replaced her slain husband, making her the first American woman soldier in the Revolutionary War.  She fought until severely wounded.  In her honor the South Plaza, at the park's southern entrance, was renamed Margaret Corbin Plaza, and a memorial stela and plaque can be found along Margaret Corbin Drive (see photo and text).  The British fort is named after New York's last colonial governor, William Tryon.

Morris-Jumel Mansion
1765 Jumel Terrace, 160th-162nd Sts.

This Georgian house was built in 1765 for Colonel Roger Morris, a Royalist, and his Dutch wife Mary Philipse as their summer residence, which they named Mount Morris. The land, the "Haarlemse Hoogte," had been part of Jacob Dyckman's property (see also Dyckman Farmhouse). During the War of Independence this wood-encased brick mansion changed hands a number of times. Because of the house's strategic situation above the Harlem Valley overlooking central Manhattan, General George Washington used it as his headquarters during the autumn 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights, as subsequently did his victor General William Howe. Washington returned as president, with his cabinet, in 1790. The house was saved from neglect in 1810 by the wealthy French-Caribbean wine merchant Stephen Jumel and his wife Eliza "Betsey" Bowen, who returned it to its former glory, be it with a touch of Empire. (It is said that they hobnobbed with the Napoleon Bonapartes and in 1820 played host to his older brother Joseph.) About a decade later, the widowed Madam Jumel married Aaron Burr in the front parlor. This was a rural area until 1882 when the Jumel heirs sold the estate, retaining only the grounds around the house. The Sylvan Terrace row houses (below) were begun the same year. Today the house is part of the Jumel Terrace Historic District and run by the Washington Headquarters Association. The rose- and herb gardens, which date back to colonial times and look out over the Harlem River, are maintained by volunteers. This 1970 Historic District runs from West 160th to 162nd Streets between St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues and includes the Sylvan and Jumel Terraces.

Mother Cabrini High School and Shrine
701 Ft. Washington Ave.

In 1899 Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini opened the Sacred Heart boarding school for girls, which was attended at first primarily by daughters of Italian immigrants.  The school was renamed in Mother Cabrini's honor and it has evolved into a highly regarded secondary school for girls.  It boasts an award-winning choir and a percussion band.  Mother Cabrini was born in Italy in 1850; she died in 1917 in Chicago.  Her remains now lay enshrined in a crystal casket in the school chapel.  In 1938 she was beatified by Pope Pius XI and in 1946 canonized in the Vatican by Pope Pius XII, becoming the first U.S. citizen to be so honored.  Her feastday is on December 22, the day of her death.  For more information on Saint Cabrini, visit her shrine in Golden, CO.

Museum of the American Indian


the Museum of the American Indian-Heye Foundation used to be on Audubon Terrace, but in 1992 it moved into the former U.S. Custom House (Cass Gilbert, 1907) at 1 Bowling Green. The holdings, which in 1922 consisted of the private collection of George Gustav Heye, have been taken over by the Smithsonion Institution and now encompass the prehistory of the Western hemisphere as well as the anthropology and history of the North, Central and South American Indian.  212-825-6700 for information.

National Institute of Arts and Letters


The National Institute / American Academy of Arts and Letters is housed in two landmark buildings, designed by McKim, Mead & White, and Cass Gilbert. It honors a limited 250 distinguished practitioners of the fine arts, including the American Impressionist Childe Hassam, whose works are displayed permanently. The museum also holds original manuscripts and first editions of works by members past and present. These include Mark Twain, Henry James and Edith Wharton and, more recently, Alison Lurie, John Guare, and Kurt Vonnegut. For gallery schedules, call 212-368-5900.

New Leaf Café
One Margaret Corbin Drive

This café occupies a 1930's stone building that once housed the horses for the Billings estate. Located within Fort Tryon Park, it now serves diners in a recently renovated dining room and on a sheltered, shaded terrace. The concession has been operated by Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project since fall 2001.

New York Road Runners Club


The New York Road Runners Club runs a semi-annual track program at the Armory for children aged 6-13. For more information, log on to their web site or call 212-860-4455.

NURTUREart


NURTUREart is a NY State licensed, federally tax-exempt organization [501(c) (3)] founded in April, 1997 by George J. Robinson. All NURTUREart members are volunteers. NURTUREart is dedicated to helping promising career-track emerging fine artists and curators to become full-time, self-supporting professionals. Our name is our mission. Currently, NURTUREart maintains a registry of more than 300 portfolios, and organizes juried group exhibitions of its Registry Artists' work at host sites in the New York City metropolitan area. NURTUREart jurors and curators are professionals from the fine arts community. NURTUREart also assists individual artists with career development advice, and presents artist's talks, slide lectures, workshops, symposia, portfolio reviews and other enjoyable and educational events for artists, curators, and the general public.

Our Saviour's Atonement Lutheran Church
178 Bennett Avenue

Our Saviour's Atonement Lutheran Church was formed by the merger, in 1927, of two congregations: the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement and the Church of Our Saviour, off-shoots of St. John's Lutheran Church of Christopher Street that emerged in the 1890s. The cornerstone of the Parish House was laid in 1928. The original plans, spoiled by the 1929 stock market crash, included a Gothic sanctuary and hospital. The Parish House was built of fieldstone with a slate roof and boasted a full gymnasium, a bowling alley, a sewing room, a seven-room parsonage and separate apartments for a sexton and a deaconess. The OSA Lutheran Church is now the primary tenant of the building, renamed the Cornerstone Center, and leases space to many community groups.

Paterno Trivium
187th at Pinehurst & Cabrini Aves.

This small triangle, where 187th Street meets Pinehurst and Cabrini Avenues, has recently been planted with mountain cranberries (Vaccinium vitis idæa magus) and three hawthorn trees (Cratægus viridus "Winter King"). The mountain cranberries will spread to cover the ground. This newly created trivium was designed by landscape architects David Dew Bruner (who was in charge of all interior and exterior landscaping for the World Trade Center), Andrew Dolkart (author of Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development, Columbia University Press, 1998), Thomas Navin and Lynn Torgerson. The latter is also involved in the 187th Street Frieze Project. A member of the Paterno family graciously donated the bench (see Dave Seroy's pictures). The Trivium is ponsored by Greenstreets. Please e-mail if you have comments or questions.

Pied Piper Children's Theater


"The Pied Piper Children's Theatre of NYC is a non-denominational, non-sectarian outreach program of Holy Trinity Church, located on 20 Cumming Street (one block north of Dyckman between Broadway and Seaman Ave)."

Pumpkin House
16 Chittenden Ave. at 186th St.

Differing accounts exist of the origin of this unique three-story brick townhouse, known as the Pumpkin House. The AIA Guide to New York City (3rd ed., p.466) states that it was the guest house of the former Paterno estate. However, according to a New York Times report (12/5/99 Real Estate p.7), the land on which this house stands was in the estate of James Gordon Bennett, the original publisher of the NY Herald. Bennett is said to have sold the tract in 1923 to a Cleveland Walcutt, who had the house designed by Franklin Pagan and Harold Verna. Construction on the house, its the steel-framed base cantilevered far over the Henry Hudson Parkway, finished in 1925. The windows of the west façade, reflecting the orange light of the setting sun, bring to mind a jack-o-lantern. The house offers breathtaking views, from the Manhattan skyline to the south, across the Hudson RIver to the Palisades to the west and the Tappan Zee Bridge to the north.

Sylvan Terrace
West 161st St. bet. St. Nicolas Ave. and Jumel Terrace

This double row of wooden two-story houses facing each other across a cobblestoned street was built in 1882 on what was once the carriage drive for "Mount Morris" (see Morris-Jumel Mansion, above). Restored in 1981, the houses were designed by Gilbert Robinson, Jr. in a then-common New York City building style. Together with the Jumel Terrace mansion and rowhouses, they are now part of the Jumel Terrace Historic District.

Trinity Cemetery
153rd-155th Sts, Amsterdam Ave.-Riverside Dr.

As soon as you enter Trinity Cemetery at 153rd Street and Riverside Drive, you find yourself on 24 acres of bucolic beauty. This bluff along the Hudson was once part of the farm of John James Audubon, founder of the wildlife conservation society, and it still gives one a sense of Manhattan's original topography.  Audubon is buried here (under a 16-ft. runic cross), as are John Jacob Astor, the scholar Clement Clark Moore (author of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas"), Madame Jumel (the former Eliza Bowen who also married Aaron Burr) and members of Charles Dickens' family, including his son Alfred Tennyson Dickens.  A suspension bridge over Broadway connected the two halves of the gounds until it was demolished in 1911 to make way for the Chapel.  Trinity is Manhattan's only remaining active cemetery.

Tulip Tree
Inwood Hill Park

You will find information about this legendary tulip tree, furnished by longtime neighborhood expert James R. Taylor, by following the tulip tree link. There are also links to a painting and a couple of images. Sadly, the tree was felled by a storm in the 1930's. (This PDF file is rather large and may take some minutes to load.)

U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame
168th-169th Sts. at Ft. Washington Ave.

Between 1840 and 1940 many armories were built in New York City, originally for the purpose of providing a drill hall and offices to local militias, stationed there to counter upper-class fears of social unrest during increasing immigration. The drill hall commonly was a high, one-story structure built using technology developed for train sheds in order to provide a very large open space where a thousand troops could be drilled. The section housing the administrative offices usually consisted of a multi-story wing that often also held the mess hall, company headquarters, a gymnasium, etc. The Guastavino Company worked on this building.

Washington Heights & Inwood Kids


Washington Heights & Inwood Kids maintains an extensive resource web site with the aim to "help families fully utilize the resources in their own community, thereby helping local businesses and community organizations. Most of the entertainment and recreational resources listed on this site come from NYC Parks Dept, NYPublic Library, and local Non-profit groups."

Yeshiva University and Museum
500 W. 185th St.

The school was started in 1886 by immigrant Orthodox Jews as an elementary school for boys in order to educate them in the Eastern European tradition.  The school, which had grown into Yeshiva College, moved in 1929 from the Lower East Side to its Washington Heights location at West 186th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.  The current campus was built during President Bernard Revel's tenure.  The College grew to include several campuses and in 1946 incorporated as a university.  In 1954, also during Revel's tenure, the first women's college run by Orthodox Jews was established.  The University is the largest and oldest American university under Jewish auspices.  Tel. 212-960-5400.