Everything about Fort Tryon Park totally explained
Fort Tryon Park is a public park located in the
Inwood section of the
New York City borough of
Manhattan,
USA, . It is situated on a 67-acre (270,000 m²) ridge in
Upper Manhattan, with a commanding view of the
Hudson River, the
George Washington Bridge, the
New Jersey Palisades and the
Harlem River. Once known by the name "Chquaesgeck" by local
Lenape Indians, it was called Lange Bergh (Long Hill) by Dutch settlers until the 17th century.
Native American place names were often, inadvertently, used by Europeans to refer to the people who lived there. In this case, the people who lived there were the Lenape, and this is a phonetic interpretation of the place name.
Fort Tryon Park is also site of
The Cloisters, a branch of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to
medieval art and culture, and home to the
Unicorn Tapestries. The Cloisters incorporates several medieval buildings that were purchased in Europe, brought to the United States, and reassembled, often stone by stone.
The park was an ancillary site of the
American Revolutionary War Battle of Fort Washington, fought on
November 16,
1776, between 2,900 American soldiers and 8,000 invading
Hessian troops hired by
Great Britain.
Margaret Corbin became the first woman to fight in the war and was wounded during the battle. The actual site of Fort Washington is less than a mile south at
Bennett Park. After the British victory, the outpost was named after Sir
William Tryon, the last
British Governor of the Province of New York.
Later it became the private residence of a succession of wealthy owners, including Dr.
Samuel Watkins, founder of
Watkins Glen, General
Daniel Butterfield,
Boss Tweed and
C. K. G. Billings.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. purchased the Billings estate in 1917. He hired
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., son of
the designer of
Central Park, to plan a park that he'd give to the city. The park was constructed during the
Great Depression, providing many jobs. The project included the
190th Street subway station on the
IND Eighth Avenue Line (which is the closest station to the park). The park was completed in 1935. Olmstead included extensive flower plantings, including a
Heather Garden that was restored in the 1980s. Besides the gardens and the Cloisters, the park has extensive walking paths and meadows, with views of the
Hudson and
Harlem Rivers.
Remnants of C. K. G. Billings estate are the red-brick pathways (partially paved-over) which are found near the entrance at
Margaret Corbin Circle (190th Street and Ft. Washington Avenue), and continues down to the massively arched structure (originally a driveway) which continues down to the highway.
The park is built on a formation of
Manhattan schist and contains interesting examples of igneous
intrusions and of glacial
striations from the last
Ice Age. The lower lying regions to the east and north of the park are built on Inwood
marble.
During the years before World War I, the park lent its name to the neighborhood to its south. Fort Tryon was known as the area between Broadway and the Hudson River, as far south as West 179th Street. References to the old name survive in the Fort Tryon Jewish Center (on Fort Washington Avenue between W. 183rd and W. 185th Streets (there is no W. 184th Street on Fort Washington Avenue)), the Fort Tryon Deli and Grocery (also on Fort Washington Avenue, at W. 187th Street), and in the pages of the Not for Tourists Guide to New York City . By the 1940s the neighborhood was known as Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson, which gave way, in the 1990s, to
Hudson Heights.
Parts of the
Clint Eastwood film Coogan's Bluff (including the final chase scene) were filmed in Fort Tryon Park.
Restoration
As the City of New York suffered severe budget constraints in the 1970s and funds for parks were decimated, Fort Tryon Park fell into disuse and disrepair and its gardens, woodlands, and playgrounds became havens for a range of illegal activities. The Park’s decline continued until the 1980s when funds became available and restoration efforts began.
In 1983, the Greenacre Foundation, in conjunction with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, engaged the landscape architecture firm of Quennell Rothschild & Partners to create a master plan for the restoration of Fort Tryon Park, including plans for the restoration of the Heather Garden that would closely follow the Olmsted design. [1] Parks Department Horticulturist Jane Schachat and Greenacre Foundation Horticulturist Timothy Steinhoff ordered thousands of plants to reflect the varieties used in the Olmsted design.
Although the Heather Garden was designed to flower in spring and summer, plants were added to extend bloom time. Where possible, beds were laid out according to the original plan, taking into account vistas and the large remaining shrubs. During this restoration, Parks Department gardeners planted more than 2,500 heathers, heaths and brooms, along with 15,000 bulbs, 5,000 perennials, 500 shrubs and 5 trees. This initial restoration took three years.
The Parks' Department continued to advance the restoration of the Heather Garden and other areas of Fort Tryon Park. The Parks Department has made more than $15 million in private and city funded capital improvements to the park since the 1983 restoration. In 1995, the City of New York/Parks & Recreation initiated a partnership with New York Restoration Project, a non-profit organization founded by Bette Midler, to assist with cleaning and maintaining Fort Tryon Park.
In early 2000, the Fort Tryon Park Trust was formed to promote the restoration, preservation and enhancement of this historic and scenic landmark for the benefit and use of the surrounding community and all New Yorkers. The Trust will achieve this through advocacy and fundraising, working in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and other organizations.
The Fort Tryon Park Trust has a goal of raising a $15 million endowment for sustaining the park, and has already raised over $2 million for the Heather Garden. Additional gifts from the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and the Arthur Ross Foundation will be put towards the restoration of the Alpine Garden and the creation of a Winter Walk, respectively.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Fort Tryon Park'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://fort_tryon_park.totallyexplained.com">Fort Tryon Park Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
