Uptown Parks: In the City, a World Away

MARCH 16, 2010

Spend a day getting lost in the woods at Fort Tryon and Inwood Hill Park.

When recent visitors to upper Manhattan’s parks recount the experience, a common thread is always the feeling of being worlds and centuries away from the concrete canyons of busy New York City. The uptown neighborhood of Inwood was a rural area well into the early 20th century due to the wild hills, vertical cliffs and green spaces contained in what are now Inwood Hill Park and Fort Tryon Park.

Inwood Hill Park on the Hudson River is a densely-wooded city park, home to caverns, caves and the last salt marsh in Manhattan. The park’s wooded section also features the last natural forest standing on Manhattan Island. The forest trails here are the city’s quietest, and rock outcroppings overlooking the Hudson are perfect for picnics. The Nature Center at Innwood Hill Park hosts nature walks led by the New York City Parks chief naturalist as well as a number of wildflower walks and garden tours.

Within the Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.-designed Fort Tryon Park is one of the highest points in Manhattan, towering high above the Hudson River, offering panoramic views of the water and the city below. The park is also home to the Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that houses nearly 5,000 medieval works in a reconstructed medieval monastery set high above its northern grounds. The park also hosts an annual Medieval Festival, bringing to life the customs and spirit of the Middle Ages. It’s the perfect place to celebrate a long-ago time in a faraway land.