Fort Tryon Park
Fort Tryon Park is a public park located in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The 67-acre (27 ha) park is situated on a ridge in Upper Manhattan, close to the Hudson River to the west. It extends mostly from 192nd Street in the south to Riverside Drive in the north, and from Broadway in the east to the Henry Hudson Parkway in the west. The main entrance to the park is at Margaret Corbin Circle, at the intersection of Fort Washington Avenue and Cabrini Boulevard.
Fort Tryon Park
67.21 acres (27 ha)
268 feet (82 m)
1935
Sir William Tryon
6 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Open all year
Subway: 
to 190th Street or Dyckman Street
Bus: M4, M98, M100, Bx7
Bounded by 190th Street, Cabrini Boulevard, 192nd Street, Bennett Avenue, Broadway, Riverside Drive, and Henry Hudson Parkway
Manhattan, New York City
66.5 acres (26.9 ha)
1935
Olmsted Brothers[2] (Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., James W. Dawson)
December 19, 1978
The Cloisters: March 19, 1974[3]
Fort Tryon Park: September 20, 1983[4]
The area was known by the local Lenape tribe as Chquaesgeck and by Dutch settlers as Lange Bergh (Long Hill). During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Fort Washington was fought at the site of the park on November 16, 1776. The area remained sparsely populated during the 19th century, but by the turn of the 20th century, it was the location of large country estates.
Beginning in January 1917, philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., bought up the "Tryon Hall" estate of Chicago industrialist C. K. G. Billings and several others to create Fort Tryon Park. He engaged the Olmsted Brothers firm to design the park and hired James W. Dawson to create the planting plan. Rockefeller gave the land to the city in 1931, after two prior attempts to do so were unsuccessful, and the park was completed in 1935. Rockefeller also bought sculptor George Gray Barnard's collection of medieval art and gave it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which from 1935 to 1939 built the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park to house the collection.
The park is built on a high formation of Manhattan schist with igneous intrusions and glacial striations from the last ice age. The park's design included extensive plantings of various flora in the park's many gardens, including the Heather Garden, which 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. Fort Tryon Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 19, 1978 and was designated a New York City scenic landmark in 1983.
Geography and geology[edit]
Fort Tryon Park covers 67.21 acres (27.20 ha). It is bounded on the west by the Henry Hudson Parkway, on the north by Riverside Drive, on the east by Broadway and Bennett Avenue, and on the south by the alignment of 192nd Street. A small section at the park's southwestern corner is located between Cabrini Boulevard to the east and Henry Hudson Parkway to the west, and is bounded to the south by 190th Street. The park is adjacent to Inwood Hill Park to the north and Fort Washington Park and Riverside Park to the south; all are part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.[5] The park offers views of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, and the New Jersey Palisades, to the west; Washington Heights to the south; Inwood and the Bronx to the north; and the Harlem River to the east. The north–south Henry Hudson Parkway and Amtrak's Empire Connection run alongside the western edge of the park.[6][7]
The park is built on a formation of Manhattan schist and contains examples of igneous intrusions and of glacial striations from the last ice age.[8] The lower lying regions to the east and north of the park are built on Inwood marble.[9] Outcroppings of gneiss and schist can be seen interlaid with the marble, as seen in the outcroppings at the park's edges.[10]: 55 Fort Tryon Park also contains a large glacial pothole.[11]
The northern boundary of the park is formed by the seismologically active Dyckman Street Fault.[8] The fault creates a valley separating Fort Tryon Park from Inwood Hill Park to the north.[12][13] In precolonial times, a Native American road ran within this valley from the present-day intersection of Broadway and Dyckman Street to a settlement on the Hudson River.[10]: 56 The valley formerly contained an inlet named Little Sand Bay, which flowed into the Hudson River to the west.[12] As recently as 1989, activity of this fault caused a magnitude 2 earthquake.[14][15][16]
Another valley separated Fort Washington from a hill to the east, which hosted Fort George. This valley contained a stream,[12] which was known as the Hessian Spring.[17] The stream emptied into Half Creek (later Sherman Creek), which in turn led to the Harlem River to the east.[12][18]
History[edit]
Site[edit]
The northern portion of Manhattan was first known to be inhabited by the Wecquaesgeek tribe of Lenape Native Americans,[19][20][21][22] who referred to the area around Fort Tryon Park as Chquaesgeck.[9] When Dutch settlers inhabited the lower Hudson Valley in the early 17th century, they attempted to force the Native Americans out, and some of the Wecquaesgeeks continued to occupy the area.[20][23] The tribe had moved out by 1669, but continued to hold onto their land claims until 1715.[20][24][25] The Dutch referred to the park site as Lange Bergh (Long Hill), a name first given by Dutch settler Joost van Oblienus in 1691.[9][12] At the time, Long Hill was a heavily wooded area that was part of the town of Harlem. As late as the 17th century, wild animals could be hunted on the northern portion of the hill, within the park's present site.[25] In 1711, Harlem's political leaders decreed that a road be built through the area.[26][27] When Harlem was subdivided the following year, the hill was split into multiple smaller lots.[27]
Wildlife[edit]
Cabrini Woods hosts 80 bird species as well as possums, raccoons, and skunks.[114] The surrounding area also hosts a wide variety of birds, including common species such as blue jays and cardinals; wild turkeys; and birds of prey including red-tailed hawks and owls. Animals within the area include Eastern and meadow voles, red-bellied salamanders, southern flying squirrels, opossums, white-footed deer mice, and cottontail rabbits, as well as eastern gray squirrels and raccoons.[144]
Management [edit]
The Fort Tryon Park Trust is a nonprofit organization that helps maintain and improve Fort Tryon Park. It was founded in 1998 as the Heather Garden Committee Endowment.[79] Their mission statement is 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 and visitors."[145] The trust secured numerous grants to maintain various parts of the park.[79]
Use and significance[edit]
Historic significance[edit]
There have been numerous archeological findings in Fort Tryon Park since 1918.[150] That year, Alanson Skinner, an archeologist with the National Museum of the American Indian, discovered "traces of Indian shell heaps, fireplaces, and pits, indicating an ancient camping ground".[150][151] The historian Reginald Pelham Bolton wrote in 1924 that the intersection of 194th Street and Broadway may have been used as a seasonal camp, as evidenced by the presence of debris from the pre-colonial era underneath the overhangs in Fort Tryon Park between 194th and 198th Streets.[34]: 13 [152]: 5 It is unclear whether the subway excavations of the 1930s disturbed any shells or other materials,[7] but despite the construction during that era, many materials are still buried in the ground.[150] In the 1970s, Michael Cohn of the Brooklyn Children's Museum found oyster and clam shells as well as pottery shards and "projectile points".[7][150] Other excavations have found artifacts from the 17th and 18th centuries, including war artifacts up to 10 feet (3.0 m) below ground level.[150]
Together, the park and the Cloisters were listed as an historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1] The Cloisters had been designated a New York City landmark in 1974,[2][3] while Fort Tryon Park was designated a scenic landmark in 1983.[2][4]
Public use and perception[edit]
In 2012, an examination of tweets and emoticons determined that Fort Tryon Park was "the happiest spot in Manhattan".[153] Because of its secluded location, the park is frequently used for wedding photographs and ceremonies, though the park remains open to the public while these events take place.[154] On the other hand, Fort Tryon Park has historically been used as a location for sexual intercourse due to this seclusion, and in some years, New York City Police Department officers would issue summons once a week. However, since the 2000s and 2010s, summons for public intercourse have decreased greatly.[155]
The Fort Tryon Park Trust helps fund programs for all ages like yoga and tai chi classes, live outdoor concerts, and bird walks.[156][157] The Trust also supports local artists' displays within the park, facilitated by the New York City Parks Temporary Public Art Program.[158]
Fort Tryon Park also hosts several annual events.[159] The Medieval Festival, an annual event that has taken place at the park since 1983,[160] typically takes place at the end of September and draws an average of 60,000 people.[161][162] Additionally, Open House New York hosts the Annual Open House New York Weekend each October, collaborating with the Fort Tryon Park Trust to give tours of the Billings cottage and the Heather Garden.[139] Other annual events include the "Shearing of the Heather" in April, the "Urban Wildlife Festival", the remembrance of the Battle of Fort Washington in November, the Scandia Symphony concert in June, the Harvest Festival in October, and "A Toast to Fort Tryon" each summer.[159]
In media[edit]
Several films contain footage shot in Fort Tryon Park or the Cloisters. In 1948, director Maya Deren used the Cloisters' ramparts as a backdrop for her experimental film Meditation on Violence. The same year, the film Portrait of Jennie used the Cloisters as the location for a convent school. Additionally, two scenes in the 1968 film Coogan's Bluff were filmed in Fort Tryon Park: a shoot-out at the Cloisters and a motorcycle chase in the Heather Garden.[163] Scenes from the 2011 film The Adjustment Bureau were also filmed in Fort Tryon Park.[164]
Notes
Bibliography