Fort Tryon Park

Designed by Frederick Olmstead, Jr., Fort Tryon Park contains over eight miles of pedestrian paths and boasts the city’s grandest views of the Hudson. It’s like having your own 66.63 acre backyard!

History of Fort Tryon Park

Fort Tryon Slide Show

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Where Is Fort Tryon Park?

Located in the Hudson Heights, Manhattan sector of the New York City borough of Manhattan is Fort Tryon Park.

The park is a 67 acre or 270,000 square mile ridge in Upper Manhattan, and offers visitors a spectacular view of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, the New Jersey Palisades, and the Harlem River. Known at one time as ‘Chquaesgeck’ by the local Lenape Indians, the Dutch settlers renamed it Lange Bergh or Long Hill, which it was called up until the 17th century. 

The park now stands on a formation of the Manhattan schist and holds fascinating examples of igneous intrusions and glacial striations from the last Ice Age. On the east and north, the lower lying regions of the park are built on Inwood marble.

The park is also where you’ll find The Cloisters. The Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has been devoted to medieval art and culture, and is also the home of the Unicorn Tapestries. The Cloisters is comprised of a number of medieval buildings that were brought to the Unites States and reassembled, after being purchased in Europe.

You can find Fort Tryon Park at:

Riverside Drive to Broadway,
West 192nd to Dyckman Streets,
Manhattan, NYC

About

This famous city, state, and national landmark lies on land which was once inhabited Wiechquaesgeck Indians. It was designed and built by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and his brother, who were the sons of the architect that built Central Park. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. built the park in 1935, after it was gifted to the city of New York in 1917 by John D. Rockefeller. Today, Fort Tryon Park remains one of the most beautiful outdoor pieces of art in New York City. In 1938, The Cloisters was added to the park with the help of funds from Rockefeller.

Now, centuries after its creation, visitors, as well as residents of the area, enjoy the recreational space the park offers. People can use the park for picnics, to run or jog, to play or walk their dogs, all while enjoying the medieval architecture that has survived and flourished on the premises over the years. Besides the natural beauty that is evinced within the gardens and grounds of the park, Fort Tryon is a one of a kind showcase for manmade art.

Situated high above the northern grounds of the park is The Cloisters, a reconstructed monastery from the Middle Ages, which houses close to 5000 medieval works. For visitors who’ve had their fill of the ancient works of art, the New Leaf Restaurant and Bar is located in close proximity to The Cloisters. The New Leaf Restaurant and Bar is an upscale restaurant that is ideal for a quiet, romantic dinner or a classy brunch with friends.

For those visitors with dogs and a more relaxed agenda, Fort Tryon has an excellent dog run. The dog run is complete with two playgrounds and a gazebo where dog owners can sit, meet, and socialize with each other.

Fort Tryon is located on one of the highest points in Manhattan, and as such, boasts a scenic point from which to view the Hudson River. The recreation area also offers magnificent views of the lower Hudson Valley and the Palisades. The scenic views offered to visitors contest the belief that Manhattan’s best vistas are experienced from the city’s skyscrapers.

When it comes to Fort Tryon’s gardens, the most noteworthy is the Heather Garden. This three acre, aptly named garden, which was restored in the 1980s, offers visitors lush beauty all year round, along with panoramic views of the Hudson River. On the eastern edge of the recreation area, is the recently revived Alpine Garden. The Alpine Garden is an intimate three acre garden that has stone staircases that visitors can use to traverse the slopes right down to Broadway.

The entire Fort Tryon Park consists of multiple parks, two playgrounds, eight miles of meandering paths, a wide variety of recreational and entertainment programs, as well as the charming, full service restaurant, the New Leaf Café.

Brief History

The region was once known as Chquaesgeck and was an open, densely forested area occupied by Indians of the Weckquaesgeek Tribe. The Weckquaesgeek Tribe lived on this high ground at the northern end of Manhattan up until the 17^th century, when the area was taken over by Dutch colonists. They renamed the land ‘Lang Bergh’, which translates to Long Hill. The area continued to go by this name right up unto 1776 when the Continental Army named the strategic sequence of posts along the Hudson River ‘Fort Washington.’ The name of the area changed once again toward the end of the colonial British rule over New York. They renamed the area after  Sir William Tryon (1729–1788), who was the Major General, as well as the last British governor of colonial New York

Fort Tryon eventually became a private residence and had a string of wealthy owners, including Dr. Samuel Watkins, who was the founder of Watkins Glen, General Daniel Butterfield, Boss Tweed, and C. K. G. Billings. In 1917, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. purchased what was then the Billings estate. He then hired Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to design the park. Construction continued through the Great Depression, providing a lot of people with jobs. Completed in 1935, the park included extensive flower gardens, walking paths, and meadows.

Restoration

Due to acute budget limitations that the city of New York faced in the 1970s, Fort Tryon Park fell into disrepair. Its gardens and woods then became a haven for all manner of criminal activity. The decline continued up until the 1980s, when funds once again became available.

In 1983, the Greenacre Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation hired Quennell Rothschild and Partners, a landscaping firm, to help restore the park to its former glory. So far the Parks Department has spent over $15 million on the upkeep of the park.

Since then, trusts such as Friends of Fort Tryon Park have sprouted up to keep the community involved with the maintenance of the park. The Fort Tryon Park Trust, which was formed in 2000, aims to raise $15 million to sustain the area, and has already raised $2 million for the Heather Garden. Additional funds from the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and the Arthur Ross Foundation are to be used to fully restore the Alpine Garden and create a Winter Walk.