Outdoor sights in New York City
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Central Park
Like the city’s subway system, the vast and majestic Central Park, an 843-acre rectangle of open space in the middle of Manhattan, is a great class leveler – which is exactly what it was envisioned to be. Created in the 1860s and ’70s by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux on the marshy northern fringe of the city, the immense park was designed as a leisure space for all New Yorkers, regardless of color, class or creed. And it’s an oasis from the insanity: the lush lawns, cool forests, flowering gardens, glassy bodies of water and meandering, wooded paths providing the dose of serene nature that New Yorkers crave. Olmsted and Vaux (who also created Prospect Park in Bro…
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High Line
For years now, the big buzz in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen has been all about the coming of the High Line, the first section of which finally and officially opened to the public in the summer of 2009. Now you can stroll, sit and picnic 30ft above the city below on what was, since the 1960s, an abandoned stretch of elevated railroad track. The perks thus far are numerous, and include stunning vistas of the Hudson River, public art installations, fat lounge chairs for soaking up some sun, willowy stretches of native-inspired landscaping (including a mini-forest of trees), a cupcake vendor and a thoroughly unique perspective on the neighborhood streets below – especially at t…
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Brooklyn Botanic Garden
One of Brooklyn’s great attractions, this 52-acre garden – most easily accessed from the entrance next to the Brooklyn Museum – features 10,000 plants. The best area is the Japanese Hill-and-Pond garden, where you can see turtles swimming by a Shinto shrine. Other gardens are linked by trails. Try to time a visit with the beginning of May for the massive Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival), when trees turn pink and the festival hosts Japanese events such as taiko drumming and staged tales of samurai lore.
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Governor's Island
For decades, New Yorkers knew Governor’s Island only as an untouchable, mysterious patch of green out in the harbor. As of 2003, ownership of the 172-acre island was transferred from the federal government to both the National Park Service (which owns a 22-acre area) and the Governor’s Island Preservation and Education Corporation, and both were charged with the job and privilege of transforming this well-trod ground into an elaborately designed public parkland. Since then, they’ve done an excellent job, as today’s Governor’s Island draws ferries full of folks throughout the summer who come for the many new draws here. Among the highlights are Picnic Point, an 8-acre patc…
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Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
This stunning waterfront complex of 28 buildings, a few gardens and several museums is easily the island’s top attraction. Made from a lovely, 19th-century Greek Revival old sailors’ home, it almost saw the wrecking ball until Jackie Onassis and her big sunglasses intervened in 1976. The complex consists of the main ‘Snug Harbor’ site (now affiliated with the Smithsonian), which fills the Main Hall, the central building as you enter from the road. Here you can see temporary exhibits and the excellent Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, home to changing exhibitions of modern art. Behind the front five buildings, you’ll find several attractive gardens, including the super…
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Flushing Meadows Corona Park
The area’s biggest attraction is this 1225-acre park, built for the 1939 World’s Fair and dominated by monuments such as Queens’ most famous landmark, the stainless steel Unisphere (the world’s biggest globe, 120ft high and weighing 380 tons). Facing it is the former New York City Building, now home to the Queens Museum of Art. Just south are three weather-worn, Cold War–era New York State Pavilion Towers, which were part of the New York State Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair. If entering the park from the subway walkway, look for the 1964 World’s Fair mosaics by Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol (just down from the ped bridge from the subway). Also nearby is the tall Arthu…
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Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Extending from near JFK, airport at the start of the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, the salty, marshy Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is one of the most important migratory bird and wetland habitats along the eastern seaboard. In spring and fall, more than 325 bird species stop in to rest and snack, snapping up all sorts of briny sea creatures like clams, turtles, shrimp and oysters. Each season brings different visitors: spring features warblers and songbirds, and American woodcocks in late March. In mid-August shorebirds start to move south, landing here from Canada, fueling up for the trip to Mexico. Fall is when migrating hawks and raptors get mobile, along with duck…
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Hudson River Park
Encompassing way more than Battery Park (although its beginning is located here) the 5-mile, 550-acre Hudson River Park that runs along the lower western side of Manhattan edges neighborhoods including the West Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. It is overseen by the Hudson River Park Trust and is still in various stages of construction, but it’s been a beloved addition for a decade now, as previous to its creation the west side was known more for snarling highway traffic, unseemly pastimes and smoggy New Jersey vistas. With this park NYC follows the lead of most other cities that sit on bodies of water – Paris, Chicago, Miami – and turns the shoreline into something sp…
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Pier 45
Still known to many as the Christopher Street Pier, this is an 850ft-long finger of concrete, spiffily renovated with a grass lawn, flowerbeds, a comfort station, an outdoor cafe, tented shade shelters and a stop for the New York Water Taxi as part of the ongoing Hudson River Park project. And it’s a magnet for downtowners of all stripes, from local families with toddlers in daylight to mobs of young gay kids who flock here at night from all over the city (and beyond) because of the pier’s long-established history as a gay cruising hangout. That’s been the source of ongoing conflict in the neighborhood, where moneyed West Village residents say that the clutches of youths…
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Inwood Hill Park
This gorgeous 197-acre park contains the last natural forest and salt marsh in Manhattan. It’s a cool escape in summer and a great place to explore anytime, as you’ll find hilly paths for hiking and mellow, grassy patches and benches for quiet contemplation. It’s so peaceful and un-urban here, in fact, that the treetops serve as frequent nesting sites for bald eagles. You’ll also find helpful rangers and a slew of educational programs, many geared toward children, at the Inwood Hill Nature Center. Let your sporty side rip on basketball courts, horseback-riding trails, and soccer and football fields; you can also join locals who barbecue at designated grills on summer week…
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Morningside Park
The park that gives this neighborhood its name is a lovely, 13-block finger of green that has much to recommend it. In the region behind the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine you’ll find a pond and waterfall, and walking north from here will lead you to several public sculpture memorials, including the Seligman (Bear and Faun) Fountain (1914) by Edgar White and the Carl Schurz Memorial (1913) by Carl Bitter and Henry Bacon. Other draws are playgrounds, shaded pathways, a farmers market held from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays from June through December 19, and the lush Dr Thomas Kiel Arboretum, near 116th St. An ongoing revitalization of the park by neighborhood activists m…
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
Don’t miss your chance to run or walk around this 1.58-mile track, which draws a slew of joggers in the warmer months. The 106-acre body of water no longer distributes drinking water to residents, but serves as a gorgeous reflecting pool for the surrounding skyline and flowering trees. Take a turn around the reservoir’s perimeter and you may very well spot the elderly, white-haired Albert Arroyo, the friendly and self-appointed ‘Mayor of Central Park, ’ who used to run laps here and now makes his slow way around and around with the aid of a cane. The most beautiful time to be here is at sunset, when you can watch the sky turn from a brilliant shade of pink and orange to c…
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Union Square
Town square for an eclectic crowd, this park hosts loungers and local workers catching some fresh air, throngs of young skateboarders doing tricks on the southeastern stairs and frequent anti-war or general anti-government protestors. Opened in 1831, this park soon became the central gathering place for surrounding mansions and grand concert halls and eventually an explosion of high-end shops along Broadway, which became known as the Ladies’ Mile. Then, from the start of the Civil War until well into the 20th century, this became the site for protests of all kinds – for everyone from union workers to political activists. By the time of WWI, the area had become neglected …
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East River Park - East Village
Flanked by a looming housing project and the clogged FDR Dr on one side and the less-than-pure East River on the other, you might wonder what the draw is here. But take one visit – especially if it’s during spring or summer – and you’ll understand. In addition to the great ballparks, running and biking paths, 5000-seat amphitheater for concerts and expansive patches of green, it’s got cool, natural breezes and stunning views of the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. A drawn-out renovation brought great nighttime lighting and surprisingly clean bathrooms to the mix. It’s a cool spot for a picnic or a morning run.
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New York Botanical Garden
Spread across 50 acres of virgin forest (just north of the Bronx Zoo), the New York Botanical Garden (opened in 1891) is home to several beautiful gardens and the restored Enid A Haupt Conservatory, a grand, Victorian iron-and-glass edifice that is a New York landmark. You can also stroll through an outdoor rose garden just next to the conservatory, and a rock garden with a multi-tiered waterfall. It’s possible to take the subway via the B or D line to Bedford Park Blvd, then take bus Bx26 east, but it’s easier to take the Metro-North’s Harlem Line from Grand Central Terminal to the Botanical Garden stop (one way off-peak/peak $5.25/7).
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West Harlem Piers Park
One of the latest gems in the growing necklace of pier parks along the Hudson River, this 2-acre waterfront oasis of open spaces, fishing spots, public art (including a series of sculptures called ‘Voice’) and bike and running paths, provides the final link that now allows you to bike from Battery Park all the way up to the tip of Manhattan without ever stopping to dismount. More than a decade in the making, the park has transformed a spit of land that has, in the past, been home to a Borden Milk Factory and a glass-strewn, prostitute-bearing parking lot. Today it’s a much-needed Harlem respite.
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Greenbelt
In the heart of Staten Island, the 2800-acre Greenbelt – and its 32 miles of trails for hiking – crosses five ecosystems, including swamps and freshwater wetlands. One hike reaches the Atlantic seaboard’s highest points south of Maine (take that, Jersey!). Check the website for the many access points. One good place is at High Rock Park, a hardwood forest spot cut by six trails. Take bus S62 from the ferry terminal to Victory Blvd and Manner Rd (about 15 or 20 minutes), then transfer to the S54.
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Wave Hill
Built by a lawyer in 1843 as a country estate, the 28-acre, riverside Wave Hill served the needs of the wealthy and connected until it became a city park in 1960. Other guests have included Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. There are soaring views of the Hudson and a cafe in the stone mansion that serves as the park’s centerpiece. From the Riverdale Metro-North station it’s a 15-minute walk uphill, or catch the free van service from the station, provided by Wave Hill.
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Jacob Riis Park
Much of the Rockaway Beach area is part of the 26,000-acre Gateway National Recreation Area (www.nps.gov/gate), which encompasses several parks. One, toward the southern tip of the Rockaways, is Jacob Riis Park, named for an advocate and photographer of immigrants in the late 19th century; it’s also home to Fort Tilden, a decommissioned coastal artillery installation from WWI. The boardwalk, beach and picnic areas are popular in summer.
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Great Lawn
Located between 79th and 86th Sts, this massive emerald carpet was created in 1931 by filling in a former reservoir. It hosts outdoor concerts – this is where Paul Simon played his famous comeback show, and also where you can catch the New York Philharmonic Orchestra each summer – and there are eight softball fields, basketball courts and a canopy of London plane trees. Not far from the actual lawn are several other big sites: the Delacorte Theater, which is home to the annual Shakespeare in the Park festival, and its lush Shakespeare Garden; the panoramic Belvedere Castle(the leafy Ramble(the epicenter of both birding and gay-male cruising); and the Loeb Boathouse, where…
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Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
On the water, set snugly between the bridges and backed by Civil War–era warehouses, the 9-acre Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park has a cozy lawn on the East River. At research time, the park was closed for retooling, including the addition of a glass pavilion designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Jean Nouvel to house a 1920s-era carousel. The park is scheduled to reopen in spring 2011.
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Prospect Park
The creators of the 585-acre Prospect Park – Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux – considered this an improvement over their other New York project, Central Park. Created in 1866, Prospect Park has many of the same features. It’s gorgeous, with a long meadow running along the western half, filled with soccer, football, cricket and baseball players (and barbecuers), and much of the rest dotted with hilly forests and a lovely boathouse on the east side; many more visitors come to bike, skate or just lounge around. There are also free concerts at the Prospect Park Bandshell (near the 9th St and Prospect Park West entrance). For information on activities, stop by the Audub…
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Columbus Park
This is where outdoor mah-jongg and domino games take place at bridge tables while tai chi practitioners move through lyrical, slow-motion poses under shady trees. Judo-sparring folks and relaxing families are also common sights here, in this active communal space originally created in the 1890s and popular with local residents. Visitors are welcome, though (or at least ignored).
An interesting note is that the Five Points neighborhood, home to the city’s first tenement slums and the inspiration for Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, was once located at the foot of where Columbus Park is now. The ‘five points’ were the five streets that used to converge here; now you’ll…
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Leif Ericson Park
Most Scandinavian Americans live up in northern Bay Ridge, where you can see the Norwegian Constitution Parade at Leif Ericson Park on the first Sunday after May 17, the anniversary of Norway’s first constitution. Grab some herring salad (or miniature Norwegian trolls) at Nordic Delicacies (6909 Third Ave at Bay Ridge Ave).
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Washington Market Community Park
This 3-acre park – once the site of the world’s largest food market back in 1858 – is now beloved by local families with kids, mainly because of its popular playground (but also for its brand-new bathrooms!). It’s a great escape for anyone needing a little green space; there are also a gazebo and tennis and basketball courts.
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