How to Enjoy New York's Riverside Park
Riverside Park in New York opened in 1875 and along with Central Park and Prospect Park, is another one of Frederick Law Olmsted's magnificent natural creations. Riverside Park stretches all the way from W. 72nd Street to W. 155th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, providing breathtaking Hudson River views from its serpentine paths. Olmsted prepared the conceptual plan for the new park, and a series of designers set about to compose the new landscape, incorporating Olmsted's idea of a park curving around valleys and rock outcroppings all overlooking the river. From 1875 to 1910, architects and horticulturalists laid out the park according to the English gardening ideal, creating the appearance that the Park was an extension of the Hudson River Valley itself. With its collection of historical structures and monuments, recreation areas and lush landscape including the most significant remaining stand of cultivated American Elms in the country, no matter the season, a day in Riverside Park is a day you'll remember.
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Instructions
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Begin your walk at Grant's Tomb at 122nd Street and Riverside Drive, overlooking Riverside Park and the Hudson River. Take the time to visit the tomb itself, the final resting place of General Ulysses Grant, the eighteenth president of the United States. Modeled after Napoleon's Tomb in Paris, the General Grant National Memorial as it is more formally known, is the largest mausoleum in the world and a fitting tribute to this president who helped heal the wounds of the Civil War. His famous admonition, "Let us have peace" is carved into the monument's pediment just above the front door. There is no fee to enter the serene marble interior and pay your respects.
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Cross the street and begin walking south along Riverside Drive. You'll know you're walking south because the numbered streets will be descending and the Hudson River will be on your right. Walk down into the park at 120th Street and turn left onto the wide dirt trail to enjoy an area known as the woodlands that stretches to 108th Street and showcases Olmsted's forested landscape that makes the park feel like it's a million miles away from the city's hustle and bustle.
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Follow the esplanade that appears as you leave the forest. Head south, keeping the river on your right, to enjoy an unobstructed vista of the Hudson's silvery waters. Ascend back up at 100th Street and Riverside Drive to view the famed Fireman's Memorial. Dedicated to New York's bravest, this 19-foot-long by 8-foot-wide sarcophagus erected on a granite plaza, features a fountain and a bronze tablet depicting three galloping horses pulling a fire engine on the side facing the park. Marble sculptures symbolizing "Duty and Sacrifice" flank the sarcophagus on either end.
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Continue along the Riverside Drive promenade to 93rd Street and Riverside Drive where you'll discover the Joan of Arc Monument. The most artistically significant statue in the park, created by Anna Hyatt and dedicated in 1915, the large-than-life-size bronze statue of Joan of Arc features her in armor, holding aloft her sword and standing in the saddle of her warhorse.
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Continue along the Riverside Drive promenade to 89th Street and Riverside Drive where you'll come upon the impressive Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Modeled on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, with a pyramid-shaped roof, 12 Corinthian columns and a grand staircase, it was designed in 1893 and after almost 10 years of construction, finally dedicated on Memorial Day 1902.
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Descend the staircase and the winding path that slopes down under a canopy of majestic trees, one of North America's most significant remaining cultivated stands of American Elms. At the bottom of the hill, you'll find the People's Garden, a well-loved community garden filled with flowering plants opening out to another broad, landscaped esplanade.
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Follow the esplanade south, just keep the river on your right, and proceed forward approximately a 1/4 mile where you'll come to a wide paved path on your right that leads down to an incredible river walk right along the water. There are benches at the water's edge where you can admire a panorama that encompasses everything from the George Washington Bridge to the north to the skyscrapers of Midtown to the south to the New Jersey shoreline across the river.
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Proceed south, keeping the river on your right, and you'll arrive at the 79th street boat basin where a collection of pleasure crafts are moored. Some of these boats serve as floating homes for a select group of lucky New Yorkers. Overlooking the boat basin is the Boat Basin Café, a lovely restaurant with excellent food and a well-stocked bar all housed in a historic stone building. Enjoy dining and imbibing on the wide terrace overlooking the river or under stone arches in a tile arcade looking out on a spectacular vaulted rotunda constructed in the 1930s.
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Continue south along the river walk to the 72nd street boat basin where during summer you can take a kayak out on the river for free.
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Continue south to enjoy a new section of Riverside Park that stretches all the way to 59th street and includes a huge pier that allows you to practically walk into the middle of the river. Or just follow the stairs leading back up to Riverside Drive and 72nd Street where you'll have easy access to the subway and cabs two blocks east on Broadway.
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Tips & Warnings
There are sports fields and courts of all kinds scattered throughout the park. Bring your favorite equipment and have fun.
Bring the kids and the dog too. There's an off-leash, fenced area for your best friend at 86th Street.
This is a wonderful adventure on a bike as well.
Be sure to bring water on a hot day. Drinking fountains are few and far between.
References
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