I took a bike ride up to Inwood and ultimately Riverdale yesterday in search of the mysterious path past the George Washington Bridge. I was quite happy with what I found.
In the past, when I have ridden my bike up Riverside Park, the trip usually ends at the foot of the George Washington Bridge by the Little Red Lighthouse. Even when I want to go on, for some reason I am hesitant to continue along the obvious path.
Yesterday, I did not stop at that point, and continued uptown. I was bolstered by my reading in The Power Broker, as I was curious what Inwood Hill Park and Fort Tryon Park looked like.
The story, as told in that book, are that when Moses went to build the Henry Hudson Bridge, he could only appropriate enough money from various government organizations (this was the Depression, after all) by building the road through Riverside, Fort Tryon, and Inwood Hill Parks. However, the latter two parks were virgin, primeval forest. The route also took the road between high bluffs over the Harlem River and through Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx, what is described as a charming little town.
An alternate route, proposed by New York reformers (who supported Robert Moses as they understood him to be among their ranks), was to skirt the edge of the two parks and hop over the Harlem River at lowlands to the East of Moses’ proposed route. Although construction of this route (and especially the bridge) were less expensive and harmful than Moses’ route, Moses, needless to say, prevailed. Robert Caro, author of The Power Broker, goes on to explain how Moses’ construction of the road effectively ruined the parks in northern Manhattan.
So, I was quite curious to see what all the fuss was about. Fort Tryon Park (and, in particular, the forest), begins just above the George Washington Bridge. Riding along the path for about a mile and a half (when there are no access points), one can see the steep hills slope up to bluffs above and the river below, and it is quite easy to imagine the incredible beauty of the park prior to its becoming a main Manhattan road artery. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the presence of mind to stop and take a picture, but I imagine from up close and a distance the terrain closely resembles the Palisades across the River.
When I got to Dyckman Street, I walked up the hill to the Cloisters, shown here (link is to my NYC Facade blog):
Cloisters
The park surrounding the building is also quite beautiful. And, thanks to Robert Moses, most easily accessed by car. (OK, it is also easily accessed by the A train.)
I also shot this panorama facing east.
View east from in front of the Cloisters
I then rode back down the hill and went north along Broadway. I saw a number of interesting buildings; you can find them on my NYC Facades blog under the Washington Heights category.
When I reached the northern shore of the island, I first realized I was on the contested route of Robert Moses’ Henry Hudson Parkway. From the edge of the Inwood Hill Park, at Park Terrace and Isham Street, I had this view of the Henry Hudson Bridge. It appears the two bridges are at most half a mile apart. However, this contest route, where I took my picture is only a quarter mile from the Broadway Bridge; there certainly seems to be something to the fears of turnpike jumping there (after all, people do it constantly to avoid the Triborough Bridge).
View of the Henry Hudson bridge from Inwood Hill Park
It is clear at this point that the Henry Hudson bridge is a much more difficult engineering work than the Broadway Bridge, which is closer in type to the HH’s alternative.
Further investigating, I rode over to Riverdale. Taking a picture from the tan building at the far right, above, I had the following eastern view.
View of the valley and Broadway Bridge from Riverdale
This clearly shows both sides’ positions on the proposed bridge. I believe the HH alternative would have run right through the football field below. I am on the edge of the bluff that comprises Riverdale; a road and bridge could have happily run through the valley below, although it would have been very close to Broadway, in the distance.
Just for fun, I rode to the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North train station beneath the HH bridge. You can see one of those panoramas on my NYC Facades site. Here is another I shot a few hundred feet east.
View south from Spuyten Duyvil at Inwood Hill Park
The proposed bridge would have run another few hundred feet east (left) of here, with the actual bridge west (right).
After that, I dragged myself up to Kappock Street to see if there was a footpath across the bridge. In the hundreds of times I have crossed it in the last two years, I noticed that almost every day, but I found that either due to road construction or spite the walkway was closed (it was hard to determine whether the latter was the root cause; this site makes me lean to construction as the cause).
My easy route closed off, I backtracked down the hill, across Broadway Bridge, south along Broadway, west on Dyckman, back into Riverside Park, all the way home.
