TOURS: Sunday, June 22
Please note that departure times vary among tours. Tour groups will gather in the hotel lobby 30 minutes prior to the listed departure times.
Highbridge, Fort Tryon and Inwood Hill: Northern Manhattan's Natural Wonders (12:00 – 4:00pm)
Visitors to these three parks often ask: Is this really Manhattan? Yet, with their dramatic geology, stunning vistas and abundant wildlife, these parks form a thick, verdant belt around the northern tip of the borough. The 119 acre Highbridge Park boasts magnificent cliffs and rock outcroppings, native flora and fauna, and the oldest pedestrian bridge in Manhattan - the High Bridge itself, once part of the first reliable and uninterrupted water supply system in New York. Visitors can also tour the old water tower, with its sensational views of the Harlem River, while learning about the impact the Old Croton Aqueduct, which ran through the park, had on shaping New York City. Just west of Highbridge rises the Olmsted-designed Fort Tryon Park, with its landscaped terraces, wooded slopes, miles of pedestrian paths, and stunning views of the Hudson River, Palisades and George Washington Bridge. Participants will tour the dramatically-sited, naturalistic Heather Garden, and see the fabled Cloisters Museum, where Nelson D. Rockefeller Jr.’s medieval art collection is housed. Finally, Inwood Hill Park, at the northern-most tip of Manhattan, offers the last natural forest and salt marsh in Manhattan. Its 196 acres is home to red tailed hawks that can be seen feasting on the local squirrel and pigeon population and is the site of a bald eagle reintroduction program. Participants will see majestic trees from colonial times while enjoying hiking trails throughout the park. These three parks, with their incredible diversity of users and natural assets, are rarely seen by the average visitor to New York.
New York Botanical Garden (10:00am – 2:00pm)
The New York Botanical Garden is one of the world's great collections of plants, the region's leading educational center about gardening and horticulture, and an international center for plant research. The Garden is a museum of plants alive with discovery, from the landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, offering an ecotour of the world under glass, to the innovative Everett Children's Adventure Garden, where children explore nature and plant science, to 48 magnificent gardens and plant collections on a 250-acre historic site. Participants will experience an open-air tram tour of the gardens, be joined by expert curators in the Conservatory, explore the Museum of Modern Art Sculpture Exhibition in the Conservatory Courtyard, and meet with the Garden's educators in the Adventure Garden.
Greening Up the South Bronx (12:00 – 4:00pm)
New York's most famously-challenged neighborhood is actually a wonderful laboratory of innovative and thriving community parks and gardens. This tour will feature Crotona Park and several community gardens and parks. Meet community gardeners and park activists who have worked hard to make their neighborhoods greener and more vibrant. Participants will also learn some of their strategies for turning lifeless public spaces into community meeting places and cultural centers.
Jackson Heights: Private Parks for Urban Blocks (12:00 – 4:00pm) Hudson River Park: Bike and Boat the Hudson (12:00 – 4:00pm) SOLD OUT! Queens' String of Pearls: A Waterfront Walk of Astoria, Long Island City and Hunters Point (12:00 – 4:00pm) The Battery and Battery Park City (12:00 – 4:00) Rebuilding Olmsted and Vaux's Park: Tea, Conversation, and a Walk in the Park with Betsy Rogers (1:00 – 4:00pm) SOLD OUT! The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (2:00 – 4:00pm) Public Art in Central Park (12:00 – 2:00pm) SOLD OUT! Music Tour of Central Park (2:00 – 4:00pm) SOLD OUT!
From open lawns to shaded canopies of ivy-clad trees, historic Jackson Heights' renowned gardens are some of the best examples in the country of community greens. These lush, interior-block private parks provide needed respite from the bustle of city living. Visit a half dozen block-long gardens, including the Towers, Hampton Court, Linden Court, and Donnelly Gardens. After the site visit, join the Open Space Co-oping Project in a discussion of how to transform the insides of urban blocks across the U.S. into commonly owned and managed private parks.
After a lengthy public planning process, a new 4.5 mile waterfront park is quickly taking shape along Manhattan's West Side. The progress in the last year has been breathtaking and the park is already promising to be one of New York's great public spaces. As you bicycle along the new greenway, see how park planners and community groups are dealing with water access, the reuse of old piers and land reclamation. Along the way, participants will visit a $120 million recreation and entertainment complex, a community boating facility, an estuarium and even a new trapeze school. A walk through the renowned Rockefeller Park playground in Battery Park City will bring participants to North Cove and the return trip to midtown via water taxi will provide views of the new park and Manhattan skyline.
The lack of one integrated urban park along the Queens East River waterfront has allowed a number of different visions to flourish. This bus and walking tour will explore some of the successes and failures as we visit what was, and still is, a laboratory for urban planning. The trip will include stops at Astoria Park, home of one of Robert Moses's grandest swimming pools, and framed by the magnificent Hell's Gate and Triboro Bridges; Socrates Sculpture Park, started as a guerrilla sculpture garden by a New York City artist, now an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program; a new State Park, with incredible views of Midtown Manhattan and the Queensboro Bridge, that was developed as part of a new high-rise housing initiative; and even a hidden esplanade built to meet the letter, but not the spirit, of New York's zoning code.
Lower Manhattan's oldest and newest parks come together on the waterfront for this walking tour. Nearly 24 of Battery Park City's 92 acres are devoted to landscaped parks and gardens; green spaces that are cared for by the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy (BPCPC), a private, non-profit operating under the auspices of the Battery Park City Authority. The Battery, Downtown's 23-acre public park, lies just south of BPC and is being revitalized by a public-private partnership spearheaded by The Battery Conservancy (TBC). Join Tessa Huxley, Executive Director of BPCPC, and Pat Kirshner, Director of Operations for TBC, for an informative tour of Battery Park City's and the historic Battery’s attractions. The BPC tour includes: vista-rich Wagner Park Pavilion; the immaculately landscaped Scenic Esplanade, Rockefeller Park and its renowned playground; and the visually and emotionally arresting Irish Hunger Memorial. The tour of the Battery will showcase the rebuilt waterfront promenades; the public art installation, River That Flows Two Ways; new gardens planted by renowned Dutch horticulturalist, Piet Oudolf; plus, plans for the new Battery Garden Bikeway and Bosque, and the conceptual design for the adaptive reuse of Castle Clinton. With their panoramic views of New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and a unique mix of history, tourism, recreation and transportation, these parks are helping New Yorkers reclaim their affection and affinity for Downtown.
The historic vision of Central Park's creators lies at the heart of the Central Park Conservancy's restoration and management plan. Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, founder of the Conservancy, will share the remarkable story of Central Park's making, its decline, and its rebirth under the leadership of the Conservancy. Following a slide presentation and refreshments, Ms. Rogers will lead participants on a tour examining the major landscape types of Central Park’s legendary Greensward Plan by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.
Midtown Manhattan has a wealth of public spaces that are managed, maintained and programmed completely privately. See how these parks and plazas are used and designed to attract people and contribute to the life of the city - as well as to the bottom line of the buildings surrounding them. This walking tour, led by Fred Kent of Project for Public Spaces, will include the ever-innovative Bryant Park; world-famous Rockefeller Center; intimate Paley Park; and bustling Herald Square.
This tour is presented in tandem with the "Music Tour of Central Park."
Public artworks in Central Park constitute an overlay upon the park's original vision; in some cases, they become among the most popular and beloved destinations in the park, in other cases, not. Local artists and arts patrons often seek to bequeath public artworks to parks. In many cases, parks welcome such gifts with open arms, but are just as often reluctant or unwilling recipients. Questions about impact on the park, aesthetic and issues, political or religious statements, etc. are all too common. This informal tour will share the stories behind a number of Central Park's public art pieces - both treasured and misunderstood. 25 people max.
This tour is presented in tandem with "Public Art in Central Park."
Music has always been an important part of Central Park. Following the "Public Art in Central Park" tour, join Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park Conservancy Historian and Photographer on a short tour of the Concert Ground on the Mall to discuss the issues, problems and solutions of musical performances in the park throughout its 150 year history. Short pieces of recorded music by such celebrities as Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, Simon and Garfunkel, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Duke Ellington will also entertain participants.
