We discovered a New York City treasure today!

[PJMcK]

There is a bridge between the Bronx and Manhattan that was originally an aqueduct bringing water from upstate NY to the city. It's called the Highbridge and it's located at 170th Street a little north and a little west of Yankee Stadium.

You can see it from the Harlem River Drive and the Deegan Expressway; the eastern half is made of stone with a dozen arches supporting the bridge while the western half was replaced with a single large metal arch to allow large ships to transit the Harlem River.

The piping for the aqueduct is covered over and there's a beautiful brick walkway that takes you from the Highbridge neighborhood in the Bronx to the spectacular water tower on the Manhattan side. The tower looks like it was a lighthouse or a lookout but it was actually a tower for raising 47,000 gallons of water to create the pressure to send the water downtown to a distribution hub near the NYC Library on Fifth Avenue.

The bridge, the tower and the park are beautiful and represent an exquisite time in NYC's history, the last half of the 1800s. The park Rangers were friendly and informative and really funny!. The stairway from the Highbridge to the tower was 89 steps and then the circular stairway within the tower itself was over 200-feet high. Quite a workout!

We highly recommend these treasures. Here's some more information:

https://www.nycgovparks.org/park-features/highbridge-park/planyc

https://visitingamuseum.com/2020/04/17/the-highbridge-water-tower-highbridge-park-washington-heights-nyc/

[brush]

1. That part of Manhattan, is it part of Washington Heights, is...

beautiful and very interesting. Did the rangers explain how the tower was filled with water? Were there pumps, electric,wind-driven?

[PJMcK]

2. On the Manhattan side it's in Washington Heights

It's a lovely neighborhood with a great variety of all things New York. Easy public transportation, too. We took the 4 train to get up to the Bronx then the C train before walking home through Central Park. It was a great mini-adventure that cost $11.00 in transportation and $4.00 for a couple of ice cold beers. Bargain.

I didn't ask about how they filled the tower, I assume it was with pumps. Definitely not electric or windmills. Probably steam-powered as it was built in the 1860s. It's been recently renovated and it's spectacular.

[MyMission]

3. I lived in Washington heights for many years

Several interesting historic bridges going across the east river.

And I loved going to the cloisters, just walking the gardens and grounds is free. Touring inside is quite amazing, mostly medieval art and architecture. They used to have a medieval festival on the grounds that was fun. There are views from the Hudson River and GW bridge from there.

As a teen we'd sometimes climb up to the old tracks that has now become the highline.
That was added after I left, and I think that's remarkable.

[BigmanPigman]

6. I discovered the Cloisters when I attended Parsons in the summer of 1979.

It was like an oasis in the Summertime. I thought that the beautiful house used in the film The Roeyal Tennenbaums but I just looked and it is in Hamilton Heights

[MyMission]

9. My first visit was summer of 1980, for an art history course

I attended CUNY, took art history in summer 1980 and we went there on a class trip. Ended up moving to that area in the late 80's, lived there for 10+ years. I thought of it as an oasis too.

I was always a nature lover, despite being born and raised in NYC, and like architecture too. Living in Western NC for almost 20 years now, the environment and climate are great, but political climate sucks (meadows, cawthorn); a red zone in a red region, although the state is purple.

In NY and Northeast we had a number of Vanderbilt mansions. Here in NC we have one too, called Biltmore estate, built at the turn to the last century, with much brought over from Europe. The grounds and gardens are amazing, as is the house. Reminds me a bit of the cloisters whenever I visit, but on a much grander scale.

[BigmanPigman]

10. The Biltmore estate is gorgeous.

It was used to shoot the film Being There.

I never went to see the Woolworth's building downtown and I regret it. In CA the greatest place I've visited was the Hearst Castle. It is a whole day trip it itself.

[dweller]

4. May I post a few pics ?

It’s the oldest bridge in New York



The tower



Copyright photo



I especially liked some early paintings









Nice find for a day’s outing !



✌🏻

[PJMcK]

5. Thanks for the pictures!

They're great!

The views from the bridge were spectacular. It's quite high above the Harlem River. And the views from the top of the tower were gorgeous. We were fortunate to have a clear and sunny day.

[BigmanPigman]

7. Lovely old NY.

[3Hotdogs]

8. I went up the tower, about 20 years ago.

They gave out magnets with photos of the tower.

Another fun visit, the lighthouse, about 10 miles north of the Tappan Zee bridge. On the east bank of the Hudson River.