240 Years in the Making: A Self-Guided Manhattan Walking Tour

In evidenza

Itinerario

1. 1

   The Dyckman Farmhouse, built around 1784,

   The Dyckman Farmhouse, built around 1784, is the last Dutch Colonial farmhouse left on Manhattan Island, but it wasn't the family's first home here. Jan Dyckman arrived from Westphalia in the mid-1600s and helped settle land the Lenape had lived on for millennia, in a place they called Shorakapok, or the sitting-down place. By 1775, the Dyckmans held 250 acres feeding New York City with livestock, cider, and grain. But the farm's high ground made it a Revolutionary War target: British and Hessian troops tore down the original buildings for firewood and hut timber. William Dyckman returned to find the orchards burned and the fields trenched, and rebuilt the gambrel-roofed farmhouse you see today as an act of resilience. That resilience had a darker foundation, too: enslaved men and women cleared this land and tended its orchards, a legacy as much a part of this ground as the Dyckmans' own.

   Si passa senza fermarsi•Ingresso gratuito

2. 2

   Fort Tryon Park

   Fort Tryon Park is a 67-acre gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr., handed to the city in 1935 and shaped by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., son of the man who designed Central Park. He built it to feel both wild and elegant: rugged cliffs and sweeping river views threaded with intimate, winding garden paths. The park's name comes from Fort Tryon, the British fort named for William Tryon, the last royal governor of colonial New York. But don't let the tranquility fool you. In 1776, these heights were a smoke-filled battleground: outnumbered Continental soldiers made a desperate last stand here at the Battle of Fort Washington, holding the final American position on Manhattan against British and Hessian troops. Among them was Margaret Corbin, who kept firing her husband's cannon after he fell and became the first woman in U.S. history to receive a military pension.

   15 minuti•Ingresso gratuito•Vedi sulla mappa

3. 3

   The Met Cloisters

   You're crossing into the Middle Ages: the Met Cloisters, opened in 1938, is built from five real European cloisters, arcaded walkways and carved capitals salvaged from abandoned monasteries in France and Spain, shipped stone by stone and reassembled on this Manhattan ridge. The building began as sculptor George Grey Barnard's private collection nearby John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought it in 1925, funded this larger museum, and donated the surrounding land that became Fort Tryon Park. Inside, look for the Unicorn Tapestries, seven wool-and-silk hangings from around 1500 and among the most famous artworks in the world. Cloisters weren't galleries originally. They were sanctuaries: four-sided covered walkways that shielded monks in meditation from the outside world. From here, the Cloisters reads less like a museum than a fortress, its heavy limestone and granite walls making it look like a piece of Europe standing guard over the Hudson.

   Si passa senza fermarsi•Ingresso gratuito•Vedi sulla mappa

4. 4

   George Washington Bridge

   The George Washington Bridge opened in 1931, the longest suspension span in the world at the time, and its engineer, Othmar Ammann, planned for its steel towers to be clad in concrete and stone. The Depression cut that budget, so the bare steel stayed exposed, and architect Le Corbusier called the result the most beautiful bridge in the world. Today it carries 14 lanes across the Hudson, more than any other suspension bridge, linking Washington Heights to Fort Lee, New Jersey. At its Manhattan base sits the Little Red Lighthouse, dwarfed by the bridge that nearly made it obsolete.

   Si passa senza fermarsi•Ingresso gratuito•Vedi sulla mappa

5. 5

   The Heather Garden stretches for a quarter-mile along Fort Tryon Park's western ridge, one of the oldest and largest public gardens in the city. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. laid it out in the 1930s, naming it for the Scottish heather he first planted here, though today it holds more than five hundred varieties of perennials, shrubs, and trees. By the 1980s, neglect had reduced much of it to weeds and rubble

   a small team of volunteers and horticulturists spent years bringing it back, plant by plant. Something is usually in bloom here from late February through November, with the Palisades and the Hudson as a backdrop.

   Si passa senza fermarsi•Ingresso gratuito

6. 6

   Washington Heights

   Washington Heights has produced serious star power. Alex Rodriguez spent his first four years on West 183rd Street before his family moved to the Dominican Republic and Miami, and when he returned to the Yankees in 2004, it felt like a homecoming: a Dominican-American kid from the Heights leading the American League in home runs and anchoring the 2009 World Series win. He's not alone. Fellow Dominican-American slugger Manny Ramirez grew up here too, and Panama-born Rod Carew, a Hall of Famer, called the neighborhood home as a young immigrant. The Heights also shaped quieter kinds of fame: sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer settled here as a teenage refugee from Nazi Germany, and decades later, Lin-Manuel Miranda grew up watching it all, turning the block parties and bodegas into In the Heights.

   Si passa senza fermarsi•Ingresso gratuito

7. 7

   Officially called Jeffrey's Hook Light, the Little Red Lighthouse was built in 1880 at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, then moved here in 1921 to warn ships off a rocky point in the Hudson. It's the only lighthouse left on Manhattan Island. When the George Washington Bridge opened above it in 1931 with its own navigation lights, the Coast Guard decided the 40-foot lighthouse was obsolete and slated it for auction in 1951. Then Hildegarde Swift's 1942 children's book turned it into a beloved character, and thousands of children wrote letters and mailed in pennies to save it. It's still standing.

   Si passa senza fermarsi•Ingresso gratuito

Punto d'incontro

The tour begins at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, in Upper Manhattan in New York City. Before arrival, please install the mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.

La mappa mostra New York. Il punto d'incontro esatto è l'indirizzo qui sopra.Apri mappa più grande

Prelievo

• Tutti si incontrano al punto di partenza

Da sapere prima di partire

• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• The total tour time includes walking the route and passing by the attractions
• Wear supportive athletic shoes. This route features significant elevation changes and multiple outdoor staircases, including the climb up to The Met Cloisters.
• Mobile or paper ticket accepted
• One per booking
• VOICEMAP CODE ─── Please check your email at the address you provided when you made this booking. You've been sent an eight character code you'll need to redeem your tour. This code can be used by every member of your party. If you've booked for three people, for example, three people can download this tour using the same code. DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS ─── Once you've received your code, please follow these steps: Install the VoiceMap Audio Tours mobile app Create an account Select Tour Codes from the menu, then select Enter Codes Enter your code then select Download Now PLEASE NOTE ─── You can download the tour at any time, before or after your booking date. It's best to download before you set off for the starting point. This tour follows a set route and includes turn-by-turn directions. It works best if you start it in the right place and follow the directions from one location to the next. When the download completes, you'll see a screen with a photo of the starting point and directions to it. The red start button will become active when you are at the starting point. Remember to bring your own headphones, unless you have booked a driving tour. SUPPORT ─── For technical support and other queries, please email [email protected]

Cancellazione e rimborso

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.