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154-595: The Battery , formerly known as Battery Park , is a 25-acre (10 ha) public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor . It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling Green to the northeast, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. The park contains attractions such as an early 19th-century fort named Castle Clinton ; multiple monuments; and

308-451: A 10-minute walk , provides multiple benefits. A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintained by a local government. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics and sporting activities. Trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade , with an increasing emphasis on reducing an urban heat island effect. Some early parks include

462-451: A tourist attraction . The Sphere was moved to Liberty Park in 2017. The Netherland Monument with its flagpole was dedicated on December 6, 1926, as a gift from the Dutch in commemoration of the purchase of Manhattan Island three centuries prior. It was originally located south of Castle Clinton, but during the 1940–1952 renovation, the flagpole was relocated to the northeast entrance of

616-671: A $ 100 million plan to construct two new parks in Battery Park City and rearrange the park at the Battery as part of a new Hudson River waterfront park system. Part of the waterfront park system had been completed previously, but the new proposal would complete the system of parks. Within Battery Park, the Battery Park City Authority would add new entrances and redesign the park to give clearer views of

770-408: A committee to study ways to improve the park. In 1928, it was proposed to remove the els from Battery Park. The following year, an immigrants' memorial was proposed within Battery Park, and the park itself was proposed for reconstruction into a formal vista. In 1937, Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes proposed making Battery Park into a landscaped "front door" for New York City, with a semicircular seawall and

924-470: A community garden, the renovation of a promenade, and the construction of the SeaGlass Carousel . By June 2012, a third of the park was being cordoned off for these construction projects, though the park itself remained open, serving 10,000 to 15,000 daily visitors. In October of that year, Hurricane Sandy caused severe damage to the area, submerging the park under salt water for several hours.

1078-652: A cost of $ 5.5 million. Although Battery Park was used as an emergency staging site following the September 11 attacks in 2001, construction on the upper promenade continued largely uninterrupted, and it opened in December 2001. Five months after being damaged in the September 11 attacks, Fritz Koenig 's The Sphere , which once stood at the center of the plaza of the World Trade Center a few blocks away,

1232-477: A curving plaza. Officials announced a proposal the following year to expand the park by 9 acres (3.6 ha) in conjunction with improvements to roads around the park. In 1940, Battery Park was partially closed for the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel , and the aquarium was shuttered. Subsequently, several plans to modify Battery Park were proposed. A design competition to rebuild Battery Park

1386-404: A large depositional plain near its mouth. This lack of significant deposits near the river mouth differs from most other American estuaries. Around New York Harbor, sediment also flows into the estuary from the ocean when the current is flowing north. The area around Hudson River was inhabited by indigenous peoples ages before Europeans arrived. The Lenape , Wappinger , and Mahican branches of

1540-503: A physical boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York at its southern end. Farther north, it marks local boundaries between several New York counties . The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary , deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord , an inlet that formed during the most recent period of North American glaciation , estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Even as far north as

1694-587: A portion of one wall was placed on temporary display inside Castle Clinton. Another, long portion of the wall was embedded permanently into the entrance to the newly constructed station, at the same depth below street level as originally discovered. Robert Tierney, chairman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission , said that the wall was probably built to protect the park's original artillery batteries. The remains were described as "an important remnant of

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1848-579: A small history exhibit and ticket booths for the ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; in addition, it occasionally hosts concerts. As the site of the ferry ticket office, it recorded nearly 4.08 million visitors in 2009. According to data from the National Park Service, the Statue of Liberty National Monument , which includes Castle Clinton, was the most popular national monument in

2002-592: Is 315 miles (507 km) long, with depths of 30 feet (9.1 m) for the stretch south of the Federal Dam, dredged to maintain the river as a shipping route. Some sections there are around 160 feet deep, and the deepest part of the Hudson, known as "World's End" (between the US Military Academy and Constitution Island ) has a depth of 202 feet (62 m). The Hudson and its tributaries, notably

2156-698: Is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York , United States. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York at Henderson Lake in the town of Newcomb , and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between New York City and Jersey City , eventually draining into the Atlantic Ocean at Upper New York Bay . The river serves as

2310-531: Is believed that the first use of the name Hudson River in a map was in a map created by the cartographer John Carwitham in 1740. In 1939, the magazine Life described the river as "America's Rhine", comparing it to the 760-mile (1,220 km) Rhine in Central and Western Europe. The tidal Hudson is unusually straight for a river, and the earliest colonial Dutch charts of the Hudson River designated

2464-549: Is called Jerusalem Grove. The northeastern corner hosts a lawn called the Battery Oval. The 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m) lawn opened in 2016 as part of a major restoration of the park, and contains turf made of Kentucky bluegrass . Along the waterfront, Statue Cruises offers ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island . The southwestern corner of the Battery contains the SeaGlass Carousel , an attraction with bioluminescent design that pays homage not only to

2618-673: Is credited for the Old World 's discovery of continental North America, with his journey in 1497 along the continent's coast. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed north along the Atlantic seaboard and into New York Harbor, however he left the harbor shortly thereafter, without navigating into the Hudson River. In 1598, Dutch men employed by the Greenland Company wintered in New York Bay . In 1609

2772-577: Is estimated to have formed between 26,000 and 13,300 years ago. Along the river, the Palisades are of metamorphic basalt , or diabases , the Highlands are primarily granite and gneiss with intrusions , and from Beacon to Albany, shales and limestones , or mainly sedimentary rock . The Narrows were most likely formed about 6,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Previously, Staten Island and Long Island were connected, preventing

2926-418: Is under the floor, so there is no post in the center of the ride. Battery Park contains over 20 monuments, many of which are clustered in an area called "Monument Walk". Within the park is Hope Garden, a memorial dedicated to AIDS victims, where The Sphere had been exhibited at times. The garden has also been used as a site for environmental demonstrations due to its fragility and the Battery's status as

3080-494: Is unreadable. There are potholes on the asphalt where people line up for boats to the Statue of Liberty." The nonprofit Battery Conservancy was created in 1994, and one of its first actions was to create an architectural plan for the park, and renovating it for $ 30 million. In 1998, the administration of mayor Rudy Giuliani announced a $ 40 million initiative to renovate Battery Park. The restoration project, based on similar successful projects at Bryant and Central Parks, called for

3234-548: The Algonquians lived along the river, mostly in peace with the other groups. The Algonquians in the region mainly lived in small clans and villages throughout the area. One major settlement was called Navish, which was located at Croton Point , overlooking the Hudson River. Other settlements were located in various locations throughout the Hudson Highlands . Many villagers lived in various types of houses, which

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3388-476: The Battery Place elevated station at Battery Place, on the park's northern end, in 1872. This was followed by the opening of the two-track South Ferry elevated station at the park's southern end in 1877. New York Elevated Railroad agreed to beautify Battery Park as a condition of being allowed to construct the station, but the elevated station's construction soon prompted opposition among people who wanted

3542-605: The Battle of Harlem Heights the following month. Later that year, the British and Continental Armies were involved in skirmishes and battles in rivertowns of the Hudson in Westchester County, culminating in the Battle of White Plains . Also in late 1776, New England militias fortified the river's choke point known as the Hudson Highlands , which included building Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery on either side of

3696-840: The Bear Mountain Bridge , which connects Westchester and Rockland Counties. Afterward, leaving the Hudson Highlands, the river enters Haverstraw Bay , the widest point of the river at 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide. Shortly thereafter, the river forms the Tappan Zee and flows under the Tappan Zee Bridge , which carries the New York State Thruway between Tarrytown and Nyack in Westchester and Rockland Counties respectively. At

3850-716: The Delaware River at Honesdale, Pennsylvania , and the Hudson River at Kingston, New York. This canal enabled the transportation of coal, and later other goods as well, between the Delaware and Hudson River watersheds. The combination of these canals made the Hudson River one of the most vital waterways for trade in the nation. During the Industrial Revolution , the Hudson River became a major location for production, especially around Albany and Troy. The river allowed for fast and easy transport of goods from

4004-579: The Dutch East India Company financed English navigator Henry Hudson in his search for the Northeast Passage , but thwarted by sea ice in that direction, he sailed westward across the Atlantic in pursuit of a Northwest Passage . During the search, Hudson sailed up the river that would later be named after him. He then sailed upriver to a point near Stuyvesant (Old Kinderhook), and the ship’s boat with five members ventured to

4158-602: The Dutch East India Company who explored it in 1609, and after whom Hudson Bay in Canada is also named. It had previously been observed by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailing for King Francis I of France in 1524, as he became the first European known to have entered the Upper New York Bay , but he considered the river to be an estuary. The Dutch called the river the North River , and they called

4312-521: The Federal Dam in Troy . There are about two high tides and two low tides per day. As the tide rises, the tidal current moves northward, taking enough time that part of the river can be at high tide while another part can be at the bottom of its low tide. Strong tides make parts of New York Harbor difficult and dangerous to navigate. During the winter, ice floes may drift south or north, depending upon

4466-758: The Harlem River Ship Canal connecting to the Harlem River ), the east bank of the river becomes Manhattan . The river is sometimes still called the North River from this point south. The George Washington Bridge crosses the river between Fort Lee and the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The Lincoln Tunnel and the Holland Tunnel also cross under the river between Manhattan and New Jersey. South of

4620-471: The Hudson Valley , flowing along the west bank of Albany and the east bank of Rensselaer . Interstate 90 crosses the Hudson into Albany at this point in the river. The Hudson then leaves the Capital District, forming the boundary between Greene and Columbia Counties. It then meets its confluence with Schodack Creek, widening considerably at this point. After flowing by Hudson , the river forms

4774-562: The La Alameda de Hércules , in Seville , a promenaded public mall, urban garden and park built in 1574, within the historic center of Seville. The Városliget ( City Park ) in the City of Pest , what is today Budapest, Hungary , was a city property when afforestation started in the middle of the 18th century, from the 1790s with the clear aim to create a public park. Between 1799 and 1805 it

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4928-553: The Mohawk River , the largest tributary of the Hudson River, in Waterford . The river then reaches the Federal Dam in Troy , marking an impoundment of the river. At an elevation of 2 feet (0.61 m), the bottom of the dam marks the beginning of the tidal influence in the Hudson as well as the beginning of the lower Hudson River. South of the Federal Dam, the Hudson River begins to widen considerably. The river enters

5082-702: The New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion , a pavilion gifted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands , which displays art, design, and horticulture. The park is also the site of numerous memorials and monuments placed there over the years. As of 2010, the park saw over five million annual visitors. In 2016, the Battery Conservancy said that the park saw 600,000 visitors a month, which amounted to about 7.2 million visitors per year. Castle Clinton

5236-591: The New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War , when American troops commandeered the fort and fired on British ships in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent them from sailing up the Hudson River . Following the British landing at Kip's Bay on September 15, 1776, the Americans had abandoned the fort, and the British took Lower Manhattan. At the end of the war in 1783,

5390-669: The Saint Lawrence Seaway . Further south the Hudson takes in water from the Batten Kill River and Fish Creek near Schuylerville . The river then forms the boundary between Saratoga and Rensselaer counties. The river then enters the heart of the Capital District . It takes in water from the Hoosic River , which extends into Massachusetts . Shortly thereafter the river has its confluence with

5544-479: The SeaGlass Carousel . The surrounding area, known as South Ferry , contains multiple ferry terminals, including the Staten Island Ferry 's Whitehall Terminal ; a boat launch to the Statue of Liberty National Monument (which includes Ellis Island and Liberty Island ); and a boat launch to Governors Island . The park and surrounding area is named for the artillery batteries that were built in

5698-694: The South Ferry subway terminal were being built directly under the park. The South Ferry station opened in 1905, while the Joralemon Street Tunnel opened in 1908. Another early method of transportation was by streetcars , which stopped at Battery Place and traveled up both sides of Manhattan Island. These streetcar lines terminated at South Ferry and included what are now the M7 , M20 , M55 and M103 bus routes. The streetcars were eliminated by 1936, though only some were replaced by buses. By

5852-636: The St. Lawrence Seaway , and then British cities such as Montreal to the Hudson River and New York City. Another major canal was the Oswego Canal , which connected the Erie Canal to Oswego and Lake Ontario , and could be used to bypass Niagara Falls. The Cayuga-Seneca Canal connected the Erie Canal to Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake . Farther south, the Delaware and Hudson Canal was built between

6006-633: The United States Geological Survey (USGS). USGS maps show the longest source of the Hudson as the Opalescent on the western slopes of Little Marcy Mountain, originating two miles north of Lake Tear of the Clouds. Using river names as seen on maps, Indian Pass Brook flows into Henderson Lake . The outlet of Henderson Lake is most commonly referred to as the official start of the Hudson River, as it flows east and meets

6160-623: The Village of Yorkville Park in Toronto , which won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Parks are sometimes made out of oddly shaped areas of land, much like the vacant lots that often become city neighborhood parks. Linked parks may form a greenbelt . There is a form of an urban park in the UK (officially called a "recreation ground", but commonly called a "rec" by

6314-548: The War of 1812 , the West Battery was erected on a small artificial offshore island nearby, to replace the earlier batteries in the area. At the time, the shore at the Battery was a relatively flat edge. The West Battery was never used, and following the war, the artillery battery was renamed Castle Clinton . When Battery Park's landmass was created, it encircled and incorporated the island. About 3 acres (1.2 ha) were added to

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6468-579: The construction of the World Trade Center . The building would have been placed partially on landfill adjacent to the Battery. The "needle" was never built, and the earth was used as landfill for the creation of Battery Park City , just to the north of Battery Park. By 1971, Battery Park was so dilapidated that a U.S. representative from Missouri, Richard Howard Ichord Jr. , called the litter-ridden park "a national disgrace" and proposed that two National Park Service employees be hired to clean up

6622-730: The 1800s. One of the most significant canals of this era was the Erie Canal . The canal was built to link the Midwest to the Port of New York , a significant seaport during that time, by way of the Great Lakes , the canal, the Mohawk River , and the Hudson River. The completion of the canal enhanced the development of the American West, allowing settlers to travel west, send goods to markets in frontier cities, and export goods via

6776-423: The 20th century, the quality of Battery Park had started to decline, and several new structures were being proposed within the park itself, though most plans faced opposition and were not built. For instance, in 1901, a large memorial arch to honor United States Navy sailors was proposed within the park. Another monument, to steamboat operator Robert Fulton , was proposed in September 1905 by Gustav H. Schwab. There

6930-488: The 21st century. The river was called Ka’nón:no or Ca-ho-ha-ta-te-a ("the river") by the Haudenosaunee , and it was known as Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk ("river that flows two ways" or "waters that are never still" ) or Mahicannittuk by the Mohican nation who formerly inhabited both banks of the lower portion of the river. The meaning of the Mohican name comes from the river's long tidal range. The Delaware Tribe of Indians (Bartlesville, Oklahoma) considers

7084-549: The Algonquians called wigwams , though large families often lived in longhouses that could be a hundred feet long. At the associated villages, they grew corn, beans, and squash. They also gathered other types of plant foods, such as hickory nuts and many other wild fruits and tubers. In addition to agriculture, the Algonquians also fished in the Hudson River, focusing on various species of freshwater fish, as well as various variations of striped bass , American eels , sturgeon , herring , and shad . Oyster beds were also common on

7238-402: The Battery , the river proper ends, meeting the East River to form Upper New York Bay, also known as New York Harbor . Its outflow continues through the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island , under the Verrazzano Bridge , and into Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean through the Hudson Canyon . The lower Hudson is a tidal estuary, with tidal influence extending as far as

7392-439: The Battery Conservancy restored the wooded areas within Battery Park, as well as added gardens and green patches to mitigate the effects of future storms. Though the SeaGlass Carousel was left largely intact during Hurricane Sandy, its opening was delayed. Following the storm, the attraction was supposed to open in late 2013, but did not actually open until August 2015. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation restored

7546-444: The Battery Gardens restaurant, is located next to the United States Coast Guard Battery Building. Located nearby is a 4-acre (1.6 ha) garden called the Battery Bosque, which was designed by Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf and is centered around a grove of 140 plane trees . An additional grove of 15 trees was dedicated at the park in 1976 as a gift from the city of Jerusalem . This area, located northwest of Castle Clinton,

7700-502: The Battery was the center of Evacuation Day celebrations commemorating the departure of the last British troops in the United States; the event was later commemorated with the erection of a flagstaff. By 1788, Fort George had been demolished, and debris from the fort was used to expand the Battery. The fort itself became the site of Government House , an executive mansion intended for U.S. president George Washington , though never actually used for that purpose. In 1808–1811, just prior to

7854-437: The Battery, where it still stands. It was renovated and rededicated in 2000. A World War II war memorial , the East Coast Memorial is one of three war memorials in the United States administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission ; the others are the West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II in San Francisco and the Honolulu Memorial . The memorial commemorates U.S. servicemen who died in coastal waters of

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8008-434: The British, who had invaded the largely-defenseless New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam and the colony of New Netherland were renamed New York, after the Duke of York . Under British colonial rule, the Hudson Valley became an agricultural hub. Manors were developed on the east side of the river, and the west side contained many smaller and independent farms. In 1754, the Albany Plan of Union was created at Albany City Hall on

8162-412: The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Moses wanted to create a Fort Clinton memorial on the site, but would only keep Castle Clinton if the federal government agreed to pay for its restoration. Ultimately, Castle Clinton was preserved as part of a National Monument in 1946. The structure was restored in 1975. Today, Castle Clinton retains its original name and is managed by the National Park Service . It contains

8316-431: The Dutch was Rio de Montaigne . Later, they generally termed it the Noortrivier , or " North River ", the Delaware River being known as the Zuidrivier , or "South River". Other occasional names for the Hudson included Manhattes rieviere "Manhattan River", Groote Rivier "Great River", and de grootte Mouritse reviere , or "the Great Maurits River" (after Maurice, Prince of Orange ). The translated name North River

8470-450: The Hudson River and New York City. The completion of the canal made New York City one of the most vital ports in the nation, surpassing the Port of Philadelphia and ports in Massachusetts . After the completion of the Erie Canal, smaller canals were built to connect it with the new system. The Champlain Canal was built to connect the Hudson River near Troy to the southern end of Lake Champlain. This canal allowed boaters to travel from

8624-451: The Hudson River from terminating via the Narrows. At that time, the Hudson River emptied into the Atlantic Ocean through a more westerly course through parts of present-day northern New Jersey, along the eastern side of the Watchung Mountains to Bound Brook, New Jersey and then on into the Atlantic Ocean via Raritan Bay . A buildup of water in the Upper New York Bay eventually allowed the Hudson River to break through previous land mass that

8778-427: The Hudson River, and would later become Kingston. Fort Orange was founded on the river north of Wiltwyck, and later became known as Albany. The Dutch West India Company operated a monopoly on the region for roughly twenty years before other businessmen were allowed to set up their own ventures in the colony. In 1647, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant took over management of the colony, and surrendered it in 1664 to

8932-403: The Hudson River. However, by the 1990s, Battery Park was worn down, and many of the nearby residents and tourists shunned it altogether, except when taking boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The New York Times said of the park, "Some benches are broken, all need repainting. Where grass should be, there is dirt and litter. A sign with a map and guide is so smeared with graffiti it

9086-405: The Hudson and a metal chain between the two. In 1777, Washington expected the British would attempt to control the Hudson River, however they instead conquered Philadelphia, and left a smaller force in New York City, with permission to strike the Hudson Valley at any time. The British attacked on October 5, 1777, in the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery by sailing up the Hudson River, looting

9240-416: The Hudson. The plan allowed the colonies to treaty with the Iroquois and provided a framework for the Continental Congress . During the American Revolutionary War , the British realized that the river's proximity to Lake George and Lake Champlain would allow their navy to control the water route from Montreal to New York City. British general John Burgoyne planned the Saratoga campaign , to control

9394-399: The Italian-American organization UNICO expressed concern about the statues' condition, although experts said there should be no long-term physical harm. The monuments have since been installed in or around the perimeter of the park, although not necessarily in their previous locations. Prior to the restoration, which cost $ 875,000, some of the monuments had not been restored for 60 years. To

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9548-427: The Langerack by the Dutch. An embellished (and partly erroneous) list of "The Old Reaches" was published in a tourist guidebook for steamboat passengers in the nineteenth century. The source of the Hudson River is Henderson Lake , located in the Adirondack Mountains at an elevation of 4,322 ft (1,317 m). However, the photogenic Lake Tear of the Clouds is more conventionally cited in popular culture as

9702-454: The Mohawk River, drain an area of 13,000 square miles (34,000 km ), the Hudson River Watershed. It covers much of New York, as well as parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont. Parts of the Hudson River form coves , such as Weehawken Cove in the towns of Hoboken and Weehawken in New Jersey. The City of Poughkeepsie and several adjacent communities in the mid-Hudson valley, totalling about 100,000 people, rely on

9856-415: The Playscape was proposed in 2016. Work began in March 2020, and the Playscape was completed in December 2021. In addition, as part of the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency program, consulting firm Stantec published designs in 2021 for the Battery Coastal Resilience Project, which would build a seawall around Battery Park. The project. which was expected to cost $ 169 million by the end of 2023, would raise

10010-411: The SS Muskogee , all of whom died at sea. The memorial was commissioned by the American Merchant Mariners' Memorial, Inc., chaired by AFL–CIO president Lane Kirkland . The park also contains several other memorials, including: Temporary monuments have also been installed in the Battery, such as the Staten Island Ferry Disaster Memorial Museum , a 2016 piece memorializing a fake octopus attack on

10164-429: The Staten Island Ferry, as well as a " UFO Tugboat Abduction Memorial" from the same sculptor as the ferry "memorial". At least ten monuments, including the Verrazzano, Coast Guard and Wireless memorials, were stored in the park behind a temporary fence from the mid-2000s until 2016. Controversy over the statues' integrity arose in 2015 after renovations took longer than expected. Representatives of NYC Park Advocates and

10318-530: The UK, with around 2.6 billion visits to parks each year. Many parks are of cultural and historical interest, with 300 registered by Historic England as of national importance. Most public parks have been provided and run by local authorities over the past hundred and seventy years, but these authorities have no statutory duty to fund or maintain these public parks. In 2016 the Heritage Lottery Fund 's State of UK Public Parks reported that "92 per cent of park managers report their maintenance budgets have reduced in

10472-459: The United States and the world, though cow grazing did not end until the 1830s. Around the country, the predecessors to urban parks in the United States were generally rural cemeteries . The cemeteries were intended as civic institutions designed for public use. Before the widespread development of public parks, the rural cemetery provided a place for the general public to enjoy outdoor recreation amidst art and sculpture previously available only for

10626-674: The United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Mission Bay Park in San Diego. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U.S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings, with the intention of Americanizing the immigrant residents. In the 1950s, when money became available after World War II , new parks continued to focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation with services, such as sports leagues using their ball fields and gymnasia. These smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space

10780-400: The United States that year. The SeaGlass Carousel was proposed in 2007 and opened in 2015; plans for the ride had been devised by Warrie Price, the founding president of the Battery Park Conservancy. The city and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation each paid half of the $ 16 million cost. The carousel was designed by architectural firm WXY and artist George Tsypin . Music for the ride

10934-417: The West Side Highway to the FDR Drive . Several New York City Subway tunnels also run under the Battery. The old South Ferry station , opened 1905 as part of the city's first subway line , the former Interborough Rapid Transit Company 's Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Lexington Avenue Lines have a balloon loop to enable trains to turn around and switch between the two lines. It closed in 2009 following

11088-738: The boundary between Orange and Dutchess Counties. It flows between Newburgh and Beacon and under the Newburgh Beacon Bridge , taking in the Fishkill Creek . In this area, between Gee's Point at the US Military Academy and Constitution Island , an area known as "World's End" marks the deepest part of the Hudson, at 202 feet (62 m). Shortly thereafter, the river enters the Hudson Highlands between Putnam and Orange Counties, flowing between mountains such as Storm King Mountain , Breakneck Ridge , and Bear Mountain . The river narrows considerably here before flowing under

11242-670: The boundary between Ulster and Columbia Counties and Ulster and Dutchess Counties, passing Germantown and Kingston . The Delaware and Hudson Canal meets the river at this point. The river then flows by Hyde Park , former residence of Franklin D. Roosevelt , and alongside the city of Poughkeepsie , flowing under the Walkway over the Hudson and the Mid-Hudson Bridge . Afterwards, the Hudson passes Wappingers Falls and takes in Wappinger Creek . The river then forms

11396-564: The carousel's waterfront site, but also to Castle Clinton's former status as an aquarium. The southeastern corner contains Peter Minuit Plaza , an intermodal passenger transport hub. The plaza hosts a bus terminal for the M5 , M15 SBS and M20 buses, an entrance to the Staten Island Ferry 's Whitehall Terminal , entrances to the New York City Subway 's South Ferry/Whitehall Street station, and taxi stands. The plaza also includes

11550-696: The city of Troy , the flow of the river changes direction with the tides. The Hudson River runs through the Munsee , Lenape , Mohican , Mohawk , and Haudenosaunee homelands. Prior to European exploration, the river was known as the Mahicannittuk by the Mohicans, Ka'nón:no by the Mohawks, and Muhheakantuck by the Lenape. The river was subsequently named after Henry Hudson , an Englishman sailing for

11704-702: The closely related Mohicans to be a part of the Lenape people, and so the Lenape also claim the Hudson as part of their ancestral territory, also calling it Muhheakantuck . The first known European name for the river was the Rio San Antonio as named by the Portuguese explorer in Spain's employ, Estêvão Gomes , who explored the Mid-Atlantic coast in 1525. Another early name for the Hudson used by

11858-496: The confines of a serpentine carriageway, put in place the essential elements of his much-imitated design for Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead . The latter commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance and deployed the ideas which Paxton had pioneered at Princes Park on a more expansive scale. Frederick Law Olmsted visited Birkenhead Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is widely credited as having been one of

12012-534: The construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and the Battery Park Underpass . The park reopened in 1952 after a renovation, but then subsequently went into decline. The Battery Conservancy, founded in 1994 by Warrie Price, underwrote and funded the restoration and improvement of the once-dilapidated park. In 2015, the Conservancy restored the park's historical name, "the Battery". The area

12166-453: The designed landscape as a setting for the suburban domicile (an idea pioneered by John Nash at Regent's Park in London) and re-fashioned it for the provincial town in a most original way. Nash's remodelling of St James's Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regent's Park completely transformed the appearance of London's West End . With

12320-507: The development of New York City as the theater capital of the nation. In the early 1850s alone, the venue hosted such acts as Swedish soprano Jenny Lind , European dancing star Lola Montez , French conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien , and the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company . The migration of the city's elite uptown increased during the mid-19th century, and in 1855, Castle Garden was closed and made into

12474-408: The district U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Peter Minuit Plaza abuts the southeast end of the park, directly in front of the Staten Island Ferry 's Whitehall Terminal at South Ferry . Two road tunnels and several rail tunnels run under Battery Park. The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel , opened 1950, carries vehicular traffic to Brooklyn . The Battery Park Underpass , opened 1951, carries vehicular traffic from

12628-522: The eagle statue was created by Albino Manca , an Italian-born sculptor. The granite slabs were set up in October 1959; the sculpture was installed in February 1963, and the memorial was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy that May. The American Merchant Mariners' Memorial sculpture, located in the Hudson River west of the park, is sited on a stone breakwater just south of Pier A and connected to

12782-428: The early 19th century United States. Pollution in the Hudson River increased in the 20th century, more acutely by mid-century, particularly with industrial contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls , also known by their acronym PCBs. Pollution control regulations, enforcement actions and restoration projects initiated in the latter 20th century have begun to improve water quality, and restoration work has continued in

12936-546: The elevated tracks removed. A larger four-track station was built nearby in 1879, serving the Second , Third , Sixth , and Ninth Avenue Lines. In 1883, the state legislature established a committee to examine the process through which permission had been granted to construct the elevated station. The following year, New York Elevated proposed to extend the platforms of the Battery Place station over Battery Park because

13090-499: The establishment of Princes Park in 1842, Joseph Paxton did something similar for the benefit of a provincial town, albeit one of international stature by virtue of its flourishing mercantile sector. Liverpool had a burgeoning presence in global maritime trade before 1800, and during the Victorian era its wealth rivalled that of London itself. The form and layout of Paxton's ornamental grounds, structured about an informal lake within

13244-779: The form of walking, running, horse riding, mountain biking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing; or sedentary activity such as observing nature, bird watching, painting, photography, or picnicking. Limiting park or open space use to passive recreation over all or a portion of the park's area eliminates or reduces the burden of managing active recreation facilities and developed infrastructure. Many ski resorts combine active recreation facilities (ski lifts, gondolas, terrain parks, downhill runs, and lodges) with passive recreation facilities (cross-country ski trails). Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving increased attention and valuation as significant community assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas. Neighborhood groups around

13398-598: The former harbor front and the northern boundary of the park, a single Federal mansion, the James Watson House , survives as part of the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton . By 1870, there were plans to improve Battery Park and Bowling Green, which were seen as having degraded substantially due to overuse. Paths were to be laid through both parks, intersecting with a plaza to be built outside Castle Clinton. City Pier A , located immediately north of Castle Clinton,

13552-685: The hamlet of North River , and takes in the Schroon River at Warrensburg . Further south, the river forms the boundary between Warren and Saratoga Counties. The river then takes in the Sacandaga River from the Great Sacandaga Lake . Shortly thereafter, the river leaves the Adirondack Park, flows under Interstate 87 , and through Glens Falls , just south of Lake George although receiving no streamflow from

13706-444: The history of New York City". Public park Depending on size, budget, and land features, which varies considerably among individual parks, common features include playgrounds , gardens , hiking, running, fitness trails or paths, bridle paths , sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, performance venues, or BBQ and picnic facilities. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within

13860-488: The immigration center was relocated to Ellis Island in the middle of the harbor. Castle Clinton (sometimes called, Castle Garden) then hosted the New York Aquarium from 1896 to 1941. By the 20th century, the quality of Battery Park had started to decline, and several new structures were proposed within the park, many of which were not built. In 1940, the entirety of Battery Park was closed for twelve years due to

14014-596: The interior of the Northeast to the coast. Hundreds of factories were built around the Hudson, in towns including Poughkeepise, Newburgh, Kingston, and Hudson. The North Tarrytown Assembly (later owned by General Motors ), on the river in Sleepy Hollow, was a large and notable example. The River links to the Erie Canal and Great Lakes, allowing manufacturing in the Midwest, including automobiles in Detroit, to use

14168-552: The lake. It next goes through Hudson Falls . At this point the river forms the boundary between Washington and Saratoga Counties. Here the river has an elevation of 200 feet (61 m). Just south in Fort Edward , the river reaches its confluence with the Champlain Canal , which historically provided boat traffic between New York City and Montreal and the rest of Eastern Canada via the Hudson, Lake Champlain and

14322-525: The large amount of open space and natural habitat in the former pleasure grounds, they now serve as important wildlife refuges, and often provide the only opportunity for urban residents to hike or picnic in a semi-wild area. However, city managers or politicians can target these parks as sources of free land for other uses. Partly for this reason, some of these large parks have "friends of X park" advisory boards that help protect and maintain their semi-wild nature. There are around estimated 27,000 public parks in

14476-456: The late 17th century to protect the fort and settlement behind them. By the 1820s, the Battery had become an entertainment destination and promenade , with the conversion of Castle Clinton into a theater venue. During the mid-19th century, the modern-day Battery Park was laid out and Castle Clinton was converted into an immigration and customs center. The Battery was commonly known as the landing point for immigrants to New York City until 1892, when

14630-562: The mid-20th century. Peter Minuit Plaza and a Coast Guard memorial were both dedicated in 1955, and the East Coast Memorial was dedicated in 1963. Additionally, a 2,500-foot-tall (760 m) "space needle" with office and commercial space, twice the height of the Empire State Building , was proposed for the Battery in the 1960s, while discussions were ongoing on where to put the additional earth created from

14784-466: The most successful painters of the school. At the beginning of the 19th century, transportation from the US east coast into the mainland was difficult. Ships were the fastest vehicles at the time, as trains were still being developed and automobiles were roughly a century away. In order to facilitate shipping throughout the country's interior, numerous canals were constructed between internal bodies of water in

14938-539: The mouth of the river. The deeply eroded old riverbed beyond the current shoreline, Hudson Canyon , is a rich fishing area. The former riverbed is clearly delineated beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, extending to the edge of the continental shelf . As a result of the glaciation and the rising sea levels , the lower half of the river is now a tidal estuary that occupies the Hudson Fjord. The fjord

15092-490: The narrow, meandering stretches as racks , or reaches. These names included the four "lower reaches" through the Hudson Highlands (Seylmakers rack, Cocks rack, Hoogh rack, and Vosserack) plus the four "upper reaches" from Inbocht Bay to Kinderhook (Backers rack, Jan Pleysiers rack, Klevers rack, and Harts rack). A ninth reach was described as "the long reach" by the Englishman Robert Juet and designated as

15246-567: The need to provide substantial space to congregate, typically involves intensive management, maintenance, and high costs. Passive recreation, also called "low-intensity recreation" is that which emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and allows for the preservation of natural habitat. It usually involves a low level of development, such as rustic picnic areas, benches, and trails. Passive recreation typically requires little management and can be provided at very low costs. Some open space managers provide nothing other than trails for physical activity in

15400-674: The northwest of the park lies Battery Park City , a planned community built on landfill in the 1970s and 1980s, which includes Robert F. Wagner Park and the Battery Park City Promenade. Battery Park City, proposed in 1966, was named after the park. Battery Park contains the Battery Bikeway, a component piece of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway , a system of parks, bikeways , and promenades around Manhattan Island. The bicycle path

15554-707: The old South Ferry station and to the Joralemon Street Tunnel , which skirts the park before traveling under the East River . In late 2005, New York City authorities announced that builders working on the new station had found the remains of a stone wall from the British colonial era, during the late 17th or 18th century. After archeological analysis, the wall was widely reported to be the oldest man-made structure still in place in Manhattan. Four walls and over 250,000 individual artifacts were found, and

15708-421: The old loop station was temporarily reactivated between April 2013 and June 2017, when the new station reopened. The Bowling Green station , which opened in 1905 as part of the original subway, serves the 4 and ​ 5 trains at the northeast corner of the park. Its original entrance, or " Control House ", is a New York City designated landmark . Tracks leading south of the station go to both

15862-674: The opening of a replacement subway station. The replacement station, South Ferry on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line ( 1 train), opened in 2009, created a new free connection with the BMT Broadway Line 's Whitehall Street station ( N , ​ R , and ​ W trains), comprising the South Ferry/Whitehall Street station complex. The new station sustained severe damage following Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and

16016-404: The park area in 1824. Meanwhile, Castle Clinton was turned over to the city government, which turned the structure into an entertainment venue. It subsequently served various purposes, including as an immigration and customs center as well as an aquarium . By the 1840s, members of the city's elite were publicly calling for the construction of a new large park in Manhattan. Proponents said that

16170-404: The park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, an iron merchant and philanthropist, in 1841 for £50,000. The creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provision of open space for the benefit of townspeople and local residents within an area that was being rapidly built up. Secondly it took the concept of

16324-453: The park would serve three purposes: abetting good health, improving the behavior of the "disorderly classes", and showcasing the refinement of the city's elite. At the time, Manhattan's seventeen squares comprised a combined 165 acres (67 ha) of land, the largest of which was the 10-acre (4.0 ha) park at the Battery. Two sites were considered for a large park: Jones's Wood , and the present site of Central Park . An alternate suggestion

16478-445: The park's original, historical title of "The Battery" in 2015. By the following year, the Battery Conservancy had raised $ 46 million in private funding over its 22-year existence, as well as $ 92 million in city funding. The conservancy planned to use these funds to make additional improvements to the park. For instance, the Battery Oval was opened in 2016. A 1.4-acre (0.57 ha) environmentally-friendly, flood-resistant playground called

16632-612: The park, though this did not come to pass for another fifty years. In 1903, a state assemblyman proposed a bill that would give the elevated railroad companies the exclusive rights to build a rail terminal at Battery Park, precluding the construction of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s underground subway. The bill was not passed. By that time, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line , the Joralemon Street Tunnel to Brooklyn , and

16786-682: The park. Castle Clinton was restored several years later, and reopened in 1975. In 1982, Battery Park and multiple other "historic waterfront sites" were designated by the government of New York State as part of a zone called "Harbor Park". The other sites included South Street Seaport in Manhattan, Liberty and Ellis Islands in New York Harbor, Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, and Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island , which were to be linked by new ferry routes. The Harbor Park legislation

16940-420: The past three years and 95 per cent expect their funding will continue to reduce". Parks can be divided into active and passive recreation areas. Active recreation is that which has an urban character and requires intensive development. It often involves cooperative or team activity, including playgrounds , ball fields, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and skateparks . Active recreation such as team sports, due to

17094-480: The pier by a dock. It was designed by the sculptor Marisol Escobar and dedicated in 1991. The bronze sculpture depicts four merchant seamen with their sinking vessel after it had been attacked by German submarine U-123 during World War II . One of the seamen is in the water, and is covered by the sea with each high tide. The sculpture is loosely based on a real photograph by the U-boat's commander, of crewmen of

17248-510: The plans for the large park would result in the construction of Central Park. The relatively modern Battery Park was mostly created by landfill as part of Lower Manhattan expansion starting from 1855, using earth from street-widening projects in Lower Manhattan which united Castle Garden's island with the "mainland" of Manhattan. The original shoreline is roughly the modern-day park's eastern boundary at State Street. On State Street,

17402-413: The platforms were too short to accommodate four-car trains. Another plan, which would have created elevated track loops over Battery Park, was rejected in 1887 as being unlawful. Other unsuccessful plans to build elevated tracks over Battery Park were proposed in 1889 and 1891. By 1900, the els were considered a nuisance, and there were calls to destroy the segments of elevated tracks that ran directly over

17556-578: The present-day Delaware River the South River , which formed the spine of the Dutch colony of New Netherland . Settlements of the colony clustered around the Hudson, and its strategic importance as the gateway to the American interior led to years of competition between the English and the Dutch over control of the river and colony. During the 18th century, the river valley and its inhabitants were

17710-457: The principal influences on Olmsted and Calvert's design for New York's Central Park of 1857. Another early public park, the Peel Park, Salford , England, opened on 22 August 1846. Boston Common was purchased for public use grazing cows and as a military parade ground and dump in 1634. It first started to get recreational elements in 1728, arguably making it the first municipal park in

17864-419: The public.) and some EU states that have mostly recreation grounds for kids to play within a park, but may also have a duck pond, large grassy zones not meant exclusively for sports, many trees, and several bushy places. When it occurs as a separate facility on its own, without any parkland, at a street corner or by a shop, the play facility is called a playground . Hudson River The Hudson River

18018-401: The relocation of the Battery's 23 statues, as well as an expansion of Castle Clinton. Much of the funding was to be raised privately, and at the time, this was thought to be a minor obstacle since Battery Park was neither as high-profile as Central Park, nor as worn-down as Bryant Park. One of the first renovation projects to commence was the reconstruction of the park's seawall and promenade at

18172-469: The remaining wilderness, which was fast disappearing from the Hudson Valley just as it was coming to be appreciated for its qualities of ruggedness and sublimity . The school characterizes the artistic body, its New York location, its landscape subject matter, and often its subject, the Hudson River. In general, Hudson River School artists believed that nature in the form of the American landscape

18326-507: The river and therefore cut off the patriot hub of New England (to the river's east) from the South and Mid-Atlantic regions to the river's west. The action would allow the British to focus on rallying the support of loyalists in the southerly states. As a result, numerous battles were fought along the river and in nearby waterways. These include the Battle of Long Island , in August 1776 and

18480-634: The river floor, which provided an extra source of nutrition. Land hunting consisted of turkey, deer, bear, and other animals. The lower Hudson River was inhabited by the Lenape, while further north, the Wappingers lived from Manhattan Island up to Poughkeepsie . They traded with both the Lenape to the south and the Mahicans to the north. The Mahicans lived in the northern part of the valley from present-day Kingston to Lake Champlain , with their capital located near present-day Albany . John Cabot

18634-556: The river for their drinking water. New York Harbor, between the Narrows and the George Washington Bridge, has a mix of fresh and ocean water, mixed by wind and tides to create an increasing gradient of salinity from the river's top to its bottom. This varies with season, weather, variation of water circulation, and other factors; snowmelt at winter's end increases the freshwater flow downstream. The salt line of

18788-591: The river varies from the north in Poughkeepsie to the south at Battery Park in New York City, though it usually lies near Newburgh. The Hudson is sometimes called, in geological terms, a drowned river . The rising sea levels after the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation , the most recent ice age , have resulted in a marine incursion that drowned the coastal plain and brought salt water well above

18942-480: The shoreline by up to 5 feet (1.5 m) to protect the park from sea level rise . Work on the seawall began in early 2024. The Battery contains multiple attractions and points of interest. Castle Clinton , a former fort, lies near the northwestern corner of the Battery and serves as the park's main attraction. To its north is the former fireboat station, Pier A , which was converted into a restaurant called Harbor House in 2014 and operated until 2020. Another eatery,

19096-474: The source of the Hudson. The river is named Feldspar Brook from where it emerges from Lake Tear of the Clouds until its confluence with the Opalescent River , after which it becomes the Opalescent until it reaches Calamity Brook flowing southward into the eastern outlet of Henderson Lake. After this point, the stream is known as the Hudson River according to the cartographical definition used by

19250-676: The southwest flowing Calamity Brook. The confluence of the two rivers however is where most maps begin to use the Hudson River name on a cartographical basis. South of the outlet of Sanford Lake, the Opalescent River flows into the Hudson. The Hudson then flows south, taking in Beaver Brook and the outlet of Lake Harris. After its confluence with the Indian River, the Hudson forms the boundary between Essex and Hamilton counties. The Hudson flows entirely into Warren County in

19404-605: The state line with New Jersey the west bank of the Hudson enters Bergen County . The Palisades are large, rocky cliffs along the west bank of the river; also known as Bergen Hill at their lower end in Hudson County . Further south the east bank of the river becomes Yonkers and then the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. South of the confluence of the Hudson and Spuyten Duyvil Creek (subsumed by

19558-474: The station. After the underpass was completed in 1951, the park was re-landscaped and expanded by 2 acres (0.81 ha), and it reopened on July 15, 1952. In Battery Park's new layout, it contained a landscaped esplanade , a raised waterfront terrace, and an oval lawn with a playground. Various statues, formerly scattered across the park, were rearranged in patterns. The reconstruction of Battery Park had cost roughly $ 2.38 million. Several memorials opened through

19712-506: The subject and inspiration of Washington Irving , the first internationally acclaimed American author. In the nineteenth century, the area inspired the Hudson River School of landscape painting , an American pastoral style, as well as the concepts of environmentalism and wilderness . The Hudson River was also the eastern outlet for the Erie Canal , which, when completed in 1825, became an important transportation artery for

19866-500: The tides. The Mahican name of the river represents its partially estuarine nature: muh-he-kun-ne-tuk means "the river that flows both ways." Due to tidal influence from the ocean extending to Troy, NY, freshwater discharge is only about 17,400 cubic feet (490 m ) per second on average. The mean fresh water discharge at the river's mouth in New York is approximately 21,900 cubic feet (620 m ) per second. The Hudson River

20020-417: The time was a Lenape trail. Schreyers Hook (cf. Amsterdam's Schreierstoren ) was just adjacent. In 1625–1626, the Dutch built Fort Amsterdam atop of a hill at the site of the present Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House . However, the fort was largely ineffective, despite several attempts at reconstruction. The British took over the settlement in 1664 and renamed the defenses Fort James. An artillery battery

20174-413: The vicinity of present-day Albany, reaching an end to navigation. The Dutch subsequently began to colonize the region, establishing the colony of New Netherland , including three major fur-trading outposts: New Amsterdam , Wiltwyck , and Fort Orange . New Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Hudson River, and would later become known as New York City . Wiltwyck was founded roughly halfway up

20328-646: The village of Peekskill and capturing the two forts. In 1778, the Continentals constructed the Great West Point Chain in order to prevent another British fleet from sailing up the Hudson. Hudson River School paintings reflect the themes of discovery, exploration, and settlement in America in the mid-19th century. The detailed and idealized paintings also typically depict a pastoral setting. The works often juxtapose peaceful agriculture and

20482-435: The wealthy. In The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1982), Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U.S. In the late 19th century, city governments purchased large tracts of land on the outskirts of cities to form "pleasure grounds": semi-open, charmingly landscaped areas whose primary purpose was to allow city residents, especially

20636-445: The western Atlantic Ocean during the Battle of the Atlantic . A total of 4,609 names are inscribed on both sides of eight 19-foot-tall granite pylons. The pylons are arranged in two rows of four each. Between the two rows stands a bronze statue of an eagle, erected on a black granite pedestal. The eagle faces the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor . The memorial was designed by the architectural firm of Gehron & Seltzer, while

20790-488: The workers, to relax in nature. As time passed and the urban area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses and museums. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks , because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land , the three most visited municipal parks in

20944-531: The world are joining together to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay and government neglect. A linear park is a park that has a much greater length than width. A typical example of a linear park is a section of a former railway that has been converted into a park called a rail trail or greenway (i.e. the tracks removed, vegetation allowed to grow back). Some examples of linear parks in North America include New York's High Line and

21098-408: The world's first immigration depot. The immigration center operated until 1890, just before the offshore immigration facility at Ellis Island opened. An estimated 7.7 million immigrants passed through the center during its operation. The structure then housed the New York Aquarium from 1896 to 1941, when it was closed as part of Triborough Bridge Authority commissioner Robert Moses 's plans to build

21252-583: Was a plan to construct a federal government building on the site, but this was withdrawn after the U.S. government found new premises following opposition to the project. Proposals to redesign Battery Park continued through the next decade. An expansion of the New York Aquarium within the park was announced in 1921, and a new memorial plaque was unveiled the same year. By 1926, a group called the Battery Park Association had formed

21406-532: Was also a bill to construct a playground in the park, which was vetoed in 1903. Opposition to structures in Battery Park was such that even the construction of the IRT subway under Battery Park was opposed by the Manhattan parks commissioner. Other proposals included a 1910 plan to expand the Aquarium within Battery Park and a proposal for an athletic jogging field the following year. Furthermore, during World War I, there

21560-516: Was an ineffable manifestation of God, though the artists varied in the depth of their religious conviction. Their reverence for America's natural beauty was shared with contemporary American writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson . The artist Thomas Cole is generally acknowledged as the founder of the Hudson River School , his work first being reviewed in 1825, while painters Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt were

21714-580: Was commissioned in 1886 and completed two years after. The building originally housed the New York City Board of Dock Commissioners and subsequently was used as a fireboat station until 1992. Several elevated railroad lines or "els" were being built to Battery Park by the late 19th century, but they were controversial for several reasons. Because the els were originally pulled by steam trains until 1902, this caused substantial pollution at Battery Park. The New York Elevated Railroad Company opened

21868-643: Was completed in late 2015 and consists of terracotta pavings near the waterfront, adjacent to a 20-foot (6.1 m) pedestrian walkway. The bikeway contains three connections to other parts of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway: Across State Street to the northeast is Bowling Green , as well as the old U.S. Customs House , now used as a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian and

22022-435: Was connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn to form the Narrows as it exists today. This allowed the Hudson River to find a shorter route to the Atlantic Ocean via its present course between New Jersey and New York City. Suspended sediments, mainly consisting of clays eroded from glacial deposits and organic particles, can be found in abundance in the river. The Hudson has a relatively short history of erosion, so it does not have

22176-406: Was created by Teddy Zambetti, a composer and music executive for SiriusXM . A ride lasts for three-and-a-half minutes. The carousel is designed to resemble an under-the-sea garden through which visitors ride on fish that appear to be made of sea glass and shimmer as though they were bioluminescent . The carousel features seating on species such as a Siamese fighting fish . The operating machinery

22330-548: Was hosted in 1941, and a plan to replace Castle Clinton with a Fort Clinton memorial was also discussed. During the park's closure, its northern end was used to store debris. A second tunnel, the Battery Park Underpass , started construction in 1949. The following year, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel opened, and the South Ferry elevated station was removed after the closure of the last elevated line leading to

22484-487: Was installed at the fort in 1683 by Governor Thomas Dongan , the first of a series of batteries put in around King William's War , which gave the area its name. Other batteries were installed at Whitehall and at Oyster Pasty; the British sometimes used the same name to refer to all of these batteries. Fort Amsterdam would be renamed several times before the British settled on the name of " Fort George " by 1714. The Battery did not fire any additional shots until 1776, during

22638-474: Was of secondary importance. As urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks . One example of a pocket park is Chess Park in Glendale, California. The American Society of Landscape Architects gave this park a General Design Award of Honor in 2006. These small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a playground for children. All four types of park continue to exist in urban areas. Because of

22792-437: Was originally called the West Battery, it was built as a fort just prior to the War of 1812. It was renamed Castle Clinton in 1815 after the war, in honor of mayor DeWitt Clinton , and became property of the city in 1823. When leased by the city, it became a popular promenade and beer garden called Castle Garden. Later roofed over, it became one of the premier theatrical venues in the United States and contributed greatly to

22946-417: Was originally occupied by the Lenape Native Americans. Dutch settlers populated the area as part of the settlement of New Amsterdam in the early 17th century. The Dutch referred to the southern tip of Manhattan as "Capske Hook" or "Capsie Hoek", the term coming from the Lenape word "Kapsee", meaning "rocky ledge". Capske Hook was originally a narrow, hilly ledge that extended northward to Broadway , which at

23100-484: Was part of a city proposal to create a larger tourist destination out of these sites, focused chiefly around New York Harbor's history. The "park" was opened in July 1984. Battery Park City was constructed as a luxury waterfront neighborhood through the 1970s and 1980s. The success of the development resulted in attention and new funding for Battery Park projects, such as $ 5 million for a garden near Castle Clinton. In 1988, governor Mario Cuomo and mayor Ed Koch announced

23254-400: Was reinstalled in a temporary location in the northern section of the park. It was located near the Netherland Monument in the northeast corner of the park before being moved to Liberty Park in the new World Trade Center in late 2017. The Battery Bosque, a new landscaped garden, opened in 2005. Some restoration projects were undertaken in Battery Park in the 2010s, including the addition of

23408-435: Was rented out to the Batthyány family to carry out such a project but the city had eventually taken back control and in 1813 announced a design competition to finally finish the park; works started in 1816. An early purpose-built public park, although financed privately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth . This was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which

23562-429: Was to enlarge the existing Battery Park, a move endorsed by most of the public. However, the expansion of Battery Park was opposed by wealthy merchants who deemed the proposed enlargement to be dangerous to maritime traffic, and they obtained the opinion of a United States Navy lieutenant who agreed with them. As a compromise, New York City's aldermen also voted to expand Battery Park to 24 acres (9.7 ha). Ultimately,

23716-433: Was used in the New York metropolitan area up until the early 1900s, with limited use continuing into the present day. The term persists in radio communication among commercial shipping traffic, especially below the Tappan Zee . The term also continues to be used in names of facilities in the river's southern portion, such as the North River piers , North River Tunnels , and the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant . It

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