WHERE: A portion of Bronx Park
START: Botanical Garden station (Metro North Railroad, Harlem Line), fully accessible, also Bx26 bus
FINISH: Gun Hill Road subway station (2 train), fully accessible; also Bx39, Bx41 buses
DISTANCE: 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl except as noted. Map courtesy footpathmap.com.
Route of this walk, reading from left to right.
On a map Bronx Park appears roughly as a triangle, much of the lower part taken up by the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden, adjoining the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University. There is still much of it that is just a public park. On this walk we will traverse the northern part of Bronx Park.
The Bronx River runs north to south through the park. Through the efforts of the Bronx River Alliance the Bronx River Greenway is being created and the Bronx River is being cleaned up and made open to the public. This walk takes us along a portion of the Bronx River Greenway, including a crossing of the Bronx River. Other walks on this site cover other portions of the Greenway.
Part of this walk also takes us through the Bronx River Parkway Reservation. The Bronx River Parkway Reservation is a linear park that includes recreational facilities, preserved and restored natural areas, and a road that is restricted to private passenger vehicles. The Reservation parallels the Bronx River for 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) from the New York Botanical Garden north to Kensico Dam at Valhalla in Westchester County. The parkway extends 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) in Westchester County and its original section, from the New York City limits south to Burke Avenue, another 3 miles (5 kilometers). According to the Historic American Enginering Record:
The Bronx River Parkway Reservation was the first public parkway designed explicitly for automobile use. The project began as an environmental restoration and park development initiative that aimed to transform the heavily polluted Bronx River into an attractive linear park connecting New York City’s Bronx Park with New York City’s Kensico Dam and reservoir. With the addition of a parkway drive the project became a pioneering example of modern motorway development. It combined beauty, safety, and efficiency by reducing the number of dangerous intersections, limiting access from surrounding streets and businesses, and surrounding motorists in a broad swath of landscaped greenery.
In addition to reclaiming the Bronx River, the Bronx Parkway Commission (BPC), as it was called, cleaned each parcel of land as soon as it acquired title. The BPC immediately instituted a forestry program. “The condition of the trees in this section of the country,” the BPC noted, was “cause for grave concern.” Prompt measures were necessary.
The BPC hired a forester, Albert N. Robson, who was noted for his experience in tree care. In addition, the commission engaged Hermann Merkel, a landscape architect and forester at the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens, who was considered to be a recognized authority on various tree pests. Robson’s and Merkel’s first year with the commission resulted in 13,018 dead trees being removed, 5,037 trees trimmed, and 16,039 trees improved and reclaimed by surgery.
Construction of the Bronx River Parkway began in 1908. It was completed as far south as Burke Avenue in 1925 and the extension to Story Avenue in the south central Bronx opened in 1951.
I started the walk on this picture-perfect Memorial Day at the Botanical Garden railroad station, across the street from the New York Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is worth its own blog post at the very least. From there I walked north on the footpath that parallels Southern Boulevard, crossed Mosholu Parkway, and continued north on the path, following the Bronx River Greenway/East Coast Greenway arrow.
Going left at the arrow and continuing past baseball fields on the right, I passed French Charley’s Playground. Who exactly was French Charley? The NYC Parks website has the answer: “This playground honors the memory of Charley Mangin who owned a nearby French restaurant in the 1890s. His establishment, in the heart of a small French enclave of the Bronx, was popularly referred to as French Charley’s. After the restaurant closed down, a ball field and picnic area were built near the site and people began to refer to the site as French Charley’s Field.” This has become a playground and picnicking area.
From there I continued on the path, following the arrows, through the Bronx River Forest, a remnant of the original forests and floodplains that once blanketed the Bronx River corridor. The path crosses the Bronx River on the Burke Avenue Bridge, then ducks underneath the Bronx River Parkway.
Path through the Bronx River Forest.
Bronx River Parkway underpass.
Past the Parkway I turned left, and across from the Rosewood Playground was a stone monument. The near (south) side is missing a plaque that was engraved thus and memorializes the huge undertaking that was the construction of the Bronx River Parkway, not just the road of that name.
BRONX RIVER PARKWAY/PLANNED AND BUILT BY THE/BRONX PARKWAY COMMISSION/ESTABLISHED 1907 AND APPROVED 1913/WITH FIRST APPROPRIATION BY THE/CITY OF NEW YORK/AND THE/COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER/COMPLETED 1925/MADISON GRANT PRESIDENT 1907-1925/WILLIAM NILES VICE PRESIDENT 1907-1925/JAMES G. CANNON TREASURER 1907-1916/FRANK H. BETHELL TREASURER 1916-1925/JAY DOWNER CHIEF ENGINEER/L.G.HOLLERAN DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER/H.W. MERKEL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT/THEODOSIUS STEVENS COUNSEL/LENGTH OF PARKWAY SIXTEEN MILES/AREA TWELVE HUNDRED ACRES/370 OLD BUILDINGS AND FIVE MILES/OF BILLBOARDS REMOVED TWO MILLION/CUBIC YARDS EXCAVATED AND THE SURFACE/RECOVERED WITH TOPSOIL 30,000/TREES AND 140,000 SHRUBS PLANTED/THIRTY SEVEN BRIDGES AND VIADUCTS BUILT/THE RIVER CLEARED OF POLLUTION/AND THE NATURAL BEAUTIES/OF THE VALLEY RESTORED.
The north side of the monument has a plaque noting that the location was the southern terminus of the original Bronx River Parkway.
The footpath parallels Bronx Boulevard, this portion of which was the original Parkway. Ahead lay the ornate Gun Hill Road overpass and, on either side of it, a two-span arch bridge over the Bronx River, whose course at this point is a U shape.
The inscription reads Gun Hill Road 1921.
The Bronx River from just north of Gun Hill Road.
This was not a long or physically taxing walk. It was level except for a few gentle slopes. This walk was an easily accessible respite from the hustle and bustle of the city, along with a lesson in how a park was created. This was a short, interesting, refreshing walk.