WHERE: Battery Park, Battery Park City, World Trade Center
START: Bowling Green subway station (4, 5 trains), fully accessible
FINISH: Fulton Transit Center (2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J trains), fully accessible
DISTANCE: 1.9 miles (3 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl except as noted. Map courtesy gmap-pedometer.com.
Map of this route.
Much of Lower Manhattan is built on landfill, the shoreline having been extended over the centuries. Water Street was once at the East River shoreline. This walk took in Battery Park, some of which is on fill, and Battery Park City, all of which is, before going past the World Trade Center.
This walk began at the Bowling Green subway station, in front of the old U.S. Customs House that now is home to the Heye Foundation - Museum of the American Indian (a unit of the Smithsonian Institution), and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Cross State Street and bear slightly to the left to see the Netherlands Monument, donated by the Netherlands in 1626 on the three-hundredth anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam.
From the Netherlands Monument walk back toward State Street and turn right. Directly ahead is the original (and still in use) entrance to the Bowling Green subway station, which opened in 1905. This is similar to other street-level control houses built for the first subway.
Continue walking along State Street, alongside Battery Park. At Bridge Street there is a memorial to John Ericsson (1803 - 1889), naval architect, engineer, and builder of the U.S.S. Monitor that fought in the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862.
John Ericsson holding a model of U.S.S. Monitor.
Continue walking. At Pearl Street is a memorial to John Ambrose (1838 - 1899), whose vision and persistence resulted in the deep sea channel to New York Harbor, which improved the visibility of the Port of New York, making New York City the heart of commerce in the United States. This channel is named in his honor, as was the Ambrose lightship off Sandy Hook, at the entrance to the harbor. More about Ambrose can be found at https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=145669.
Just past the Ambrose monument, turn right into the park, passing a playground on the left and a carousel on the right. Passing a restaurant on the left, turn right onto the park path. Ahead is the World War II East Coast Memorial. From the Memorial’s website:
The World War II East Coast Memorial is located in Battery Park, New York City. This memorial commemorates those soldiers, sailors, Marines, coast guardsmen, merchant mariners and airmen who met their deaths in the service of their country in the western waters of the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. Its axis is oriented on the Statue of Liberty. On each side of the axis are four gray granite pylons upon which are inscribed the name, rank, organization, and state of each of the over 4,600 missing in the waters of the Atlantic. For names where an individual’s remains have subsequently been accounted for by the U.S. Department of Defense, a rosette is placed next to the name on the memorial to indicate that the person now rests in a known gravesite.
Photograph courtesy American Battle Monuments Commission
Continuing on past the World War II East Coast Memorial, we come to a monument to Admiral George Dewey, commander of U.S. naval forces that defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898.
Next is the Castle Clinton National Monument. This was built on an artificial island in 1812 as part of a network of defenses of New York Harbor, others being Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and Fort Lafayette in Brooklyn, the latter having been demolished to make way for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Fort Clinton was was never used for warfare and its cannons never fired a shot. In 1824, the New York City government converted Fort Clinton into a 6,000-seat entertainment venue known as Castle Garden, which operated until 1855. A popular Swedish opera singer of the 1850s, Jenny Lind (“the Swedish Nightingale”), performed here. Castle Garden then served as an immigrant processing depot for 35 years. When the processing facilities were moved to Ellis Island in 1892, Castle Garden was converted into the first home of the New York Aquarium, which opened in 1896 and continued operating until 1941. The Aquarium re-opened in Coney Island, Brooklyn in 1957.
Walk around Castle Clinton on the seaward side, then turn to the left on the path going back toward the water. To the left is New York’s Korean War Memorial.
Take the ramp down toward the promenade. On the left is City Pier A. It was built from 1884 to 1886 as the headquarters of the It was built from 1884 to 1886 as the headquarters of the New York City Board of Dock Commissioners (also known as the Docks Department) and the New York City Police Department's Harbor Department. Pier A, the only remaining masonry pier in New York City, contains a two- and three-story structure with a clock tower facing the Hudson River. The pier is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Until 1992 it was a fireboat station and was later redeveloped as a restaurant and events venue.
Cross Battery Place and turn left, passing the Museum of Jewish Heritage across the street. Continue to 2 Place and turn left, walking toward the river. Walk up to a 2-piece sculpture of African musical instruments and turn right. At 3 Place, turn left onto the Battery Park Esplanade, staying on it as it turns right to parallel the river.
Battery Park City, where we are now, is built on a large landfill where there used to be piers on an active waterfront. With the rise of containerized shipping after World War II, most of the port’s cargo traffic moved to New Jersey, leaving once-busy piers and adjoining areas derelict. The start of construction of the World Trade Center in the late 1960s provided the impetus to do something with the rotting piers. They were removed and the shoreline was expanded westward. The first apartment buildings arrived in Battery Park City in the late 1970s.
Continue on the promenade to where it turns right at the marina. On your right is the New York City Police Memorial. The names of police officers who died in the line of duty are inscribed on the wall.
Make your way to and into the glass atrium called the Winter Garden. It opened in 1988 as a public space that also hosts concerts and art exhibits. It was heavily damaged in the attack on September 11, 2001 and was rebuilt. The twelve live palm trees are a notable feature of the Winter Garden.
Walk past the grand staircase and exit the building, then proceed to the crossing of West Street to the left and cross here. Once across West Street, cross Fulton Street and turn left. One World Trade Center is on the left. On the right is the North Tower Pool, part of the 9/11 Memorial. This occupies the footprint of the north tower of the World Trade Center that was destroyed in 2001. Names of people who died in the attack are inscribed on the parapet surrounding the pool. Linger around the memorial or continue along Fulton Street past Greenwich Street (restored with the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site) and Church Street. Continuing along Fulton Street, St. Paul’s Chapel (1770) and churchyard are on the left. Cross Broadway and finish the walk at the Fulton Transit Center.
There is so much history on this walk, and outstanding views of the harbor. Most of the walk is off city streets. I did this walk on a very pleasant day. Pick a nice day and do it yourself.