Route of this walk, reading from right to left.
WHERE: Along and near Pelham Parkway, Bronx
START: Pelham Bay Park subway station (6 train, fully accessible)
FINISH: Pelham Parkway subway station (2 train, fully accessible)
DISTANCE: 3.0 miles (4.8 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl except as noted. Maps courtesy Google Maps.
The Bronx and Pelham Parkway - nobody calls it anything but Pelham Parkway - was built as a linear park to link Bronx Park and Pelham Bay Park, hence the name. Land for the parkway was acquired in 1884 and in the following years it acquired its present form. From Boston Road to Stillwell Avenue it is over 200 feet (61 meters) wide with four roadways separated by wide green spaces. There’s a well used bike and pedestrian path that I’ve biked many times but never walked until today, that is in fair condition but should be rebuilt with an even surface and proper drainage. It is part of the East Coast Greenway. I found the idea of walking along Pelham Parkway appealing, and chose a mild day to do so. I was able to put together a fully accessible route, including the subway stations at either end.
I started at the elevated Pelham Bay Park subway station, where there is a spur to the main Pelham Parkway bike trail. At Stillwell Avenue, just west of where the parkway crosses Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the bike/pedestrian path switches from the south side of the parkway to the north side. Between Stillwell Avenue and Eastchester Road, on Pelham Parkway North, is a house that for decades has had a year-round display of Christmas and other stuff. I remember being astonished by the sight when I first biked past it in the late 1980s. It is still quite a sight.
Profile of this walk, reading from left to right.
The route is a gentle but steady uphill from Stillwell Avenue to Williamsbridge Road, where I turned off and where there is a small triangle called Peace Plaza. It is dedicated to, and was clearly the vision of, the late Rudy Macina, a pillar of the local community. Peace Plaza honors the dead from the two World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the 1991 Persian Gulf campaign, and the attacks on September 11, 2001. I stopped to look around there and continued on toward a local Roman Catholic shrine, the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto, part of St. Lucy’s Church. Reflecting its neighborhood, St. Lucy’s offers masses in English, Spanish, Italian, and Albanian. I sat on one of the benches outside for a few minutes, watching the faithful come and go, many of them carrying bottles or jugs with which to take home holy water. Lourdes of America in the Bronx - and I thought my native Brooklyn is the land of miracles. Before arriving there I had a tasty lunch at a tiny Albanian restaurant on Mace Avenue, where Mama did the cooking and her teenage son served. I’ll surely be in the area, and there, again. From the shrine I walked to the end point, the elevated subway station at Pelham Parkway and White Plains Road.
This is an area that 100 or so years ago was semi-rural. Today the area is largely low-rise and semi-suburban, with a few higher-rise buildings such as health care facilities and the New York City Housing Authority’s Pelham Parkway Houses. This was a satisfying, interesting walk through yet another untouristed part of the city with its own genuine, not manufactured, vitality. (Sorry, Times Square.) A short distance west of today’s end point is the Bronx Zoo, and just past there is the New York Botanical Garden. This walk was also worthwhile as it was 100 percent accessible. I recommend it highly. If you don’t want to do the whole walk, consider starting or finishing at the Pelham Parkway station on the 5 train (not accessible) or by taking a bus on Williamsbridge Road, Eastchester Road, or Pelham Parkway.
The Garabedian Family Christmas House. Looking south on Eastchester Road, 1924 (image courtesy New York Institute for Special Education) and 2022.
Peace Plaza.
Where I had lunch, view of the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, and sign showing the diversity of the community served by St. Lucy’s Church.
Pelham Parkway west of Eastchester Road (it’s wider than it looks) and two views of the trail (spur from Pelham Bay Park subway station, and near Throop Avenue).
Some more “then and now:” Pelham Parkway North, 1923 (image courtesy New-York Historical Society) and 2022.