WHERE: Stair streets on East 197 Street, Coles Lane, East 187 Street, East 183 Street, Bronx
START: Botanical Garden station, Metro North Railroad, Harlem Line; fully accessible
FINISH: Fordham station, Metro North Railroad, Harlem Line; fully accessible
DISTANCE: 3.3 miles (5.3 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl. Maps courtesy Google Maps.
Map of today’s walk.
Profile of today’s walk.
About the title of this post: it refers to the cottage where Edgar Allan Poe lived for a time, the mascot of Fordham University near the end of the walk, the symbol of Albania, and a purchase I made on Arthur Avenue. All things will become clear in time.
West 197 Street steps, looking west from Decatur Avenue.
On this warm, sparkling day I had planned to tackle three stair streets, I added a fourth along the way, and I missed what would have been a fifth. I started out at the Botanical Garden railroad station, across the street from the New York Botanical Garden, which I will cover one day under “Other Walks Around Town.” From there I walked west on Bedford Park Boulevard and then south on Decatur Avenue. I noticed a short stair street that I’d have included on the itinerary, Oliver Place between Decatur Avenue and Marion Avenue, had I known about it. I’ll cover that on a future walk in the area. I continued on Decatur Avenue to today’s first stair street, East 197 Street. The stairs themselves are in good condition but they were littered with takeout food dishes, several having food still in them. They’ll be a feast for whatever rats are nearby. This was 36 steps up.
Edgar Allan Poe cottage, Grand Concourse and East Kingsbridge Road.
From there I walked west to the Grand Concourse, then south a short distance to Kingsbridge Road and Poe Cottage. The author Edgar Allan Poe, his wife Virginia, and his mother-in-law Maria lived in this small rural cottage - the area was rural then - from 1846. Virginia died shortly afterward and Poe died in 1849 in Baltimore. In this home, Poe wrote his poems "Annabel Lee" and "Ulalume" while the family cat sat on his shoulder. There is a wealth of information on the cottage at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe_Cottage.
I continued downhill (east) on Kingsbridge Road toward East Fordham Road when I saw what appeared to be a stair street across Kingsbridge Road. Indeed it was, a small street called Coles Lane that ended at Bainbridge Avenue and a former branch of the New York Public Library that has been replaced by a modern facility on Kingsbridge Road. Coles Lane was 17 steps down. That former library seems to have “good bones” and cries out for being restored for some other purpose. Don’t just let it sit there, as it probably has since the new Bronx Library Center opened in 2005.
Bicycle corral on East Kingsbridge Road, two views of the Coles Lane stair street, former New York Public Library branch on Bainbridge Avenue.
I walked a short distance on Fordham Road (U.S. Route 1), a very busy commercial thoroughfare, to Marion Avenue, continuing south to the next stair street, East 187 Street. The stair street looked grand at first glance but had no handrail except at the very bottom. The low balustrade was the only thing to which I could hold on, making for a difficult climb even though it was only 46 steps. Even if the stairway isn’t rebuilt - and it should be - at least it should get handrails at a proper height.
Our Lady of Mercy R.C. Church on Marion Avenue; the East 187 Street steps looking up (west) and down (east).
From the top of the stairs I walked south on Tiebout Avenue to the final set of stairs of the day, at East 183 Street. This is a new stair tower in excellent condition. Tiebout Avenue is at the top of a steep escarpment and this is the only passage toward Webster Avenue, at the bottom of the hill, for several blocks. Total 78 steps down.
Two views of the East 183 Street stairs. In the second image, note the steep hill at the left; Tiebout Avenue is at the top.
From the bottom of the hill I walked east on East 183 Street past St. Barnabas Hospital. This is a poor area that suffered greatly from the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway (Interstate 95) in the 1950s. Beyond the hospital is the Bronx’s Little Italy, centered on Arthur Avenue. Unlike the Bronx’s other Little Italy, the Morris Park neighborhood in the east Bronx, this neighborhood (Belmont) is firmly on the tourist trail but is nevertheless worth visiting. Many of the Italian restaurants are run these days by immigrants from Albania. The part of the Bronx west and south of the Fordham University campus has had a large Albanian community for a long time. While planning this trip I learned about an Albanian restaurant, a block east of Arthur Avenue, that had won high praise, called Çka Ka Qëllu (pronounced SHA-ka-chell-OO and loosely translated as “what’s cooking”). So I had lunch there and, taking advantage of the nice day, ate outside. I had never had Albanian cuisine before. It is its own thing but has influences from the countries and cuisines around it. I had a kind of savory strudel called fli that was just excellent. I will definitely go back there, bringing other hungry folk, and work my way around the menu.
From there I went to the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, run by the City of New York, to buy Italian sausage, then next door to the Madonna Bakery to buy prosciutto bread. All the restaurants and cafes on Arthur Avenue had outdoor seating and plenty of customers. This post-pandemic change in the streetscape lends a new and positive energy to the street that I was glad to see. Then I walked a few blocks to the Fordham train station for the trip home. On the way I passed Lorillard Place, named for the Lorillard family that founded the now-defunct Lorillard Tobacco Company and had a snuff mill on the Bronx River. The snuff mill building, dating from around 1840, still exists and is within the New York Botanical Garden.
Stair count: 82 up, 95 down, total 177. Not a large number of steps but this was a good, hilly walk most of the way. It didn’t get more or less flat until near St. Barnabas Hospital. I took in several neighborhoods and had the reward of a fine lunch. Once again, I experienced good physical therapy and the joy of being a traveler in my own city.