WHERE: Naples Terrace, West 230 Street, Kappock Street, and Edsall Avenue stairs, Bronx
START: 231 Street subway station (1, fully accessible)
FINISH: Spuyten Duyvil station (Metro North Railroad, Hudson Line)
DISTANCE: 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl and Matt Cunningham except where noted. Map courtesy Google Maps.
On a sunny, crisp fall yesterday my friends Matt and Janelle joined me to tackle New York City’s longest stair street, the three blocks of West 230 Street between Riverdale Avenue and Netherland Avenue. We started out at the 231 Street subway station and did a warmup climb up the 60 steps of Naples Terrace, discussed more fully in my earlier post “The Kingsbridge Trio + 2.” From the top of those stairs we walked through the western part of Kingsbridge to and across Riverdale Avenue, then to West 230 Street and the bottom of the stairs.
1909 view of the IRT Broadway elevated structure from the location of the present West 225 Street. The view is northwest, and the water is the original flow of the Harlem River before the land was filled in. The fishermen stand where the Marble Hill Homes are presently located. (Photograph courtesy nycsubway.org)
West 230 Street is in a lowland that follows roughly the original route of the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek, before the river was diverted a few blocks to the south prior to 1900 and the old river and creek bed were later filled in. To this day the enclave of Marble Hill, just south of West 230 Street, is politically part of the Borough of Manhattan but now physically connected to the Bronx.
The West 230 Street stairs cover three blocks, starting at Riverdale Avenue, passing Johnson Avenue and Edgehill Avenue, and ending at Netherland Avenue. The three blocks have a total of 273 steps: 115 steps in the first block, 44 steps in the second block, 114 steps in the third block. At the top of each we stopped for a quick breather and some picture-taking.
Clockwise from left: At the base of the West 230 Street stairs, starting up the first block of stairs, view from the top of the first block of stairs (Johnson Avenue), view from the top of the second block (Edgehill Avenue), along the third block with an entrance to a private house, view from the top of the third block (Netherland Avenue).
Making it all the way up West 230 Street was exhilarating and proof of my attitude throughout stroke recovery: I can do this! I’m glad I had friends along with whom to share the moment and I’m grateful to all who walk with me and urge me along.
From the top of the stairs we walked south along Netherland Avenue, past a massive 1960s apartment tower whose construction must have outraged the neighbors, then turned west onto Kappock Street and into the neighborhood of Spuyten Duyvil. The name Kappock is a corruption of the Native American name given the area across the Harlem River, in the lowland of Inwood Hill Park, Shorakapok, “the wet place.” It was there that Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan in 1626. For a fine, entertaining early history of this area go to https://untappedcities.com/2015/08/24/nyc-neighborhood-name-origins-the-colorful-tale-of-spuyten-duyvil/.
We continued along Kappock Street, crossing an off-ramp from the Henry Hudson Parkway (no signs or crosswalk here) to a set of 37 steps to pass underneath the parkway. On the west side of the parkway is Henry Hudson Park and a column built for the 1909 Hudson-Fulton commemoration. We walked downhill along Independence Avenue to Palisade Avenue, where we made a sharp left to go to the tiny, delightful Half-Moon Overlook. It gets its name not from the half-moon shape of the overlook but from the name of Henry Hudson’s ship.
Clockwise from left: Unmarked crossing to Kappock Street stairs, view from just before Half-Moon Overlook, view from Half-Moon Overlook, rendering of Henry Hudson’s ship in the wrought iron gate of the overlook, entrance to Spuyten Duyvil station.
From Half-Moon Overlook we walked downhill to a set of 72 steps to Edsall Avenue, then a short walk to the entrance to the Spuyten Duyvil station of Metro North Railroad and another 40 steps down to the platform for the train to Grand Central Terminal. From that station one gets a fine view of the Hudson River, the Palisades, and the Henry Hudson Bridge. It’s also a fairly busy place for trainspotting, with both Metro North and Amtrak trains.
This walk was not at all the common picture of the Bronx. Even in Kingsbridge it was fairly quiet once off Broadway, and Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil are quiet, leafy, and rugged. Fascinating city, this.
Stair count for the day: 333 up, 149 down, total 482.