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Things to Do

New York City is home to some of the most renowed cultural institutions in the world. Our residents enjoy the city's parks, nightlife, and attractions. There is so much to do and see in the Washington Heights area alone! We highlighted some of our favorite places below. For more information on everything New York City has to offer visit www.nycvisit.com or our resource guide to Exploring New York City.

Attractions In Our Neighborhood

The Cloisters
Located in Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters houses most of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of medieval art. The core collection consists of medieval sculpture and architectural remains brought from Europe by the sculptor George Grey Barnard. The collection was assembled in its current location and opened in 1938 by John D. Rockefeller. The building now incorporates vaulted passageways, chapels, halls, and courtyards, and a large collection of artifacts from French and Spanish monasteries.

Children's Museum of the Native American Church of the Intercession
Children can enter a teepee, sit in a dugout canoe, touch artifacts, play Indian games, and actively participate in learning about the life and culture of the Native Americans. Activities include an artifact demonstration, where volunteers from the audience help demonstrate how the American Indians built their shelters, made clothing, hunted, cultivated crops, used tools, cared for infants, and participated in ceremonies.

Morris-Jumel Mansion
Built in 1765, the Morris-Jumel Mansion is the oldest remaining colonial residence in Manhattan. This museum highlights more than 230 years of New York history, culture, and arts. Twelve period rooms exhibit the life and times of Colonel Roger Morris, the original builder, George Washington, who occupied the house as his headquarters in the autum of 1776, and the merchant family of Stephen and Eliza Jumel. The rose and herb gardens, which date back to colonial times, look out over the Harlem River.

Parks

Washington Heights is home to over 620 acres worth of parkland, more than any other neighborhood in Manhattan, with gorgeous views of the Hudson River, the Palisades, and the George Washington Bridge.

Inwood Hill Park has the only remaining natural forest in Manhattan, and is the mythic location of the first real estate transaction in New York � Peter Minuit's 1626 �purchase� of the island from the Native Americans for $24 worth of �Diffles duffel cloth, Kittles kettles, axes, hoes, wampum, drilling awls, Jews harps, and diverse other wares� (according to a copy of Minuit's deal). The park also has small caves left behind by the Hudson River glacier which were used by the Weekquaeskeek tribe for shelter.

Fort Tryon Park is home to The Cloisters, a beautiful medieval monastery that houses the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval collection. The building was reconstructed from stones and artifacts from French monastic ruins brought to the States by American sculptor George Grey Barnard, and later purchased and assembled as a building in the park by John D. Rockefeller in the 1930s. The park's lower terrace (below the Heather Garden) possesses one of the most glorious views of the George Washington Bridge.

Fort Washington Park runs along the Hudson River waterfront from 158th Street to just beyond the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street. It has many paths with benches where visitors can sit and contemplate in quietude the spectacular views of the river, the bridge, and the Palisades in New Jersey. The Little Red Light House, made famous by Hildegarde H. Swift's classic children's book, is located under the bridge.

Highbridge Park is on the east side of Washington Heights and runs on the hill above the Harlem River Drive. It's named after High Bridge, the oldest bridge connecting two New York City boroughs, which was originally an elevated stone aqueduct � la ancient Rome, designed to bring water from the Croton River to the reservoir down in Central Park.

Visit Washington Height and Inwood Online for more information.

Source Credit: Washington Heights & Inwood Online