Battery Park Review

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Battery Park

  • Address: Broadway and Battery Pl., Lower Manhattan, New York, NY | Map It

Fodor's Review:

Jutting out at the southernmost point of Manhattan, leafy Battery Park provides plenty of places to sit and rest, including two tiers of wood benches that line the promenade facing New York Harbor. From here, you can see Governors Island, a former Coast Guard installation now managed by the National Park Service; a hilly Staten Island in the distance; the Statue of Liberty; Ellis Island; and the old railway terminal in Liberty State Park, on the mainland in Jersey City, New Jersey. On crystal-clear days you can see all the way to Port Elizabeth's cranes, which seem to mimic Lady Liberty's stance.

The park's main structure is Castle Clinton National Monument, the ticket office site and takeoff point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The monument was once known as Castle Garden, when from 1855 to 1890 it served as America's first official immigration center (Ellis Island opened in 1892). The interior of the park is loaded with monuments and statues, including The Sphere, which for three decades stood on the plaza at the World Trade Center as a symbol of peace. Damaged but still intact after the collapse of the towers, it serves as a temporary memorial to those who lost their lives the year before. In 2005 the Bosque gardens by landscape artist Piet Oudulf were opened, as was the Spiral Fountain, with 35 illuminated and interactive jets. Adjoining Battery Park on this western side is Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, which has public bathrooms and a restaurant-café.

The southern link in a chain of parks connecting Battery Park north to Chambers Street, Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park has a flat, tidy lawn and wide benches from which to view the harbor or the stream of runners and in-line skaters on the promenade. A brick structure that holds public bathrooms and a restaurant provides additional views from its flat roof. Between Battery Pl. at Hudson River, 10004.

  • Subway: 4, 5 to Bowling Green
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