garden

A Civil War Veteran and His Inwood Truck Farm

Inwood Truck Farm post

Imagine yourself a soldier returning from the Civil War. Disoriented. Jobless. Before that bloody War Between the States you had been a farmer.  A New York City farmer at that! But Manhattan had changed much in your absence. You simply couldn’t plant a potato patch wherever you pleased anymore. Gone were the wide-open farms and [...]

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Spring 2012: Inwood, NYC

Spring in Inwood, NYC 2012

Spring came early this year. In fact, the entire winter was mild. Here are a collection of photos shot around Inwood in March of 2012.

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Inwood’s Mount Olympus: The Seaman Mansion in 1869

Old Seaman Mansion in Inwood New York City

A while back I wrote a history of the old Seaman mansion that once stood on the grounds currently occupied by Park Terrace Gardens. Today the only trace of the Seaman estate is the crumbling marble arch located down the hill on Broadway. The following description from 1869 finds the home occupied by its original [...]

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My Inwood Memories: Bruce’s Garden

Bruce Reynolds Garden, Inwood, New York City

Bruce’s Garden, which borders on Isham Park, has profound meaning to anyone who has ever lived in Inwood. The garden is a testament to Port Authority Police Officer Bruce Reynolds who gave has life so others might live on September 11th. This garden of tranquility is appropriately named for Bruce who, as a child, began [...]

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The Last Working Farm

1933 Photo of last working farm on Manhattan in Inwood.

Today’s Inwood is full of green thumbs, mainly volunteers who tend to Bruce’s Garden, nurse sidewalk flower boxes, and cultivate  community landscapes enjoyed by all.  And while a lucky few have space for a tomato plant or two,  today’s edible gardening needs are fulfilled mainly by a  thriving farmer’s market which gives  Inwood residents access [...]

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Park Terrace Gardens

Cupolas of Seaman Mansion, now the site of Park Terrace Gardens in Inwood, New York

Life on the top of the hill has distinct advantages for the residents of Park Terrace Gardens. Built in 1940, the five-building complex is called the “Gardens” for a reason; the entire center of the block is a lovingly landscaped private garden, with much of the planting done by a team of resident volunteers. This [...]

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Bruce Reynold’s Garden

Birdhouse in Bruce's Garden in Inwood, New York.

Part of Isham Park, this garden honors the memory of Bruce Reynolds (1960-2001), a Port Authority Police Officer, who on the morning of September 11, 2001, rushed from his post at the George Washington Bridge into the inferno of the World Trade Center, sacrificing his life to save others. Bruce Reynolds was the son of [...]

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