Visual Guided Tours of New York City

The southern boundary of Inwood is marked by Riverside Drive (briefly) and Dyckman Street on the west and Harlem River Drive on the east. This correlates to about 200th Street. The Broadway Bridge at 221st Street will take you to the Bronx.

Bikers: The greenway ends as you reach Inwood, but there are bike boxes to follow on the streets. Continue straight to Broadway and Dyckman once you go under the underpass. Or, you can make a left (on Staff Street) and a right (Dyckman) and then a left on Payson to be nearer the park's edge instead of going to Broadway. To head south on Manhattan's east side, take Harlem River Drive east, an extension of Dyckman Street. But you'll need to go to 221st and Broadway if you want to go to the tip of the island to qualify for a "perimeter tour."

Views from Broadway and Dyckman. The hill on the left is Fort Tryon Park, and the Cloisters are at the summit (about 10 stories up)! There's an easier climb if you turn left on Broadway here and go uphill at some point.

You'll find some restaurants in the neighborhood. A MacDonald's is also here for quick fixes.

The remote entrance on Payson I describe in the Inwood Hill Park tour (shown your left) is just north of Dyckman Street.

Since the wooded area of Inwood Hill Park is isolated, the entrance across Seaman and 207th (pictured here) is better, since there are athletic fields and people here. From here you can decide how far into the woods you want to go. Entering the park farther uptown is also good.

I suggest going north on Broadway from Dyckman. You'll come to the Dyckman House at 204th Street. They're in the midst of additional restoration now (10/2006), but even the outside is worth seeing. The Dyckman family lived in this area for generations; their earlier house and orchards were destroyed during the American Revolution. In 1915 the family willed the farmhouse to the city or park service. If you must choose between the Morris-Jumel Mansion and this, I'd suggest Morris-Jumel, which is much larger and, I think, more authentic. (For instance, they removed the ceiling beams at Dyckman House in 1915.) But if you're up here, be sure to take a look.

There is a small admission fee to the Dyckman House, but anyone can wander the grounds. This restored Hessian hut is estimated to have provided sleeping quarters for eight soldiers. It costs money to keep armies, so many countries sold the services of their soldiers to fight foreign wars. The Hessians (Germans) were hired by the British during the American Revolution.

This was taken from Park Terrace West on 208th Street. That's Bronx Community College across the river. Until the 1970s, it was one of New York University's campuses. The building with the dome, formerly NYU's library, has an absolutely beautiful interior.

This was taken from the Broadway Bridge at 221st Street. The streets between Broadway and the East River to 201st Street are most automotive repair shops and residences, so let's head to Inwood Hill Park. Just go east on 218th and you'll come to it. You'll pass Columbia University's stadium, Baker Field, on the way.