Visual Guided Tours of New York City

175th Street east of Amsterdam Ave. / Edgecombe Avenue. High Bridge Park starts at 155th Street and goes up to 200th Street, following the banks of the Harlem River on Manhattan's east side. Much of the park is not accessible, since it consists of a steep cliff. We'll be focusing on the area around 175th Street where the Croton Aqueduct Water Tower is located.

I admired the Croton Tower for years, never knowing its name or what it was. I finally visited it and learned that it was a water tower that was part of the old Croton aqueduct system which brought water to New York City from upstate. There's information in the park that I will be sharing with you after I get my pictures up.

High Bridge, connecting Manhattan and the Bronx, was built for pedestrians. It is now closed, but funds are being raised to restore it. The tower and the bridge date from the 1880s and '90s. The bridge was part of the aqueduct system that brought water to the tower, so evidently the water system was beneath the walkway.

View from High Bridge Park near the Croton Tower. The East River is at lower left; the Bronx is across the river.

The gray bridge in the back is the Washington Bridge, (not to be confused with the George Washington Bridge that connects New York and New Jersey) and the blue one is the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. They both connect Manhattan and the Bronx.

Ball field next to the Croton Tower. The four tall buildings were built OVER Highway I 95, the highway connecting New Jersey, Manhattan and the Bronx. The development was part of Robert Moses' plan for major transportation arteries in New York City.