We discovered a New York City treasure today! [View all]
There is a bridge between the Bronx and Manhattan that was originally an aqueduct bringing water from upstate NY to the city. It's called the Highbridge and it's located at 170th Street a little north and a little west of Yankee Stadium.
You can see it from the Harlem River Drive and the Deegan Expressway; the eastern half is made of stone with a dozen arches supporting the bridge while the western half was replaced with a single large metal arch to allow large ships to transit the Harlem River.
The piping for the aqueduct is covered over and there's a beautiful brick walkway that takes you from the Highbridge neighborhood in the Bronx to the spectacular water tower on the Manhattan side. The tower looks like it was a lighthouse or a lookout but it was actually a tower for raising 47,000 gallons of water to create the pressure to send the water downtown to a distribution hub near the NYC Library on Fifth Avenue.
The bridge, the tower and the park are beautiful and represent an exquisite time in NYC's history, the last half of the 1800s. The park Rangers were friendly and informative and really funny!. The stairway from the Highbridge to the tower was 89 steps and then the circular stairway within the tower itself was over 200-feet high. Quite a workout!
We highly recommend these treasures. Here's some more information:
https://www.nycgovparks.org/park-features/highbridge-park/planyc
https://visitingamuseum.com/2020/04/17/the-highbridge-water-tower-highbridge-park-washington-heights-nyc/
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