Barretto Point Park is a waterfront public park on the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...

located in the Hunts Point neighborhood of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Its namesake is Francis J. Barretto, a 19th-century merchant and State Assemblyman who lived in the area.

History

The

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

acquired the property in 2001 from the City's

Department of Environmental Protection This article lists subnational environmental agencies in the United States, by state. Agencies with a variety of titles and responsibilities are included, e.g. Department of Environment, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of E ...

, and the park opened to the public in 2006. The land on which the park was created was remediated and capped to make sure it was clean and safe. Prior to 1950, the site housed a sand and gravel operation and an asphalt plant. Between 1954 and 1978, the placement of fill on the site increased the size of the upland. Since 2008, Barretto Point Park has been host to a barge named The Floating Pool Lady. The 20,000 square-foot vessel contains an outdoor 25-meter swimming pool with a pool house; locker rooms with showers; bathrooms; a children's spray shower; a gangplank leading to and from the barge; and other amenities, including a small amphitheater.

Landscape

The landscape of Barretto Point Park recalls the rustic atmosphere that once characterized Hunts Point and provides a popular outdoor gathering space for its residents. The park is accessible from the East River by

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

and

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

, and provides views of the North and South Brother Islands, which are bird sanctuaries with histories that span three centuries. The islands themselves are closed to the public.

Tiffany Street Pier

To the immediate west of Barretto Point Park is the Tiffany Street Pier, a recreational space that predates the park and also offers views of the bird sanctuary islands in the East River. Previously used as a loading dock, it became popular with recreational fishermen and local residents in search of a quiet space on the waterfront. In 1995, the city rebuilt the pier out of an innovative material produced from 1.5 million recycled plastic bottles. The hard plastic structure can withstand damage caused by wood boring marine insects but it succumbed to damage from the sky when a lightning strike in September 1996 melted a third of the pier, including its gazebo. The pier reopened in 2000 and in the following year, the City's Department of Citywide Administrative Services assigned the pier and surrounding underwater parcels to Parks. Although at the time, the pier was a considerable walk from residential sections of Hunts Point, it again welcomed individuals seeking fishing, sunbathing and a view of the water.

Gallery

References

External links

Parks Department web site
{{Protected areas of New York City Parks in the Bronx Hunts Point, Bronx Protected areas established in 2001 2001 establishments in New York City