The Inspiration Point Shelter is a popular rest stop for cyclists along the

Hudson River Greenway The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separate ...

within Fort Washington Park in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, which extends to

Inwood Hill Park Inwood Hill Park is a public park in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. On a high schist ridge that rises above the Hudson River from Dyckman Street to the n ...

to the north and Riverside Park to the south. The Inspiration Point Shelter provides mostly unobstructed views of the Palisades across the river and of the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United S ...

to the south.

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 ...

website says that "Inspiration Point Shelter opened in 1925 as a resting place for pedestrians and leisure drivers on the

Henry Hudson Parkway The Henry Hudson Parkway is a parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is in Manhattan at 72nd Street, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout i ...

. Designed by architect Gustave Steinacher in 1924, the neoclassical sitting area opened a year later and quickly became a favorite of

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

tourists." The sitting area originally consisted of two levels, the upper, open air covered structure, and a lower level containing restrooms for pedestrians and motorists. The lower level was accessible via stairs on either side of the shelter. After the Henry Hudson Parkway was built in the 1930s, the area around the shelter changed from a place for pleasure drives to a through-way, and the structure was cut off from the rest of Manhattan and fell into disuse. In 1989,

Christopher Gray Christopher Stewart Gray (April 24, 1950 – March 10, 2017) was an American journalist and architectural historian,Schneider, Daniel B (August 27, 2000)"F.Y.I. Hell's Kitchen in the Raw" ''The New York Times''. March 4, 2010. noted for his week ...

featured the shelter in his book ''Changing New York: The Architectural Scene''. The pull-off from the Henry Hudson Parkway was barricaded and the shelter is now only accessible from the Henry Hudson Greenway which may be entered from the footbridge at 181st Street or the underpass at Riverside Drive and

Dyckman Street Dyckman Street ( ), occasionally called West 200th Street, is a street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is commonly considered to be a crosstown street because it runs from the Hudson River to the Harlem River and inter ...

. The retaining walls along the Greenway adjacent to Inspiration Point show signs of deterioration and vandalism.

References

{{Protected areas of New York City Washington Heights, Manhattan Parks in Manhattan