A vast number of people think any evidence of the primordial past of Manhattan has vanished being replaced by layers upon layers of concrete, which by all means seems that way no matter where you look in New York City. However, there’s still hundreds of acres of natural Manhattan Island that still remains untouched by human landscaping since colonial days; Inwood Hill Park . Located at 215th Street, cross to Broadway. From any one of the centrally located hotels , take the IRT to the last stop in Manhattan, walk up the steps, go 2 blocks straight and you’ll be in a forest.

The difference between Inwood Hill Park and Central Park is, Inwood is 196 acres of pristine forest, no landscaping or humans have had a hand in changing this pristine forest ever since the colonial days, except for the occasional park lamppost and meandering paths. Central Park on the other hand, was conceived by Olmstead and Vaux, every square inch of Central Park was on a planning board. Inwood Hill Park is a living piece of old New York and was the site of the best know real estate deal by Peter Minuit, where legend has it that he purchased the island of Manhattan from the Leni Lenape Indians with trinkets only amounting to the sum of $24. When you’re inside the more heavily forested area of the park, take a short walk along the parks path towards the hilly area, you’ll see a plaque on a rock that commemorates the so-called ‘swindle’ by Peter Minuit of the Lenape Indians. The rock, which is called Skorakopock Rock, is on the exact site of a giant tulip tree where the transaction took place. The Tulip tree is long gone, but the rock plaque is a solid reminder of just how cheap it was to purchase land.

You’ll enter Inwood Hill Park by crossing Indian Road, but before you enter Inwood Hill’s forest, walk around to the Harlem River and take in the views that are awaiting to take your breath away. Also, if you head towards the eastern edge of the park, you’ll see evidence of the main encampment of the Lenape Indians who relied heavily on the Hudson and Harlem Rivers for their sources of water and food. You’ll see artifacts and the remains of ancient campfires under rock shelters.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Enviroment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.