Parks
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Manhattan
Bryant Park lets New Yorkers relax in the middle of midtown Manhattan. In summer, crowds attend lunchtime readings and performances of Broadway excerpts, screenings of classic films on Mondays, and even yoga classes. In winter, a skating rink and holiday market are big draws.
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Hans Christian Andersen Statue
Manhattan
Unveiled in 1956, the idea for the statue originated with Baroness Alma Dahlerup, then president of the Danish-American Women's Association of New York, who for many years had arranged for Andersen's stories to be told on the radio. Robert Moses, then New York City parks commissioner, selected the site and the city's Department of Parks and Recreation has supported it. Donations by schoolchildren in Denmark and the United States made up a share of the funding for the statue, which was executed by the Danish American sculptor George Lober. Hans Christian Andersen's well-rubbed knees are ample evidence of the fun children continue to have sitting on his lap.
The statue has become a symbol of the good relations between the United States and Denmark and has received visits but Danish royalty. In 1964 the City of Copenhagen contributed the two 19th century street on both sides of the statue. On Saturdays at 11 am from May through September, children (and parents) gather near the statue to hear free storytelling based on Andersen's fairy tales.
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Bronx
Located on a bluff along the Hudson in the Spuyten Duyvil section of the Bronx, this 9-acre park contains New York City’s only statue of Henry Hudson—a 17-foot-tall bronze-clad figure.
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Manhattan
The area includes the High Bridge, New York City’s oldest standing bridge, built in 1842 as part of the Croton Aqueduct system of bringing the first clean water into the city, and the parks on the Bronx and Manhattan side of it.
Manhattan
The High Line is a public park built on an historic railroad viaduct elevated above the streets on the West Side of Manhattan.
High Rock Environmental Education Center in the Greenbelt
Staten Island
A hardwood forest, a swamp, glacial ponds, wilderness trails and gardens can all be found at the 90-acre High Rock Environmental Education Center. The center is a refuge for native plant and animal life, which teaches visitors about nature through exhibits, classes and workshops on insects, wild animals, plants, geology, weather, forests, ponds and wetlands.