Battery Park (New York City, New York)

Battery Park is a 21-acre (8.5 ha) public park located at the Battery, the southern tip of the New York City borough of Manhattan, facing New York Harbor. The Battery is named for the artillery battery that was stationed there at various times by the Dutch and English in order to protect the harbor. At one end of the park is Pier A and Hope Garden, a memorial to AIDS victims. At the other end is Battery Gardens restaurant, next to the United States Coast Guard Battery Building. Along the waterfront, ferries depart for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

To the northwest of the park lies Battery Park City, a planned community built on landfill in the 1970s and 80s, which includes Robert F. Wagner Park and the Battery Park City Promenade. Together with Hudson River Park, a system of green spaces, bike ways and promenades now extend up the Hudson shoreline. A bike way is being built through the park that will connect the Hudson River and East River parts of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. Across State Street to the northeast stands the old U.S. Customs House, now used as a branch of the Museum of the American Indian and the district U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Peter Minuit Plaza abuts the southeast end of the park, directly in front of the South Ferry Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry.

Much of what is today's Battery park was once water. Over the course of the 19th century, the park grew as landfill extended the boundaries of Manhattan Island's southern tip. In the 19th century, Battery Park became the arrival point for immigrants landing in New York Harbor.

www.thebattery.org/
www.machado-silvetti.com/portfolio/wagner-park

Categories: park, green space, green area