The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
The Secrets of the Great City: A Work Descriptive of the Virtues and the Vices, the Mysteries, Miseries and Crimes of New York City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- History
These are located in the upper Park, and cover a considerable area.
From the hill on which they are situated, a fine view can be had of the
lower Park, stretching away in its beauty for over a mile. These
reservoirs receive the water direct from the aqueduct, which brings it
from Croton Lake, and pass it into the distributing reservoir on Forty-
second street.
The scenery of this part of the Park is wild and romantic. It is said
that "the deep gorge, called McGowan's Pass, dividing this northern
portion, is the valley which, by means of its darkly wooded hillsides,
sheltered the secret messengers passing between the scattered parties
of the American troops who, during the few days intervening between
their disheartening rout on Long Island and the battle of Harlem
Plains, rallied about the range of hills extending from Fort Washington
to Bloomingdale." A small part of the "Old Boston Road" is still to be
seen in this portion of the Park, and in the distance a view is
obtained of the High Bridge and Westchester county, while Washington
Heights rise beautifully to the northward. To the eastward we see the
white sails of the vessels in Long Island Sound, and get a faint
glimpse of the town of Flushing on Long Island, and New Rochelle on the
mainland.
TRANSVERSE ROADS.
It was foreseen when the Park was laid off, that as it would extend for
so long a distance right through the centre of the island, it would be
necessary to provide means of communication between the eastern and
western sides of the island, without forcing persons to pass around the
upper or lower ends of the enclosure. At the same time it was felt to
be desirable to make these roads as private as possible, so that the
beauty of the Park should not be marred by them, or by the long trains
of wagons, carts, and such other vehicles as would pass over them. The
genius of the constructing engineers soon settled this difficulty. A
system of _transverse roads_ was adopted and carried out. There are
four of them, and they cross the Park at Sixty-fifth, Seventy-ninth,
Eighty-fifth, and Ninety-seventh streets. They are sunken considerably
below the general level of the Park, and are securely walled in with
masonry. Vines, trees and shrubbery are planted and carefully trained
along the edges of these walls, which conceal the roads from view. The
visitors, by means of archways or bridges, pass over these roads,
catching but a momentary glimpse of them in some places, and in utter
ignorance of them in others.
THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account