walking the high line

The High Line is a long, narrow park on the west side of Manhattan that was built on an elevated 1930s freight rail line. The first section, which opened last summer, runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street along 10th Avenue through the Meatpacking District and Chelsea neighborhoods, and there are access points (stairs, and in a few places, elevators), in various places along the promenade. It was originally built to raise dangerous freight trains running through this heavily industrialized side of Manhattan above street level, and it was used as a freight line until 1980. For the next two and a half decades it lay abandoned, and various groups argued over whether to demolish or preserve it. A preservation team known as Friends of the High Line eventually won out, and with support from the city, turned it into a public park.

The design of the High Line is reminiscent of both its history as a railway and its abandonment. Original tracks were preserved and reinstalled in the landscape, and the plantings are inspired by the grasses and weeds that grew wildly when it was out of use as a railway. There are views of not only the cityscape below and above, but of the Hudson River to the west. At one point on the northern end there are bleacher seats looking out over the traffic along 10th Avenue. An elevated view of urban traffic is surprisingly mesmerizing.

I didn't know about the High Line until my Aunt Colleen informed me I absolutely needed to see it. We went to today, and she was right -- it's one of the city's newest treasures. The second section, which will extend north from 20th Street up to 30th Street, is projected to open at the end of next year. Ultimately it will continue all the way up to 34th Street along the West Side Rail Yards. I hope we're here long enough to see its completion because have I mentioned that it's a really neat park? It really is.

Grasses growing in between the reinstalled original tracks.

View of the Hudson River.

Colored glass windows above Chelsea Market.

Watching the traffic below.

Caleb enjoyed the High Line.

Garrett discovered his pockets on the High Line.