Inwood, 218th Street Between Seaman Avenue and Indian Road

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


This is where the boathouses are for Columbia's rowing teams. And that body of water is what connects the Harlem River with the Hudson and what separates Manhattan from the Bronx. EXCEPT for Marble Hill which is part of Manhattan but is across the body of water. I'll get to the name of the body of water in a minute.

Marble Hill used to be attached to Manhattan and the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was around its northern edge and separated Manhattan from the Bronx. Then some engineers figured out it would be more efficient to plow a water channel straight through Manhattan, so they basically chopped Marble Hill off and left it an island. Then they could get from the Harlem River to the Hudson 14 miles faster. Soon after, they filled in the Spuyten Duyvil Creek so Marble Hill was no longer an island, but was now part of the Bronx, geographically speaking. Legally, they're still in Manhattan.

So this body of water is officially called the Harlem River Ship Canal, but I think it's still casually referred to as the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. My map is silent on the matter. Go here for a more lengthy and official history of the area. And go to the wonderful Wikimapia to see the reality of this end of Manhattan. I should probably start linking to Wikimapia instead of Mapquest.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

218th Streets ends at Inwood Hill Park which you see there in the distance. I've written enough tonight, so I'll save the park for another day. This was the third flurry of runners who had thundered by me, I guess they're from Columbia, so I said, oh, all right, and took a picture of them.

See map.