Everything about Van Cortlandt Park totally explained
Van Cortlandt Park is a large
urban park in
The Bronx, New York. It has an area of 1,146 acres (4.6 km²), making it the fourth largest park in
New York City, behind
Pelham Bay Park,
Flushing Meadows Park and
Staten Island Greenbelt. It is operated by the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The park was named for
Stephanus Van Cortlandt, who was the first native-born
mayor of New York, and the Van Cortlandt family, which was prominent in the area during the
Dutch and
English colonial periods. Contained within the Park is the
Van Cortlandt House Museum, the oldest building in the Bronx.
History
The land that Van Cortlandt Park now occupies was once a vast grain plantation, owned by Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699–1749) and family. In
1748, he built
a family mansion on the property, but died before its completion. Frederick willed the massive home and surrounding lands to his son, James Van Cortlandt (1727–1787).
The Van Cortlandt family land was used during the
Revolutionary War by
Rochambeau,
Lafayette, and
Washington.
In 1888, the family property was sold to the
City of New York and made into a public parkland, with the majority of the grain fields converted into a sprawling lawn dubbed "The Parade Ground". The Van Cortlandt House was converted into a public museum and, with the city's approval, particularly overgrown areas of the property were made passable. Wide walking paths were built over original walkways, including the thin paths that led to the Van Cortlandt family cemetery, high on the nearby bluffs.
Robert Moses's development plans in the
1930s called for the construction of the
Henry Hudson Parkway and
Mosholu Parkway to bisect Van Cortlandt Park and meet at a
cloverleaf interchange about half a mile north of the center. The last remaining freshwater
marsh in
New York State was dredged and landscaped to accommodate construction.
The Van Cortlandt House was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1967 and became a
National Historic Landmark in 1976.
The
city's fiscal crisis in the
1970s caused much of the park to fall into disrepair. Gradual improvements began taking place from the late 1980s through the mid-2000s, including the addition of new pathways, signage, and security.
Attractions
The Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the nation's first public golf course, opened in
1895 and is located on the park grounds. The "Parade Ground" north of the museum is one of New York's principal
cricket fields. A bicycling path runs through the woods between this lawn and the golf course, northward along Tibbets Brook and the former
New York and Putnam Railroad line into
Yonkers. Another runs east from the golf course's clubhouse to connect to the
Mosholu Parkway bike path. The
Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway begins in Van Cortlandt Park. A nonprofit group called Friends of Van Cortlandt Park offers educational and stewardship programs in the park.
Cross Country
Van Cortlandt Park is a popular site for
cross country running due to its miles of cinder trails, race courses, and hills. The path surrounding the parade ground known to runners as the "flats," is 1.37 miles (2.2 km) around. The infamous "back hills" provide a 1.3-mile (2.1 km) loop in the northwestern section of the park, and is used for the Northeast regional championships of the
Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. A modified 2.5-mile (4 km) course is used for the Manhattan Invitational, one of the largest
high school cross country meets in the nation. Numerous college championships are held in the park as well. It is often used as a
benchmark when comparing times and performances from other cross country courses nationwide.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Van Cortlandt Park'.
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