Inwood Hill Nature Center    

The Inwood Hill Nature Center was dedicated on September 15, 1995, as the Inwood Hill Park Ecology Center at a cost of $650,000, which was funded from private donations, state grants and with the help of state and municipal politicians. The center is located on Manhattan’s only 12-acre salt-water marsh, which has an ecosystem of its own and is the last of its kind on Manhattan.

Manhattan was, at one time, ringed with salt marshes from Inwood to the lower end of the island. Unfortunately, due to landfill, the only one left is located in Inwood Hill Park. At high tide it is flooded while at low tide it is a moonscape of mud. Ducks, swans, geese and other forms of wildlife migrate to the marsh annually and call it home.

The white-and-turquoise-tiled building was originally constructed as a boathouse and marina in 1937 as a part of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses’ grand design for improving the park under the auspices of the WPA. This boathouse remained open until the 1950s, according to a visitor who reminisced about the park and the center. During the 1970s and 1980s the building was run by the Inwood Heights Parks Alliance as an ecological research center for the park.

The center presently houses an Urban Park Ranger office and space for lecture and after-school programs, which include talks about ecology, history and other subjects. These are assisted with slides and video tapes as educational tools to better explain the presentations.

The center has been designated as an interactive exhibit with an ongoing monitoring of the area, which is rich in natural, cultural and historic resources. Within the center are dioramas of geology, meadows, forestry and the salt marsh. There is also a historical exhibit with taped highlights of the various historical epochs of the park, from 2000 BC to the present. In back of the building is a garden planted by the Parks Department showing the flora of Inwood Hill Park.

Over the years there have been several aquatic displays in the center. One display contained a red-ear (or slider) turtle whose name was “Murph.” Another contained a large-mouthed Bass called “Bernie” that came from the Museum of Natural History. Mummichugs, which are fish common to the marsh. used to be on display. There are photographs on display of various types of aquatic life from the marsh, such as Diaton, Gammarus, soft-shell crab, zoea of crab, and megalops of crab.

There is a display of the four types of rock commonly found in the community. These are Manhattan schist, Inwood marble and Fordham gneiss. Also included is a non-indigenous stratic rock that had been brought in by glaciers.

Over the years, the Junior Ranger Program had been offered at the center. The program offered children ages 9 through 13 an opportunity to learn how they could help the park flourish and learn about ecology. The program also offered a mixture of ecological tours, field trips, nature games and scientific experiments. Usually, the program had been run throughout the school year and into the summer months for neighborhood children.

The Urban Park Rangers have educational and management programs for the parks. The educational programs provide tours and nature workshops for the public. Under the management program, the Park Rangers, with the help of the Parks Department and volunteers, provide ongoing work within the parks system of removing invasive plants, planting native flora and stabilizing slopes to control and prevent erosion. This ongoing work is helpful in the control of persistent invasive plants. Unfortunately, repeated attempts to destroy these plants with herbicides are necessary for control.

The Inwood Hill Nature Center is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is located inside the park near the 218th Street and Indian Road entrance. The public can get there by the IRT #1 and #9 train to 215th Street and Broadway, and by bus (BX7, M100, and BX20) to 218th Street.

For more information and tours, call (212) 304-2365 or log onto the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Web site.

(Originally published in the Washington Heights and Inwood Report in January 2001.)

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Readers’ Comments

The Inwood Hill Nature Center is actually open Wednesday through Sunday, 10-4. You can also take the A train to 207th St. walk down Isham Street to Seamann Ave., and walk down through the park to get to the Inwood Hill Nature Center. (Posted by Leah Worrell on December 4, 2003 02:43 PM.)

i grew up on seamen ave. and practically lived in inwood park.i learned so much from this website thanks (Posted by diane on April 4, 2004 12:49 PM.)

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