Visiting Washington Heights in Manhattan
Cooling off on West 159th Street in Washington Heights. (July 9 , 2013) Credit: Anthony Lanzilote
Filled with rich history, cultural diversity and plenty of green space, Washington Heights is more than the struggling barrio portrayed in the Broadway musical "In the Heights."
Named for Fort Washington, a Revolutionary War-era defensive fortification formerly located in Bennett Park, the Heights is a lively community with family-friendly restaurants, bars and eight parks. Starting in the 1960s, this neighborhood became well known for its high percentage of Dominican immigrants.
Highlights include the highest natural point in Manhattan at Bennett Park, the artist Terry Fugate-Wilcox's "3000 A.D. Diffusion Piece" sculpture in J. Hood Wright Park and the views of the Palisades and the Hudson River from Fort Washington Park. Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters -- an outpost of the Metropolitan Museum dedicated to medieval art -- are just to the north, in neighboring Inwood, and worth a visit while you're in the area.
Washington Heights, on the north end of Manhattan, runs from 190th Street to 155th Street. It is bounded to the east by the Harlem River and to the west by the Hudson River.
