Uncovering beautifull places in NYC

Little Island, a bridge that connects the Hudson River and New York City 

by Judit Vitores-Sypher 

 

If you live in Manhattan or its surroundings, you have probably passed by this space more than once and surely your attention was caught by the conical cement blocks in the river, on which a small island full of trees and colorful plants was built on those cement cones. A green heart that beats uniting the Hudson River and the city that never sleeps, New York City. 

Without a doubt, Little Island is a public park where New Yorkers and visitors can come into contact with nature and art, creating a unique space without turning their backs on the Hudson River that saw the growth of the most famous city in the world, New York. 

Little Island was created on the remains of Pier 54, an area that has had great importance in the history of New York City and the Hudson River. Only between the 19th and 20th centuries was the riverbank a busy port of entry, leaving behind stories such as that of 1912, when “the survivors of the Titanic arrived at Pier 54 aboard the RMS Carpathia salvage liner.” 

Little Island opened on May 21, 2021, but the idea came about in 2013, when Barry Diller of the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, together with the management of the Hudson River Park Trust, had a unique idea for the repair and activation of Pier 54, which had recently been damaged by Hurricane Sandy. 

The island can be visited 365 days a year, there is no entrance fee, and it offers a unique spectacle from different angles wherever you want to look. It has an amphitheater where concerts and shows are held during the summer, as well as spaces to enjoy the peace among its multicolored and aromatic trees and plants. 

Its doors are open from 6 in the morning and close at 11 at night. For the winter season it is recommended to go well covered since being on the river the temperature is even lower, but not even the cold stops tourists and local visitors who take advantage of every sunny day to enjoy this unique spectacle in another emblematic point of New York City. 

I share with you the link to the Little Island page, https://littleisland.org/ and some of the almost 50 photos I took on the sunny Sunday that I chose to visit this beautiful place in NYC.