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Manhattan's summit is this rock outcrop.
Could the fact that the peak is surrounded by English Tudor style buildings
be a reason Washington retreated in 1776? Click here
to see a 360 degree Java panorma of the summit.
MICHAEL CREWDSON and MARGARET MITTELBACH claim to be the first to assault all five borrough high points. Below is the Manhattan portion of their article which appeared in November 18, 1998, issue of The New York Times. Day 1. First Ascent: 10:30 A.M. You would think in a city obsessed with superlatives -- ''bests'' and ''mosts'' -- the highest spot in Manhattan would be a well-known fact. Instead, it is a matter of dispute. According to ''The Geology of New YorkCity and Environs'' by Christopher Schuberth, the top spot is ''a little over 260 feet'' above sea level and at the ''flagpole several hundred feet south of the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.'' Au contraire, according to Tony Golata, a Manhattan Borough Engineer. His contour map puts it three-quarters of a mile to the south, next to the lesser-known Bennett Park in Manhattan. As part of the expedition, we vow to settle this matter once and for all. Since both peaks are in Washington Heights, we begin our first campaign from the Dyckman Street Station of the No. 1 subway train, elevation 10 feet above sea level. Trekking past a Hispanic luncheonette and a Blockbuster video store, we cut left onto Broadway. There, the sidewalk gradually begins to climb and the tree-covered heights of Fort Tryon beckon. So long, flatlanders. Ascending the park's stone staircases, we immediately experience the first difficult climbing of the day. While ''Into Thin Air'' describes hypothermia and even the swelling of the brain that affect high-altitude climbers, the worst symptoms we encounter are mild huffing and puffing. Within 15 minutes, we climb to a point level with the treetops and emerge into the sunlight. In our quest for ''highs,'' we head straight for the first possible summit: the Fort Tryon Park flagpole. It turns out to be an ignoble peak with crummy views. There's no marker to indicate we've just conquered the island's highest height and our intuition tells us Manhattan's real summit lies elsewhere. Heading south on Fort Washington Avenue, we pass the prophetically named Hilltop Pharmacy and run smack into lovely Bennett Park, a pocket of green surrounded by odd, Tudor-style apartment buildings. We turn left onto Pinehurst Avenue and, with growing excitement, we scan the 1.8-acre park. We spot an outcrop of reddish rock rising gently perhaps three feet from the ground. On it, a granite plaque from the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey reads: ''The Highest Natural Point on Manhattan: 265.05 Feet Above Sea Level. USC & GS Datum.'' Eureka. Scrambling to the top of the rock, we breathe in what seems like thinner air and caress the summit's grainy surface. It's an exhilarating feeling. After we've hopped down and are resting on a park bench, we notice several toddlers and a pigeon summiting after us. Margaret Stern, 78, a math teacher who's walking her English cocker spaniel in the park, informs us that many people actually miss the decimal point on the plaque and think it says 26,505 feet. |
(Long Hill), Manhattan, New York, 284 Feet 184th Street and Fort Washington Boulevard The summit proved far more interesting than I expected. George Washington, the true Father of County High Pointing, held out here until the last possible moment before surrendering Manhattan to the British in 1776. Remnants of his fort are marked at the south side of the summit grounds. Earlier in August 1776 Washington survived to fight another day as 400 troops on Brooklyn's highest point fought to the death to protect his retreat in the Battle of Brooklyn. Washington was to continue his county high point saga in 1783 by staying at the foot of the Bronx highest point (Fieldston) before entering Manhattan in triumph. James Gordon Bennett, founder of the New York Herald, owned the property after the war. He was to go on to be burried near Brooklyn's highest point in Green-Wood Cemetery. I took the 1 (Red) Train to 181st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue (better known as the George Washington Bridge bus station stop). Burried deep beneath the hill it took a 15 second elevator ride just to get out of the subway to begin the summit assault. The A (Blue) train runs even closer -- 181st and Fort Washington. The area was filled with Spanish bodegas and clothing stores. As I climbed, the hill the neighborhood makeup shifted to a white middleclass. Malcom X was assassinated a mile southeast of the summit at the Audubon Ballroom at 166th Street and Broadway. The summit had sheer rock faces on its south and east sides so I had to summit the peak from a stairway at mid block. The reward was a small granite outcropping with a marble embedded sign proclaiming this the "highest natural point of Manhattan." My jubilation was tempered as I twisted my ankle as I scampered across the rocks (I guess you really do need hiking boots even in an urban setting). In 1998, the Giulianai Administration erected a sign detailing the historical importance of the site (a similar sign in Van Cortland Park details the importance of the area Fieldston, the Bronx highest point). 
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