I am writing to you now from our neighborhood Starbucks, drinking a cup of coffee..that is really not very good. But, it’s Starbucks and not the Foundry..which is where I will go for my next coffee and writing time. Anyways, that’s not what I came here to write about..
I am still adjusting to being back from the big and beautiful city of New York City, the city of cities. I was honestly surprised by how much I loved being there. My friend, Anna, and I met in the city on the last weekend of May, so the weather was perfect for walking miles and miles every day. Anna is my best and oldest friend. She is an English beauty and lives in Cornwall with her adorable family. We haven’t seen each other for 11 years, and that was when Austin and I flew there to take part in her wedding. So, we really haven’t had proper one on one friend-time for at least 15 years (maybe longer).
Anna is well-traveled and has been to New York at least three times prior to our visit. One of those visits was to see her friend who was a curator at the Museum of Modern Art. She got to see the fashionable and fabulous side of New York. All this is to say, she knew about the New York High Line and knew that I, as a garden girl, would want to see it. She was right!
The New York High Line is an outstanding example of how a community can come together to create something brilliant from a derelict and unused piece of property. It’s also an example of how we can learn from and be inspired by nature. The visionaries behind the High Line saw that the elevated rail line, after 20 years of not being used and slated for demolition, had become home to wildflowers and grasses. The abandoned freight rail line had become a rambling meadow hidden above the busy streets of Manhattan’s west side.
Before the elevated freight line existed, New York City used street-level freight trains to transport goods into the city. These rail lines sadly resulted in many pedestrian deaths. An elevated rail line was established in 1933 to help improve the quality of life for pedestrians while maintaining efficient transport of meat, produce and dairy products into the city. In the 30s it was called the West Side Elevated Line.
Eventually the use of trucks to transport goods made the rail line obsolete and it fell into disuse by the 1980s. After years of being an “eye sore” to many New Yorkers, the mayor signed a demolition order in 1999. However (and thankfully,) creative, smart and community-minded individuals who saw the potential of the unused space, came together to form Friends of the High Line and rallied for the space to be preserved.
In 2003, Friends of the High Line launched an ideas contest to see what could be done with the space. It was from this contest that the idea of a greenway emerged. Landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations; design studio Diller Scofield + Renfro; planting designer Piet Oudolf were commissioned to make the space into what we see today.
It is now a 1.45 mile long greenway featuring 500 plus species of plants and trees. It is also home to public programs, community and teen engagement, artwork and performances, all free!
Nearly 100% of the High Line’s annual budget comes through donations to Friends of the High Line. They are a non-profit conservancy that work with NYC Parks department to maintain the highline gardens.
Most of the historical information I gathered is from the history page of Friends of the High Line Website.
This is part 1 of 2 in my writing about the New York High Line.
Part 2: The good stuff (plants, design and gardening on the New York High Line).
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