Despite the iffy weather, Urban Sketchers NYC assembled this week in
the Inwood Section of Manhattan, at the tip top of the island opposite Riverdale
in the Bronx.
Having arrived early, I walked south on Broadway from the 207th Street A-train stop
and spotted this attractive evidence of gentrification. Didn't look occupied yet, but had
an eye-catching facade that played with depth variation on each floor of apartments.
The group gathered at the Dyckman Farmhouse, preserved as a relic of the rural farmland
that characterized the north end of Manhattan until the beginning of the 20th century. Below the
farmhouse is a sketch of the Henry Hudson Toll Bridge that runs across Spuyten Divel to the Bronx.
Set back on the property of the farmstead is a replica of huts built in this area in the Revolutionary
War to house the Hessians, mercenaries hired from the state of Hesse in Germany by King
George the Third to suppress the colonists. One had to bend over to enter the hut, and it looked
none too comfortable, especially as they were occupied in the winter. A sign at waist level to the
left gives an idea of the scale.
After a wonderful, but not costly, gourmet lunch at Beans and Vines on Broadway, we walked south to
Inwood Hill Park, past ball fields and blooming tulip trees to the water's edge.
This is looking roughly north (Manhattan is tilted a bit to the east on the
top end) at the Bridge again. The thin tan line that runs on the shore above the water is the
MetroNorth track and station for that area.
We were able to get back to the subway before the rain started, so, all in all, a really
enjoyable day!
Jim W.
