"It's My Park Day" activities in Isham Park

- It's My Park Day - 

Saturday May 18th

9:00am to 1:00pm 

Location: Memorial Terrace, surrounding paths and plantings above Broadway @ West 212th Street

Pin made in 1912

 

- Recently produced Isham Park Centennial pins - based on the historic 1912 Celebration novelty pin worn to last fall's event on September 29th by Isham family member Carol Collins Malone - will be distributed!

- VIPs plan weeding and cleaning of the Memorial and the Ginkgo upper slope plantings, plus the swale or stone drain, paths and steps.

- Plantings will be added if the weather cooperates with a little moisture by the 18th!
  
- Note: Please wear a hat, long pants & long sleeved shirt with boots or closed shoes!  Gloves, refuse bags, & tools will be provided

For More Information:

E-mail: volunteersforishampark@gmail.com

 

Saturday April 20th come out to work in Isham Park on Earth Day weekend!

- Spring Work Day -

 Earth Day weekend 

Note: Please wear a hat, long pants & long sleeved shirt 

with boots or closed shoes!

Gloves, refuse bags, & tools will be provided

Please come out and participate!

 

WHO:             - Volunteers for Isham Park, adults & older children 

                        - NYC Parks & Recreation Gardener  

WHEN:           Saturday April 20th 2013

                          9:00am to 1:00pm

WHERE:       Corner of Isham Street & Seaman Avenue

Work Site:     Isham Park along the base of the south slope along the entrance path & the slope between Park Terrace West and Seaman Avenue,

Activities:       Collection of tree debris from hurricane Sandy & lawn repairs

For More Information:

E-mail: volunteersforishampark@gmail.com

Or google the blog: “Volunteers for Isham Park”

Palisades support

Recent support expressed for the Palisades on the Hudson River:
http://www.nydailynews.com/planned-lg-headquarters-natural-blunder-critics-charge-article-1.1300870

Views from Isham and Inwood Hill Park

Archives of the NYC Department of Parks

In 1912, Julia Isham Taylor was inspired to give land for Isham Park in part by its view sheds of the surrounding area.

The most significant in her day was the view to the west to the Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades beyond.  At that time, the view to the east across the Harlem River also had beautiful new buildings, among them the Gould Memorial Library and the Hall of Fame for Great Americans designed by architect Stanford White.

Recently both views have been in the news.

While the issues outlined in the articles linked below regarding views west to the New Jersey Palisades may not directly effect the view from Isham Park today, they demonstrate the importance of such views especially for Ft. Tryon, the Cloisters, Wave Hill, and even Inwood Hill Park. 

Two articles regarding the view shed from Cloisters to NJ Palisades:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/arts/design/the-cloisters-view-is-threatened-by-lg-electronics-offices.html?_r=0
and
http://www.northjersey.com/englewoodcliffs/Englewood_Cliffs_corporate_tower_plan_under_fire.html?page=all

Meanwhile, the buildings to the east by Stanford White which are today part of the campus of CUNY's Bronx Community College, were recently designated a National Historic Landmark.  The College is the first community college so honored in our country; the effort to designate was lead by the new BCC President, Carole M. Berotte Joseph.  

Bronx Community College designation of Hall of Fame and Gould Memorial Library:
http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/?page=tertiary&p2=Announcements&&p3=Faculty/Staff&&p4=2506
and
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-community-college-named-national-historic-landmark-article-1.1201244

Please have  a look at these two news items and consider them in light of Julia Isham Taylor and her aunt Flora E. Isham's gifts of land in 1912.

Happy New Year!

Hoping this will be the year in which water service is restored to Isham Park!  A nice symbol of renewal in this the park's 101st year!

Today's New York Times cover is dominated by a weather report on 2012 and intense heat and drought. Yesterday, noticed that the hellebores in the Margin Garden along Park Terrace West were budding. Though it may seem that global warming has encouraged the process, hellebores live through winter and are said to bud as early as January in our area.

For more on the budding of these hardy plants and their very beautiful blooms go to:
http://www.hellebores.org/helleborushybridus.html

Planting yesterday, Sunday November 4th

Residents of Cooper Street helped plant and turn soil.

Thank you so much to those who helped out last Sunday on Cooper Street and in Isham Park along the path up from the Broadway and Isham Street entrances that gradually rises above Park Terrace West.

The Daffodils planted on Cooper Street are in part an experiment to see if they can survive harsh conditions imposed on the new street trees or if they will help the trees to be treated with more respect.

We were able to turn the soil of many of the pits on the street for the relatively new trees.

Daffodils were planted long the west side of the entry path.

Cooper Street and Park Terrace West (PTW) actually connect at Isham Street.  So part of the idea in planting on Cooper and along PTW is to foreground their connection.  The streets share a beautiful view of the Cloisters Tower in Ft. Tryon Park, framed by a corridor of apartment buildings, some of which are among Inwood's best examples of Art Deco.

The area in Isham Park that we planted has healthy patches of Vinca minor or Periwinkle already in place.  The Daffodils should look lovely amid the Vinca, with its little blue flowers and shiny dark green leaves, next spring.

Hoping to still plant where we planned to earlier, before Hurricane Sandy blew over half of the second of the four Beech trees that were planted below the memorial in the 1930s in reference to the four gifts of land from the Isham family that established the park.

Planting bulbs Cooper to Park Terrace West this SUNDAY November the 4th - after all

Hurricane effects and parks closures forced us to cancel this Sunday's IMPD earlier but folks seem to want to plant bulbs after all on this Sunday November 4th, so we are going to do it along Cooper Street and then Park Terrace West (on the paths up the hill on the left or west side away from the new mulch-over-burlap-net area).

So if you have cabin fever and want to get some bulbs in for next spring, come on out!  We will meet at 9:15am in front of 10 Cooper Street.  Plan to work until noon.  We have 550 Daffodils from NYers for Parks and Bluebell bulbs donated by John Emmanuel.

Should make a lovely path for the Cloisters Tower view next spring!