Quenching Gotham’s Thirst: New York Before the Croton Era

Janes Walk

Led By Daniel Pecoraro

This tour is an exploration of the most important, but most overlooked, elements of New York’s infrastructure: the city’s hard-won water supply. Looking at the city’s origins at the southern tip of Manhattan, this tour will make its way north (as did the city), passing by all three sites of New York’s City Hall and tracking the path to the Croton water supply (with an epilogue looking towards the watering of Brooklyn in this era).

Accessibility

This tour begins near the Bowling Green 4/5 and South Ferry-Whitehall Street 1/R stations, which are both accessible stations (it's also near the Staten Island Ferry and the M15 SBS bus, and there's a Citibike dock adjacent to the starting point). The tour is on level ground, though part of the tour will take place near Belgian-block streets. The tour ends nearest to the M22 bus at Pike and Madison Streets, the M9 bus at Pike Street and East Broadway, the M15 local bus at Madison and Market Streets. The closest subway station is the F at East Broadway (about a 20 minute walk away), and the closest accessible subway station is Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall/Chambers Street (4/6/J). The NYC Ferry terminal at Pier 11 and the Corlears Hook landing of the South Brooklyn ferry route are also nearby, and there is a Citibike dock at South and Pike Streets.

Location Information

RSVP is required and capacity is limited. Meeting location, ending location, and directions will be provided via email before walk date.

guided

Saturday, May 4, 2024
11:00 AM
2 hours

Borough: Manhattan
Theme: Art & Architecture, Environment, History & Culture
Language: English
Detail view of spillway, New Croton Dam and Reservoir. Photo: Library of Congress.