All the photos on this blog were of the High Line in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. This is an awesome elevated park that was originally train tracks. A RBG volunteer, Elaine, told me that I had to go and I'm glad I did (more details later). Today was a crazy day at the gardens that culminated in our volunteer appreciation dinner this evening which went wonderfully. We had a great time and had over 100+ volunteers attend. Larry, Big John, Little Jerry and Janice were all here as staff today and we had Kay, Robin, Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Maury and many others at the gardens today as volunteers. It was a busy day overall with lots of detail. This blog will be the last of my NYC installments and I'll get back to day to day business tomorrow.
The High Line was originally built in the 1930s as a means to lift freight trains 30' over the street level and remove them from general traffic. The last train to run on the tracks was in 1980. When the tracks were in threat of demolition, the Friends of the High Line was formed in 1999 and began the process of creating an elevated park in this location. In 2003, a competition called "Designing the High Line" attracted 720 proposals from 36 countries. Ground was broken in 2006 to install the winning design. As seen in many of these images, segments of the track are exposed and incorporated in to the design. The paving system for the walkways collect and redirect all rainwater to the beds or storage cisterns. The entire project was awesome although I was disappointed to see that only about half the park is open to the public with the remainder being opened next year. Feel free to GOOGLE this park or look in to its history. It was heavily used the day (last Thursday) that Cheryl and I walked thru. We talked with a park volunteer about the history and he loaned us some neat references regarding the specific plantings and construction details of the park. It was darn cool and I recommend it to everyone. It was very unique and there was a section (pictured further below) that had sloped seating facing a huge glass wall where you could look down at the street and people watch. The park would alternate between emphasizing its heritage (and height off street level) and hiding it and making you feel like you were in a typical park or plant restoration area.
All the photos on this blog were of the High Line in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. This is an awesome elevated park that was originally train tracks. A RBG volunteer, Elaine, told me that I had to go and I'm glad I did (more details later). Today was a crazy day at the gardens that culminated in our volunteer appreciation dinner this evening which went wonderfully. We had a great time and had over 100+ volunteers attend. Larry, Big John, Little Jerry and Janice were all here as staff today and we had Kay, Robin, Dr. Gredler, Dr. Yahr, Maury and many others at the gardens today as volunteers. It was a busy day overall with lots of detail. This blog will be the last of my NYC installments and I'll get back to day to day business tomorrow.
The High Line was originally built in the 1930s as a means to lift freight trains 30' over the street level and remove them from general traffic. The last train to run on the tracks was in 1980. When the tracks were in threat of demolition, the Friends of the High Line was formed in 1999 and began the process of creating an elevated park in this location. In 2003, a competition called "Designing the High Line" attracted 720 proposals from 36 countries. Ground was broken in 2006 to install the winning design. As seen in many of these images, segments of the track are exposed and incorporated in to the design. The paving system for the walkways collect and redirect all rainwater to the beds or storage cisterns. The entire project was awesome although I was disappointed to see that only about half the park is open to the public with the remainder being opened next year. Feel free to GOOGLE this park or look in to its history. It was heavily used the day (last Thursday) that Cheryl and I walked thru. We talked with a park volunteer about the history and he loaned us some neat references regarding the specific plantings and construction details of the park. It was darn cool and I recommend it to everyone. It was very unique and there was a section (pictured further below) that had sloped seating facing a huge glass wall where you could look down at the street and people watch. The park would alternate between emphasizing its heritage (and height off street level) and hiding it and making you feel like you were in a typical park or plant restoration area. 
Wow! Love to see innovative approaches to recycling. A fabulous project.
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