The Battery
Begin where the city is least certain of itself—on an "assembled ground" of discarded ballast and sunken ships that each generation pushed farther into the harbor to anchor the origin of New York.
In the early 1770s, the Sons of Liberty helped turn lower Manhattan into a hotbed of protest, using taverns, Liberty Poles, and waterfront crowds to challenge British authority. By 1773 and 1774 they were issuing anti-tea declarations and tying the city's port directly to the wider patriot movement. The Battle of Golden Hill in 1770, one of the first violent clashes between Sons of Liberty and British soldiers — a precursor to the Revolution — took place at John Street between William and Pearl.
At a Glance
- Route
- The Battery north along the East River waterfront through South Street Seaport to the Brooklyn Bridge anchorage
- Distance
- 2.3 miles
- Duration
- Half-day
- Difficulty
- Easy — flat, paved waterfront paths and historic streets
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Greenway
- Cycling from Battery Park to the Brooklyn Bridge is a scenic 2.5-mile ride.
Stand at the southern tip of Manhattan and you're at the point where the Hudson and the East River empty into New York Harbor. The Hudson comes down from the north heavy with freshwater, silt, and the long memory of the Catskills and the Adirondacks, though by the time it reaches you it has been tidal for a hundred miles. The East River, pushing in from Long Island Sound, is no river at all but a tidal strait, reversing direction twice a day on its own schedule. Together they pour into the harbor, which opens to the Atlantic. The meeting is restless, brackish, governed by competing forces.
The ground beneath you is imported ground. The Manhattan shore here was once smaller and ragged — tidal flats, shallow inlets. The solid, extended shoreline of today is largely the work of centuries of filling. Ships arriving in the 18th and 19th centuries came in heavy with ballast — stone, sand, rubble — and when they unloaded their cargo, the ballast went into the shallows. Each generation pushing the edge a little farther into the water.
Settled by the Dutch West India Company in 1625, much of The Battery was originally underwater, with landfill eventually doubling its size. Castle Clinton, built on a reef 200 feet offshore, now stands well inland. Subway construction work in 2005 unearthed eighteenth-century fortifications, artifacts, and remnants of Whitehall Slip, a busy colonial-era dock built in the early 1730s.
Bowling Green
An oval park at the beginning of an ancient Lenape trail — present-day Broadway — Bowling Green is recognized as America's first public park. Over its long history this small green has served as a cattle market, a military parade ground, and an official, functioning bowling green. Today it is best known for Arturo Di Modica's Charging Bull sculpture, originally dropped outside the New York Stock Exchange as an act of guerrilla art following the 1987 market crash.
Battery Park
State and Whitehall StreetsLocated at State and Whitehall Streets, Battery Park spans 23 acres and is the city's oldest public space. Named for a row of cannons once mounted near Bowling Green, the park played a key role in early New York. The cannons are now mounted northeast of the old Customs House. The park offers historic harbor views, 21 monuments and memorials, a town green, Bosque Gardens, and the Admiral Dewey Promenade at the water's edge.
thebattery.org · 212-344-3491
Pier A
The oldest covered pier in Manhattan, built in 1886 for the Department of Docks and Ferries and later the Fire Department Marine Station. The clock tower and chimes, erected in 1919, serve as a World War I memorial.
American Merchant Mariners' Memorial
This poignant sculpture honors the 6,700 merchant seamen lost in both World Wars. Two sailors stand looking out to sea, while a third reaches down to grasp the hand of a drowning seaman — visible only at low tide.
Castle Clinton
Built in 1811 as the West Battery, this round fortress has served as harbor defense, an entertainment venue as Castle Garden (1824–1855), an immigration station processing eight million immigrants (1855–1890), and the city's first aquarium (1896–1941). Public advocacy saved it from demolition when the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was being constructed. Now a National Monument with a diorama exhibit detailing the park's history.
nps.gov/cacl · 212-344-7220
SeaGlass Nautilus Pavilion
An aquatic-themed carousel featuring sea creatures, fiber-optic lights, and an interactive experience recalling the original aquarium that once called Battery Park home.
East Coast Memorial
Eight granite tablets, each etched with the names of 4,601 American servicemen who died in the Atlantic during World War II, anchored by a bronze eagle. A sister monument to the West Coast Memorial at the Presidio of San Francisco.
Maritime Manhattan
Whitehall Terminal
The Staten Island Ferry departs from Whitehall Terminal. Every arrival to the city has passed through some version of this threshold. The ferry is free, runs 24 hours a day, and crosses to St. George, Staten Island in about 25 minutes. It remains one of the finest harbor experiences in New York City at no cost.
Alexander Hamilton Customs House
One Bowling GreenDesigned by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1907, the Customs House is a masterpiece of Beaux-Arts architecture. Sculptures by Daniel Chester French adorn the base, representing the continents, while 12 statues depict ancient and modern sea powers. At the time it was built, customs duties made up nearly 90% of all federal revenue in an era before the modern federal income tax. Inside, shippers paid duties beneath the grand rotunda, which features murals of New York Harbor painted by Reginald Marsh. Today, repurposed, housing the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
nmai.si.edu
Battery Maritime Building
10 South Street at WhitehallA historic four-story Beaux-Arts ferry terminal built in 1909, its cast-iron façade carefully restored in 2006. The building belongs to an era when ferry travel was central infrastructure — today it serves as the primary departure point for Governors Island and the Seastreak high-speed ferry for NJ commuters. The upper floors have been refashioned for luxury hospitality.
Cunard Building
25 BroadwayThe former North American headquarters for the Cunard Line, opened in 1919, now the Bowling Green Station Post Office. The current lobby, once the main booking hall, features a 65-foot Cathedral ceiling and shipping-themed murals by Ezra Winter.
International Mercantile Marine Company
1 BroadwayThe former headquarters of the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM), the shipping trust organized by J.P. Morgan that once controlled lines like the White Star Line. You can still read the original limestone-carved signs above the doorways indicating the 'First Class' and 'Cabin Class' entry portals for the former United States Lines ticket office. Inside, the grand booking room — modeled after the opulent main lounges of early 20th-century ocean liners — features a great mariner's compass in the marble floor and a series of murals celebrating transatlantic shipping.
Stone Street Historic District
Stone Street was New York's first paved street. Broad Street featured a narrow canal — dredged to create a waterway reminiscent of Amsterdam. The shoreline was extended over centuries by piling rubble on top of sunken ships. In 1982, an excavation at 175 Water Street revealed the remains of an eighteenth-century British merchant vessel beneath the fill.
Notable addresses include: Herman Melville was born near 6 Pearl Street in 1819; New York's first printing press at 81 Pearl Street (William Bradford, 1693); Delmonico's, America's first restaurant, at 23 William Street (1827); New York's first synagogue on Mill Lane; India House (1854), a club for merchants famed for its extensive maritime art collection; and the Tontine Coffee House at the corner of Pearl and Wall, where merchants gathered before the formation of the New York Stock Exchange.
Fraunces Tavern Museum
54 Pearl StreetBuilt in 1719, the tavern was the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty and where George Washington gathered his officers to deliver his farewell address on December 4, 1783.
frauncestavernmuseum.org
Federal Hall National Memorial
26 Wall StreetThe site where George Washington was inaugurated as America's first President on April 30, 1789. The first Congress also met here to draft the Bill of Rights. The current Greek Revival building was erected in 1842 as the Customs House. Now administered by the National Park Service.
nps.gov/feha
Trinity Church
74 Trinity PlaceEstablished in 1697, this Anglican church with its 140-foot spire was once the tallest structure in Manhattan. The churchyard is the final resting place of Alexander Hamilton (first Secretary of the Treasury), Robert Fulton (inventor of the steamboat), Captain James Lawrence ('Don't give up the ship'), and John James Audubon (naturalist and artist).
Pier 11 | Wall Street
A major commuter ferry terminal serving NYC Ferry and NY Waterway routes to Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and other stops. Glass-enclosed waiting area with snack bar and East River views.
ferry.nyc
South Street Seaport
The South Street Historic District spans eleven square blocks of restored eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings reflecting New York City's maritime heritage. Standing as the architectural anchor of the historic waterfront, Schermerhorn Row was constructed as a row of counting houses to process the exotic cargo from the piers. Within the district, a recreated 19th-century letterpress print shop at 211 Water Street, named for the business founded by Robert Bowne in 1775, is the oldest continuously operating printing enterprise in New York City.
South Street Seaport Museum
12 Fulton StreetEstablished in 1967, the museum encompasses a complex of restored buildings housing galleries and historic ships berthed at Pier 16. It chronicles the history of the Port of New York through exhibits, guided tours, and educational programs.
southstreetseaportmuseum.org
Pier 15 | East River Esplanade
The city's first major commercial port known as 'The Street of Ships'; at its peak, the ships docked here carried virtually one-third of the world's merchant tonnage. Today, a modern two-tiered structure with observation decks and panoramic views, and a hub for excursion vessels and harbor dinner cruises.
Pier 16 — Historic Ships
Berth for the South Street Seaport Museum's fleet of historic vessels, including the Wavertree (1885 tall ship, one of the last surviving wrought-iron sailing vessels), the Pioneer (1885 schooner offering sailing excursions), the Lettie G. Howard (1873 wooden Fredonia-style fishing schooner), and the Ambrose (1908 lightship that once guided vessels into New York Harbor). Also, the departure point for Circle Line harbor cruises.
Pier 17
At Pier 17, you can catch live rooftop concerts, dine along the waterfront, and walk the perimeter to take in sweeping views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline.
Tin Building
Initially constructed in 1862 as the heart of the legendary Fulton Fish Market, the Tin Building has fed the city for generations. To preserve it for the 21st century, engineers disassembled the landmark, restored it, and rebuilt it 32 feet to the east.
Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage
Affectionately dubbed the 'Blue Grotto,' the Manhattan anchorage vaults, beneath the bridge approach ramps, contain a vast network of cathedral-like brick vaults that maintain a natural, year-round temperature of sixty degrees. They served as the city's grandest wine cellars, adorned with elaborate murals and faux French street signs to match the fine champagnes curing in the dark. Shuttered by Prohibition and closed to the public today for municipal storage.
Nearby, the centerpiece of Gotham Park, multilevel red-brick wave transitions beneath the bridge made the area a skate boarding mecca for decades, branded as 'The Banks.'
Getting Here
| Stop / Location | Category | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green (4/5) | Subway | Battery Park, Whitehall Terminal, and Bowling Green |
| Whitehall St (R/W) | Subway | Battery Park and Staten Island Ferry terminal |
| Rector St (1) | Subway | Trinity Church and Wall Street historic corridor |
| Fulton St (A/C/J/Z/2/3) | Subway | South Street Seaport and Pier 17 |
| Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall (4/5/6) | Subway | Northern end of route; Brooklyn Bridge anchorage |
| Staten Island Ferry | Ferry | Whitehall Terminal |
| NYC Ferry — East River Route | Ferry | Pier 11/Wall St stop; to Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx — ferry.nyc |
| Battery Park | Walk | Enter from State St or the Broadway/Bowling Green corridor |
| South Street Seaport Museum | Walk | 12 Fulton St. southstreetseaportmuseum.org |
| NYC Revolutionary Trail | Walk/App | Audio tour through key sites; nycrevolutionarytrail.org |
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