A map from 1850 shows the original farm estates around 148th Street between 10 Avenue (Amsterdam) and the Hudson when this part of West Harlem was still the countryside of Manhattan. We have posted about the underground waterways in Harlem before and it turns out that a couple of ponds existed in Hamilton Heights before they were filled in by development. Looking at a close up of the 19th century map, it appears that Swan and Fish ponds were local landmarks and one of the estate was that of a landowner named Bradhurst. The rendering of neighborhood that is includes almost looks like a great toile print of the time and we can only image how bucolic this section of Harlem really was before tenements and brownstones took over.
Map courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York
There was also a charming bridge crossing Fish Pond as illustrated on the map and rendering.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. Thanks for finding & posting that map!
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