In mid-June, 2017, my daughter and I visited the High Line on the west side of Manhattan in New York. The High Line is a long, narrow garden situated on the site of an elevated freight line that was active from about 1934 to 1960 but was abandoned altogether for this use in 1980. Of course, wild plants took over as railway use declined and stopped, and calls for demolition of the High Line soon followed. In 1999, David and Robert Hammond, inspired by the wild beauty of the High Line's plant life, founded the conservancy Friends of the High Line to advocate for preservation and use as a public space.
The High Line garden now extends for 1.45 miles from just north of 34th Street southward to Gansevoort Street, just south of 14th Street, and it is still being constructed on the north end. It contains more than 500 species of plants inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the neglected rail tracks. The plants found there now were chosen by Piet Oudolf, and if you look carefully you can still see the railroad tracks in the midst of the plants. The High Line is jointly maintained by the Friends of the High Line conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. .
We began our walk near the north end and walked down to Ganevoort Street, so the photos proceed from north to south. The view is the Hudson River to the west and city streets to the east. Artwork and performance spaces are interspersed with the plants along the way. A remnant of the meatpacking district of Manhattan can be seen in the last two photos. A plant list can be found here:
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