I've read so much about the High Line in New York City — the park built atop the old west side elevated rail line — I still can hardly believe that I first visited just a couple of weeks ago, although I'm in NYC several times every year.
We went early on a weekday, at 7:30 AM, just half an hour after the park opened. We almost had the place to ourselves, so early is a great time to visit. The horticulturists were out, weeding and watering and doing other chores, most likely to beat the mid-day heat.
Most of the photos I'd seen beforehand focused on the billowy plantings by Piet Oudolf or the crowds that congregate at overlooks, performance spaces, and other places where the path widens out a bit. So I didn't expect the old rail lines to be so prominent … but they obviously play a big part in the design by James Corner, whose firm, by the way, gives periodic design tours of the site. (Well worth it, I'm sure).
I loved stumbling across this little guy sitting in the middle of the tracks … about half-way or so down the park. Not too far from here, we stopped at a coffee bar, sat down at a small table, and admired the views of New Jersey.
Jersey, I think, never looks as good as it does from the High Line. And at this point, the High Line also overlooks a small park down on street level.
The plantings by Oudolf did not disappoint and seemed most appropriate for conditions that often are sunny and often windy.
But what I really loved throughout was the hardscape. In the photo above you can see the stone benches (which I think are probably lit up at dusk) … the great wooden chairs where you can lounge about and read, and across from them you'll note the steel planters.
And not only are the rail lines intact, also the rail bed, if you look to the left in the photo.
They were left in place at various points along the way, usually amid those gorgeous plantings.
If you haven't been there yet, don't fail to plan a trip.
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