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Carved out of the boulders that dominate the geography of Manhattan’s northern end, Fort Tryon Park sits atop a wooded hill that offers panoramic views of the Hudson River on one side and Upper Manhattan and the Bronx on the other. Named after the last British governor of colonial New York, Fort Tryon Park was a collaborative effort by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., philanthropist and heir to the Standard Oil fortune, and Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr., the son of one of the creator’s of Central Park. Rockefeller purchased the land in 1917, contracted Olmstead to design the park, and gave it to New York City as a gift in 1931. The main attraction here is The Cloisters, a museum dedicated to medieval art and styled after French monasteries of the same period. The views from lookout points near the flagpole on the fort and along the park’s many footpaths are second-to-none. More vertical than most other parks in the city, its narrow, rugged trails and steep stairways may not be easily passable for the elderly or the disabled. — Andrew Wang

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