Bennett Park

Bennett Park sits atop the highest natural point in Manhattan, at an elevation of 265 feet above sea level. Located in the Washington Heights neighborhood at Fort Washington Avenue and 183rd Street, the park occupies the site of Fort Washington, one of the most significant military positions of the American Revolutionary War.

During the Revolutionary War, Fort Washington was the last position held by the Continental Army on Manhattan Island. On November 16, 1776, British and Hessian forces stormed the fortification and captured nearly 3,000 American soldiers in one of the worst defeats of the war. George Washington watched the fall of the fort from across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

The park is named for James Gordon Bennett Jr., the flamboyant publisher of the New York Herald newspaper, who donated the land in the late 19th century. A plaque within the park marks the exact location of the highest natural elevation on the island.

Today Bennett Park features a playground, open lawn areas, and benches set among mature trees. The park's elevated position provides a sense of separation from the busy streets of Washington Heights, and on clear days, glimpses of the George Washington Bridge and the Palisades can be seen through the canopy.

Bennett Park is a place where the layers of Manhattan's history are physically embedded in the landscape. Visitors standing on its high ground occupy the same strategic summit that George Washington's troops desperately defended nearly 250 years ago, now transformed into a peaceful neighborhood green space.