
Nutter's Battery is a scenic overlook in the
North Woods of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, overlooking the
Harlem Meer
Harlem Meer is a man-made lake at the northeast corner of New York City's Central Park. It lies west of Fifth Avenue, south of 110th Street, and north of the Conservatory Garden, near the Harlem and East Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattan. The la ...
to the north. The battery was built during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...
as a small part of an extensive system of fortification intended to defend against a British invasion from the north. After the war, the wall fell into ruin and eventually disappeared. The Parks Department built a low wall in 1945 to mark the spot, and the
Central Park Conservancy
The Central Park Conservancy is a private, nonprofit park conservancy that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York and NYC Parks. The conservancy employs most maintenance and operations staff in the park. It effective ...
rebuilt the wall in 2014, adding paths and planting.
The battery was named after
Valentine Nutter, who owned the surrounding property.
According to maps and illustrations of the time, the Battery was a redoubt connected to
Fort Fish, by earthworks along the Old Post Road. At the line of 107th Street and Sixth Avenue (Lenox Avenue), the earthworks led to a gatehouse in the road at
McGowan's Pass
McGowan's Pass (sometimes spelled "McGown's") is a topographical feature of Central Park in New York City, just west of Fifth Avenue and north of 102nd Street. It has been incorporated into the park's East Drive since the early 1860s. A steep ...
. From there the earthworks continued up a rocky hill to
Fort Clinton
Fort Clinton was an American Revolutionary War fort erected by the Continental Army on the west bank of the Hudson River in 1776.
Protecting the chain
It was one of a pair of fortifications which straddled the confluence of Popolopen Creek, s ...
.
Brief description
from official Central Park site.
See also
* Blockhouse No. 1
Blockhouse No. 1, colloquially known as The Blockhouse, is a small fort in the North Woods section of Central Park, Manhattan, New York City. Finished in 1814, the Blockhouse is the second-oldest structure in the park, after Cleopatra's Needle, ...
References
Forts in Manhattan
Central Park
Infrastructure completed in 1814
History of New York City
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