This 200-foot long beach, immediately beneath the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge, is pretty much the only non-hardened piece of waterfront in Lower Manhattan. The fact that it exists in such a useful and historically-significant spotˇXit was here, on the foggy night of August 29, 1776, that some 10,000 members of the besieged Continental Army eluded capture by crossing in small boats from Brooklyn--is a happy accident for downtown beachcombers and for any human-powered boater traveling up or down the river.
The challenge now is to persuade the planners of the East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers Project, a $150 million, federally-funded redevelopment scheme that is intended to revitalize the whole length of the waterfront from the Battery Marine Building north to East River Park, to recognize the existence, let alone the potential, of this remarkable spot. So far their preliminary design schemes have ignored it completely, as if hoping that it would just go away, even as they envision the construction of an expensive, elevated 'artificial beach' (sand, but no access to the water) on a pier a few hundred yards to the north.
What needs to happen is for a group of 'stakeholders'--boaters, local business owners and residents, and parks advocates--to come together and lobby for the inclusion of the beach and its surroundings in the final plan for the waterfront. It already functions as a de facto "public landing," but with a few simple changes and improvements--a gate cut into the esplanade railing, an interim boat-rack in the parking lot under the FDR--it could become one of the centerpieces of the entire project.
Know more about this beach? Email us at info@newyorkharborbeaches.org
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| Location is everything |
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| Reverse angle |
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| Beachcombers |
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| What is that thing, anyway? |
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| Looking south from old pilings |
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| Diesel-free water taxi: 5 minutes to Dumbo Cove |