NYC Urban Sketchers Blog: SATURDAY: Sketch the Little Red Lighthouse

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

SATURDAY: Sketch the Little Red Lighthouse

This sketch event was planned for us by Svetlana

Weather note: The forecast says rain for Saturday. This is not a rainy day idea. I'm hoping we'll get a reprieve. I will post an alternate dryer event on Friday if this optimism isn't rewarded.

Bennett Park

We will start the sketch in Bennett Park, a neighborhood gem, built on the site of Fort Washington. The fort’s former contours are still outlined by granite paving in the southern portion of park. The
park features an outcropping of Manhattan schist which is the highest natural point in Manhattan (267.75 feet above sea level, identified by a stone marker) and the Hudson View Gardens apartment complex on the west side of the park, representing a relatively early example of Tudor design in the city, predating Tudor City in Manhattan.

Svetlana Sketching

From the Bennett Park we will walk down the sloping Pinehurst Avenue and 181st Street (a walk which New York Times says “echoes” of Montmartre) down to a small terrace perched at the end of 181st Street with a fantastic view of the George Washington Bridge (which is by the way the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge) and the Palisades. We will spend another hour or so here before moving on for lunch.

We will enjoy lunch together at the park by the Hudson River in sight of – The Little Red Lighthouse, Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse and the main character of Hildegarde H. Swift’s 1942 children’s classic, “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.”

The Little Red Light House sketched by Joan T. four years ago.

The lighthouse, built in 1880 and moved to Jeffrey’s Hook in 1921, warned ships away from the shore as they made their way down the narrow channel between New York and New Jersey. However, when construction of the great George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, the lights of the bridge’s 600-foot towers overwhelmed the little lighthouse, and according to the book, made him feel small and unimportant. But at the end of the story, the bridge reassures the lighthouse that it is still needed to guide boats which are unable to see the lights high atop the bridge.

The story became so popular that when the lighthouse was slated for demolition in 1951, thousands of children started a nationwide campaign to save it. Thanks in part to their efforts, the lighthouse is now under the ownership of NYC Parks & Recreation.

DETAILS:

10:00am Meet in Bennett Park - W 183rd St &, Fort Washington Ave - by the cannon in the center. By subway use the A Train to 181 Street, or a few blocks further the #1 Train to 181 St. (see subway map below)

11:00am Move down Pinehurst Ave and 181st St to the overlook terrace (located at the corner of 1380 Riverside Drive) (see walking map below)

12:30pm Lunch bring your own or chance finding something on the way.

1:30pm Sketch the lighthouse (formally known as Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse).

NOTES:

- Bring a stool if you own one. It gives you options.
- The walk to the lighthouse will take approximately 15 minutes. We'll be walking from the tallest spot in NYC to sea level. The streets are steep and it's a bit of hike getting back.
- See the maps - provided below.