FishBridge Garden

Fishbridge Garden is REALLY off the beaten path - I did not find it in any secret or hidden New York sites or guides. Online you will find a description on the Parks Department website - click here. A friend and I stumbled into this place while walking the South Street Seaport area on Front Street. At the Fulton Street end you have shops, the Pier 17 complex and ships - all well known to tourists. This area was the home of the Fulton Fish Market, one of the country's (and world's) largest. It was also one of the last working areas of the Manhattan waterfront and one of the last of the city’s outdoor wholesale markets. Six days a week, from midnight until about 9 a.m., the Fulton Fish Market was a dynamic bedlam of rubber-booted workers cleaning, boning, icing, unpacking, and repacking fish from throughout the world. Walking away from Fulton Street along Front Street towards the Brooklyn Bridge, one is treated with impeccably restored buildings of the neighborhood - one can see many signs of former fish dealers. Some may find the area over-gentrified and too many nationally known retailers at the street level. But we chose to enjoy the architecture of this area on a beautiful day and leave the nay saying at home. At the end of Front Street at Dover Street one will find a tiny Park/Garden running a short block to Water Street. Click here for more photos. This park/garden was built between 1990 and 1992 on the site of a former parking lot and rat-infested garbage dump. Local volunteers cleaned up the site and built a garden children’s play area, barbecue, and dog run. Unfortunately the Garden was closed when we got there, so we only go to peer through the fence. Next time ...