Summer’s brilliancy has started to fade, but the deeper, delicate tones of autumn fill Battery Park. Come walk with me and see the slow and wonderful changes October brings to my favorite NYC park!

The Battery Bikeway

I’m starting off my walk on the Battery Bikeway, as always. There’s still so much in bloom, and it will continue into November. You can see how lovingly the plants are cared for.

You couldn’t get a better day than today!

The Purple Beautyberry is a great favorite of songbirds. More than 40 species of birds will eat them. The squirrels will munch on them too, after the leaves fall. They’re now coming into their deepest color.

I expected these Blackberry Lily seeds to be hard little seeds, but they really were soft like berries! Over the summer they were a bright orange flower.

Sea Glass Carousel

As I approach the Sea Glass Carousel, it still gives off the feeling of summer, even though the surrounding greenery is starting to fade.

A profusion of Clematis seeds, you know I pinched one or two. They’re a lovely white flower in the summer.

Though they are wicked fierce, I love Starlings. I met this guy alongside the Sea Glass Carousel. He and I whistled to each other for a few minutes before he flew back to his buddies. They are very people shy, so I’m always happy when I get to interact with one.

I’ve written before how much I love the curved benches at Battery Park. They lend so much style and direction to the paths.

This view is looking north, towards the beginning of Broadway. The Alexander Hamilton Custom House (1907), 1 Bowling Green is at right.

Feast of the Sparrows

I can’t get enough of the Purpletop Vervain. I must have taken 30 photos of these flowers! The color is exquisite.

By the East Coast Memorial is a large, densely packed grouping of Jumpseed (Persicaria). I think it’s actually invasive in some areas, but the house sparrows were going crazy for it. There were a few dozen of them within the plants, plucking the seeds off as fast as they could.

You really get a feel for how critical the seeds are for the wildlife.

The View

One World Trade was brilliant in the morning light. I like how the light in this photo calls attention to the geometry of the building

I strayed off the path a little – seems to be my way in life – and found that someone had settled a chair deep within the plantings. What a fabulous place to sit in peace, and contemplate. Which is one of the many things that brings me to this park week after week.

Not a good shot, but how could I write about The Battery without a snap of Lady Liberty? That wonderful blue of the water is another sign that autumn is here…you don’t see that deep color in summer.

Who could argue the beauty of autumn?

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Another sign of the changing of the seasons is the lack of people sitting around the Bosque Fountains. The 35 jet spray carries the water quite a distance, and today it’s a bit chilly. On the left, a full boat heads out to Liberty Island to visit the Statue.

Last Burst of Beauty

I really need to figure out how to get Anemone in my garden. I wonder if it always flowers this long a season, or if the gardeners do something to give it extra bloom time.

The name Toad Lily surely does not do justice to this gorgeous flower. It doesn’t have the kapow! of a summer flower, but I prefer it’s delicate beauty and pale autumn pink.

Lots of green still on The Lawn. Now that summer has passed, you won’t find a ton of movies and concerts, but I like it better when it’s quiet. There are always lots of locals at the dog run. And you can still catch a tour of the Urban Farm or a history tour of The Battery. See the schedule here.

The Monuments

Always poignant, “The Immigrants” (1973), by Luis Sanguino, Battery Park. The sculpture includes an Eastern European Jew, a freed African slave, a priest, and a worker. It sits near Castle Clinton, which once served as a processing facility for immigrants from 1855 – 1890, before the Ellis Island facility was built. The inscription reads:

“DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS
WHO ENTERED AMERICA THROUGH CASTLE GARDEN
IN MEMORY OF SAMUEL RUDIN 1896-1975 WHOSE PARENTS ARRIVED IN AMERICA IN 1883″

The Labyrinth of Contemplation was installed in 2002, to commemorate 9/11 and offer a way to reflect, honor, and heal. One of the oldest contemplative tools in existence, a labyrinth is a circular path providing a continuous route to the center and then returning to where the walker began. The Battery Labyrinth is outlined with 1,148 blocks, spiraling in seven rings to the center and then out again to the entrance.

When it was first built, the blocks were stark against the grass. Now, as you can see, the garden is lush and feels private inside.

Coming up behind the monument to Giovanni da Verrazzano. In 1524, Verrazzano, an Italian nobleman who sailed on behalf of the French monarchy, became the first European known to have entered New York Bay. He was the first to have seen the site we now call The Battery.

Where are the bees???

I was shocked when I stepped up to the Battery Bee Village – where are the bees? All kinds of thoughts rushed through my head as to why they aren’t here. Hopefully it’s some sort of routine task. Collecting the honey, maybe? I tried to find out online, but no luck yet. Anybody out there know where the bees are?

I wasn’t going to leave the park before stopping back at the Hyacinth Bean bench. Look at this marvelous plant! Super lush, and the pretty flowers are so delicate. They look like flowering peas. I scavenged around a little underneath to find a few seed pods. Next year I will definitely be growing Hyacinth Bean!

The northeast corner of Battery Park is the corner of State Street and Battery Place, and Bowling Green. The Nathan’s hotdog truck is ALWAYS there! Across the street at right you can see one of the incredible Four Continents by master sculptor Daniel Chester French, creator of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial statue. The one visible is “Africa”. Truly, they are worth a trip to New York in themselves.

In the center of the photo is the Netherlands Monument, gift from the people of Holland to the City of New York in 1926. The monument reads: “In testimony of ancient and unbroken friendship this flagpole is presented to the City of New York by the Dutch People 1926”.

It’s been another peaceful stroll through The Battery, and it’s time to start my trek northward. Yes, there was a woman in the ladies room screaming about being a victim, and about twice the normal police presence in the park, but I don’t let those things bother me. This park is a gift, and I focus on the joy it brings me and others. Soon, the leaves will be down and the plants will be sleeping. And I’ll be sure to share that beauty with you, too!

Thank you for reading.

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