Abroad in New York
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The locals call Owl’s Head Park “Bliss Park.” Either way, it is bliss.
The 27-acre park is at the northwestern corner of Bay Ridge, just south of the former U.S. Army Supply Base, overlooking the Upper Bay of New York Harbor. And overlook is what the park definitely does, for it is largely in the form of a hill, not unlike Fort Greene Park, and offers breathtaking views.
The land once was a little less than half the grounds of the country house of the 19th-century’s Mr. Brooklyn, Henry Cruse Murphy. A native Brooklynite, Murphy served as mayor of the city of Brooklyn, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a New York state senator. (Senator Street, running east from the park, is named for Murphy.) Murphy was the principal founder of the Brooklyn Eagle, a builder of the Hotel Brighton, and a founder of the Long Island Historical Society. He was a historian of real accomplishments, with a special interest in Dutch New Netherland. When President Buchanan named Murphy as minister to the Netherlands, he was thrilled to have the opportunity to forage among original Dutch West India Company documents. Murphy guided the Brooklyn Bridge legislation through the state senate, then became president of the Brooklyn Bridge Company. Speaking of presidents, Murphy came closer than any other Brooklynite to the White House, narrowly losing the Democratic nomination to Franklin Pierce in 1853.
In 1866, Murphy sold the house and land to another prominent Brooklynite, the industrialist Eliphalet Bliss. After Bliss died, his estate sold much of the land to the city; other portions were sold to private developers.The park opened in 1928. At the time, the mansion still stood. A few years later, the mansion was razed and Robert Moses remade the park in preparation for the construction of the Belt Parkway.
Exiting the park at its southern end at 68th Street, walk along the block-long Owl’s Head Court to Bay Ridge Avenue. Turn right and cross under the Belt Parkway overpass to the 69th Street pier. Owl’s Head Park gives you the harbor view from on high. The pier allows you to walk well out into the harbor. To the south is one of the best views of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. A ferry once operated from this pier to St. George; the ferry ceased service in 1964, one day after the bridge opened.
Just south of the pier begins Shore Road Park, the great ribbon park Moses built as part of the Belt Parkway in the early 1940s. At its northern end, don’t miss the 4 1/2-acre Narrows Botanical Gardens. This is a community-designed and -run garden of stunning diversity – indeed, it is the Versailles of the city’s community gardens. In the warm months, the garden sponsors alfresco movies at sundown; the next is September 23, when the 1953 version of “The War of the Worlds” will be screened, with the lights of the Verrazano Bridge twinkling in the background.