Isham Park's ginkgo is about to become one of New York City's Great Trees. On Saturday, November 14, NYC Parks and the Isham Park Alliance will install the official sign naming the tree an Official Great Tree of New York City, then throw a free party in the park to mark it, with a brass concert on the Great Lawn to close the day.

Isham Park sits on the slope above Broadway at the top of Manhattan in Inwood, next to Inwood Hill Park. The celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free and open to everyone.

The day's schedule

  • 11 a.m.: the official Great Tree sign goes up at the ginkgo.
  • 11:30 a.m.: a party at the park's newly restored memorial circle terrace.
  • 1 p.m.: a concert on the Great Lawn by Calliope Brass.

What a Great Tree is

The city's Great Tree list goes back to 1985, when it held its first Great Tree Search, asking residents in each borough to nominate trees of unusual size, species, form or historical association. With those results and a grant from the Arthur Ross Foundation, NYC Parks' New York Tree Time began the Great Tree program, which includes an endowment for the care and protection of the trees. In 2000 it published Great Trees of New York City: A Guide, written and photographed by Benjamin Swett.

The program still takes nominations. Parks staff will be at the Isham Park celebration to talk about it, and trees can also be nominated on the NYC Parks website.

The ginkgo and the hill it stands on

NYC Parks lists the large ginkgo, a Ginkgo biloba, among Isham Park's features, along with a worn outcrop of Inwood marble. The park sits on a crest of Manhattan schist at the northern end of the island, with views over the Hudson and Harlem River valleys.

The land came to the city as a gift. In 1864 William Bradley Isham, a leather merchant turned banker, bought a 24-acre summer estate on the west side of what was then Kingsbridge Road, the northern stretch of Broadway, and landscaped it with lawns, trees and gardens. Starting in May 1911, the Isham family gave the land to the city in a series of gifts to create a public park. Parks notes that the historian and archaeologist Reginald Bolton found evidence of indigenous planting fields within the park's footprint, along with remains of Hessian redoubts from the Revolutionary War.

Today the Urban Park Rangers work with schoolchildren on restoration projects on the park's slope, planting native shrubs and trees. The party on November 14 is held on the park's memorial circle terrace, which the event listing describes as newly restored.

Getting there

Enter Isham Park from Broadway, just north of 211th Street. The 1 train's 215th Street station and the A train's Inwood-207th Street station are both a short walk away. Questions about the day go to the organizer, Liz DeJean, at edejean2@gmail.com.

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