Washington Heights, together with Inwood (WaHI) and Marble Hill, is one of the three northern most neighborhoods in Manhattan. Though Washington Heights was once considered to extend as far south as 125th Street, today Washington Heights is generally viewed as running north from Harlem at 155th Street to Inwood, topping out just below Dyckman Street. Inwood is the northern tip of Manhattan island. The area is noteworthy for being the at the highest elevation in Manhattan. In fact, in Bennet Park, located at the northern end of Washington Heights, is a plaque marking Manhattan's highest natural elevation, 265 ft (80.8 m) above sea level.
Part of the northwestern Washington Heights is also known as Hudson Heights.
The best known cultural site and tourist attraction in Washington Heights is “The Cloisters” in Fort Tryon Park, which is located at the northern end of Washington Heights. It offers a spectacular view of the New Jersey Palisades across the Hudson River. This is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum is devoted to displaying Medieval art and culture, and is located in a medieval-style building.
Portions of the building were purchased in Europe, brought to the United States, and reassembled in the park.
Washington Heights also features Manhattan's oldest remaining house, the Morris-Jumel Mansion. The house is located in the landmarked Jumel Terrace Historic District, between West 160th and West 162nd Street. It is an American Association of Museums-accredited historic house museum. The mansion was built by Roger Morris in 1765.
Washington Heights History
The Battle of Fort Washington, which happened on November 16, 1776, observed Fort Washington fall to the British at great cost to the American forces; 130 troopers were wiped out or injured, and a further 2,700 seized and placed as prisoners, quite a lot of who perished on prison ships anchored in New York Harbor. The British renamed it "Fort Knyphausen" to recognize the German general who had encouraged the effective assault, and held it for the rest of the war. The progress of the combat is marked with a number of bronze plaques alongside Broadway.
The series of side rails overlooking the Hudson were sites of private villas in the 19th century, including the substantial property of John James Audubon.
During the early 1900s, Irish immigrants went to live in Washington Heights. European Jews traveled to Washington Heights to flee Nazism during the 1930s and the 1940s. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, numerous Greeks gone to live in Washington Heights; the community was known as the "Astoria of Manhattan."