Ferry Point Park Memorial Grove
Remembers 9/11 Victims
By Vito Signorile
Friday, September 9, 2011 11:09 AM EDT
The Ferry Point Park
9/11 Memorial Grove has dealt with many problems during its first year, but
community activists are always determined to keep the memorial intact.
In late 2007, the City Department of Parks and Recreation planted 15 white
flowering redbud trees at the southern tip of Ferry Point Park in a project
meant to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
An additional 3,000 saplings that were donated by Prince Albert II of Monaco
were also planted in the park to commemorate the approximate number of people
who lost their lives in the attacks.
In the four years of the Ferry Point 9/11 Memorial Grove’s existence, however,
the memorial trees have dealt with an unfortunate history of vandalism.
In 2008 alone, the memorial trees were stolen by coldhearted thieves three
separate times, forcing local residents, families of 9/11 victims, elected
officials, and high school students to voluntarily replant the trees.
“It was a terrible time because we could never figure out who stole trees that
remember the events of September 11th,” said Dotti Poggi, founder of Friends of
Ferry Point Park. “We were very grateful to have all the help that we got to
replant the trees. It’s one of our most loved sections of our park.”
The area of Ferry Point Park was selected as one of four locations in the
Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island that face or overlook Ground Zero.
The grove is located in a crescent-shaped area near the Whitestone Bridge
overlooking the Hudson River. On a clear day, passersby visiting the Ferry
Point 9/11 Memorial Grove have a clear view of where the World Trade Center
once stood.
Each memorial grove in New York City is called “viewshed groves,” meaning that
each overlooks the area in Lower Manhattan. The trees stand between 10 and 20
feet high and stand-out among the other trees in Ferry Point Park with their
bold white blossoms, and are separated by a small plaque with a dedication to
the victims of 9/11.
Fortunately, Poggi says the grove has remained intact over the last few years
and it is something that Friends of Ferry Point Park makes sure continues to
bloom during the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
“When you have a dedicated area in a park, or anywhere, that honors those who
lost their lives and fought to save others lives, it really means something,”
Poggi said. “We have a staff that constantly cares for the Ferry Point Memorial
Grove because it is something we are certainly proud of.”
APoggi said every year the site is visited
frequently on September 11th. With the 10th this year, she urges local
residents to visit the beloved viewshed grove and pray for those who perished.
Our Plans for the Memorial Hilltop Grove Presented in 2001 to NYC Parks Dept. and Community Board 10 Parks Committee
Taken with a zoom from Hilltop 
Dec. 12th 2007. We are happy to announce that the Flowering Hilltop Memorial Grove has been planted. Due to the weather and the work being contracted out we were not sure of the planting days. We were not able to get photos of the planting but we will be bringing some photos to you by Monday to share the experience. Congratulations to the Forestry Depy. of Parks,
HILLTOP PROMENADE:
Back in 2001 I wanted the hilltop Promenade Restored and to remain a Public area with a Memorial Garden to the persons who had lost their lives Sept. 11th (at the site of the Twin Towers).This hilltop is a wonderful place where the air has been cleaned by the East River and comes up the hill to surround a person, (all people not just Golfers, or Soccer Players) while they watch the sun set behind the obviously changed Manhattan Skyline. The cascading stairways add a grace to this hilltop that is unique in a Bronx Park and should be cherished. (check our W. Grove and Views button)
The Grove is basically set up at this point. The fence is being repaired. One evergreen was stolen during the winter near Christmas and replaced by Parks. The area has been seeded and the view is fantastic.. The daffoldils the girlscouts plnated in Oct. are blooming and the surrounding sapling trees are doing fine.
Throggs Neck Feature: Bronx Times Reporter ..... May 3, 2007 |
9-11 GROVE TO BLOSSOM AT FERRY POINT A separate project will add nearly 3,000 saplings to the park later in the year, one to commemorate each victim of the attacks. That project is being funded by a donation from Prince Albert II of The grove, located at a crescent-shaped outlook near the “Soon after September 11, people were really looking for places to grieve and come together as a community and they used their parks a lot,” said Jennifer Greenfeld, director of the New York Tree Trust, the Parks division overseeing the project. “We realized there was something we could do to give people a place to reflect.” The memorial sites are called “viewshed groves,” a play on the term “watershed,” the spot where multiple streams empty into one body of water, Greenfeld said. In the case of the memorials, the various groves gaze upon a single spot: the former site of the Typical trees in the grove will stand 10 to 20 feet and create a bold white blossom unlike any other in the mostly green park. A small plaque will explain the project and pay tribute to the victims, she said. Community Board 10's Parks Committee announced at the last board meeting on April 19 that it had sent a letter to Greenfeld and the grove's designer to thank them for an earlier presentation on the project. Supporters of Ferry Point Park West also said they are grateful for the project. In fact, the city's search for grove sites perfectly coincided with an independent campaign by the Ferry Point Park West Coalition to create a 9/11 memorial at the park. “We had requested that since we have a beautiful view of the skyline and we were affected in Throggs Neck very badly as far as the firemen and the police that we lost, we felt that this would be a nice area for a memorial,” said Dorothea Poggi, co-founder of the coalition with --------. In addition to the sentimental value of the grove, Poggi said the memorial would attract visitors to a rarely used but beautiful part of the park and absorb some of the noise from the bridge. “It will make the whole area more tranquil,” she said. The second 9/11-related planting at Ferry Point will add several thousand small flowering saplings in all areas of the park, especially in between athletic fields, around designated picnic areas and near the central parking lot. “The saplings will create a flowering edge to some of the wild places in the park,” Greenfeld said. The two planting projects join about $6 million in planned improvements to Ferry Point Park West, including a new comfort station with restrooms and a concession stand. Funds for those upgrades come from the $220 million in park-improvement funds tied to the construction of a water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park. A master plan for the park is expected sometime this summer. |
2008 brought about hundreds of volunteers giving hours of their time to paint the bbq tables on the South Hillside and plant hundreds of daffodils between the newly planted "viewshed grove" trees on the Southern Hilltop Grove.