Downing
Park is full of gradual curves and slopes, none
of which are accidental. As I walk up the hillside
all signs of urban life—the cars, roads, and
houses—disappear. I feel transplanted out
of Newburgh and onto a vast, endless strech of land
that wraps around to create its own planet. The
Irish Potato Famine Memorial in Battery Park City,
New York evokes a similar feeling; as you walk up
the model Irish hillside, Manhattan disappears.
These landscapes demonstrate the precision required
in landscape architecture to get a certain effect.
On
top of this hill is a nice view of the Hudson River,
which you can see in the second image. The graffiti
on the terrace hints at Downing Park's less-than-rosy
past. As the city suffered and its budget shrank,
so did upkeep of the park. The image below is a
clipping of an article titled "Neglected Downing"
from an unidenified local newspaper that describes
the situation:
