South Cove Park

A short walk north of Battery Park lies South Cove, with its small surrounding park. Unlike North Cove with its marina (covered here under World Financial Center Plaza), South Cove is a rectangle of water inhabited by very little other than whatever marine life struggles into existence amid the North River currents.



In the South Cove Park area you may happen upon some unusually impressive (for New York) willow trees:



The lushly landscaped coastal path curves through the area:



Lost? Just walk around and around this circle for awhile, looking now and then at the Statue of Liberty (you can see it in this photo on the horizon), and all is sure to become, if not clear, at least a touch more peaceful:



Poems by Seamus Heaney and Mark Strand are etched around the rim of this fish pond. Whether the pond is technically in South Cove Park, I'm not actually sure—exploring the parks maintained by the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy can be a disorienting day's work—but I do know that "strand" is another word for beach, and that one of Heaney's best-known poems is "A Drink of Water." Coincidence? You decide.