Latest news with #NYBG
Fast Company
4 days ago
- General
- Fast Company
This interactive map shows you what your NYC block looked like 400 years ago
At the New York Botanical Garden, a team of scientists just published an interactive map that explores what all five boroughs of New York City looked like 400 years ago—and you can search for your own block. The map, called ' The Welikia Project,' was made by the NYBG's Urban Conservation team. It takes the city block by block, uncovering the history of flora, fauna, and Indigenous people that once lived in each area before it became an urban enivronment. The name 'welikia' is borrowed from the Lenape people, who lived in what's now New York City for 8,000 to 10,000 years before European settlers; it means 'my good home.' Viewers can use the tool to look at almost any area in the five boroughs—including Grand Central, Yankee Stadium, and individual streets—to see what kinds of trees might have grown there, whether the area was host to any particular species of animals, and how Indigenous people may have used the land's resources. The project was spearheaded by Eric Sanderson, a historical ecologist and vice president of urban conservation strategy at NYBG who has studied New York's ecology for over two decades. Sanderson says the map has a range of uses, from helping New Yorkers feel more connected to their city to offering new insights to city planners and urban flood prevention experts. A decades-long project Sanderson has been studying the historical ecology of NYC since the early aughts, after moving to the city in 1998 to work at the Wildlife Conservation Society. His years-long deep dive began while browsing through used books at The Strand: He came across a book full of historical maps of New York City. One particular map—the British headquarters during the American Revolution—showed Manhattan when it was a fledgling city at the very southern tip of the island. 'The rest of the map was hills, streams, wetlands, and beaches—not what we normally think of when we think of New York City,' Sanderson says. 'So I geo-referenced that map, and I started to think about how the streams and the wetlands and the beaches related to the modern geography of the city today.' That initial spark of curiosity ultimately became the 2009 bestselling book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, which reconstructed the flora and fauna that once made up Manhattan. The book went on to become an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, a National Geographic cover, and a TED Talk. 'After that, I was kind of looking to go back to my conservation work,' Sanderson says. 'And yet, people kept asking me, 'Aren't you going to do Brooklyn?' or, 'Don't you live in the Bronx?' or, 'Have you ever been to Staten Island?' So I started pulling together pieces of information, doing more reading, and looking at historical maps. Eventually that led to [The Welikia Project].' The Welikia Project Currently, Sanderson is working on another book called The Welikia Atlas and Gazetteer: A Guide to New York City's Indigenous Landscape, slated for release in 2026, that maps the historical ecology of all five NYC boroughs. In the meantime, he and his team at NYBG have spent the past year and a half assembling the Welikia Project website, which compiles all of Sanderson's new research into an easy-to-parse interactive map. Sourcing the historical map data to build a recreation of early NYC presented a host of challenges. Whereas Sanderson had the British headquarters map as a touchstone for his Mannahatta work, he says this larger project was much more piecemeal. 'When we moved to the scope of the whole city, there was no one map that was very early and showed me all [the things I was looking for],' Sanderson says. 'We spent a large part of the project just going to map archives, like the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the British Library in England, as well as many others.' In all, Sanderson's team georeferenced more than 600 maps from the late 18th century to the late 19th century, analyzing hundreds of puzzle pieces to assemble an overarching view of the city pre-urbanization. Using this influx of data, they then built a digital map by layers, creating one layer illustrating all of the streams, another for the topography, another for the marshes, and so on until the bigger picture began to take shape. Another branch of the project entailed sifting through biological data, as well as plant and animal surveys, to understand the flora and fauna that would have inhabited the region 400 years ago. Then, Sanderson's team used a kind of prediction tool called a Muir web to take both the topographical data and the biological data and produce an estimate of what the habitat most likely looked like on every NYC block. According to the map, Grand Central Station was once home to white wood aster plants and green frogs; Staten Island Mall hosted redback salamanders; and Yankee Stadium was a low salt marsh community inhabited by eastern gray squirrels and passenger pigeons. Future applications Sanderson says the Welikia Project could be used for a number of practical applications, from helping landscape architects understand the native environment to giving urban planners a better sense of the city's makeup. Currently, he's working on a follow-up study to assist in urban flood planning. According to a recent study from the Regional Plan Association, as many as 82,000 housing units in and around NYC could be lost due to flooding by 2040, and that could double to 160,000 by 2070. Sanderson plans to map all of the places that were historically aquatic ecosystems—like streams, wetlands, and beaches—in order to produce more accurate predictions of future flood patterns. For the everyday New Yorker, Sanderson hopes that The Welikia Project provides a chance to better understand the landscape that serves as their home. 'What I really want people to do is to zoom into their block where they live, and to see that it was a forest or a wetland, and to think about what that means for them,' Sanderson says. 'For some people, I think that's a testimony to how much the world has changed over the last 400 years. One of my colleagues said, 'Somewhere between Mannahatta and Manhattan is the story of every place on Earth.' In some ways, that is the case.'
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Van Gogh Exhibit At NYBG Transports Visitors To The South Of France
Visitors interacting with "Pyramid Sunflower" at Van Gogh Flowers Exhibit at NYBG The new Van Gogh exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) will immerse visitors in the golden ambiance of southern France. This not-to-be-missed show, Van Gogh's Flowers, runs from Saturday, May 24, through Sunday, October 26, 2025, brings some of the enigmatic artist's most iconic paintings to life through colorful botanical displays, sculptures, and large-scale installations. Approaching the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, visitors will be drawn to the massive field of oversized yellow sunflower sculptures on the lawn, a nod to Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers series. Between 1888 and 1889, van Gogh painted sunflowers in vases on large canvases to welcome his friend Paul Gauguin to the 'Yellow House' in Arles, where he hoped to establish an artist's colony. 'Pyramid Sunflower,' the installation at the NYBG by Lyon-based, international visual artist Cyril Lancelin, welcomes visitors to the Conservatory lawn, enticing them to take a detour and walk through the maze of photogenic sculptures ranging from 4 to 12 feet in height. The path leading to the sculptures also showcases 32 varieties of living sunflowers that move with the sun, much like their kinetic sculptural representations. Lancelin has created many other experiential geometric works in major cities around the world (including Paris, Philadelphia, Beijing, and Milan) that test the boundaries between reality and perception. "Irises on Yellow Columns" by Graphic Rewilding at the New York Botanical Garden. On this self-guided, self-paced exploration at the New York Botanical Garden, visitors are welcomed inside the Conservatory by Irises On Yellow Columns, a striking display by Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski. This display reinterprets van Gogh's famous 'Irises,' painted during his 1889 stay in an asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Provence in southern France. These two contemporary artists joined forces to create Graphic Rewilding, designed to promote positivity to urban environments through public art. "Roses: Van Gogh Eren" by Amie Jacobsen Further inside, three-dimensional painted metal sculptures by Independence, Missouri-based artist and sculptor Amie J. Jacobsen were inspired by other spectacular van Gogh florals. Jacobsen has designed numerous pieces for public spaces and private collectors, often inspired by natural landscapes. Her sculptures at the exhibition are beautifully posed in front of frames and living walls. Van Gogh's hospital garden in Arles at the NYBG Cheerful live flowers, boxwoods, a fountain and other architectural elements bring the hospital garden in Arles alive (where van Gogh spent the good part of a year in the midst of another mental health crisis). During this time, the painter was highly focused and productive, poignantly writing to his brother Theo: 'When I send you the four canvases of the garden that I have on the go, you'll see that considering life happens above all in the garden, it isn't so sad.' 'Van Gogh's Flowers' poster Throughout the experience, an evocative Van Gogh's Flowers Playlist comprised of French jazz and classical music, helps convey the sounds and feelings of southern France. Unobtrusive signage provides background on the artists. Pairing art and nature, Van Gogh's Flowers is more than a botanical show. It offers an innovative and exciting approach to better understand this mysterious artist, his passion, his suffering and his integral connection to nature as a balm for the soul. The NYBG has done a remarkable job pairing its horticultural, educational, and scientific expertise with the amazing setting of the Garden to elicit powerful emotions and promote understanding. Van Gogh's Flowers Van Gogh's Starry Nights at NYBG Visitors can also experience the exhibit after dark at Starry Nights, when live music and lights illuminate these inspiring creations. For the first time in New York City, drones will provide light and color. Cocktails, mocktails, and light bites will be available for purchase, evoking the Parisian bistros frequented by van Gogh. Tickets are available from Fever, a NYBG partner.
CBS News
28-03-2025
- CBS News
Cherry blossom trees start to bloom for 2025 season around NYC. See how to track their peak.
As the Washington, D.C. cherry blossoms reach their peak for 2025 , trees around New York and New Jersey are starting to bloom. Some flowers have already been spotted in Central Park, while others are in full bloom at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. From the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to Branch Brook Park, here's everything to know about when to stop and smell the blossoms around our area. The garden, tucked near the entrance of Prospect Park, says bloom times change from year-to-year but typically range from late March to mid-May. The first trees often blossom around the same time as the garden's daffodils, and the rest will follow within the next four weeks or so. Each tree only flowers for about a week, so there is never a moment when all trees are in bloom at once. According to its CherryWatch tracker , most trees are still in what's called "prebloom," while two species have started to flower. Two Prunus 'Fudan-zakura' trees, located in different parts of the garden, and one Prunus × subhirtella 'Jugatsu-zakura' tree are said to be in the "first bloom" stage. The garden has 26 species in its Flowering Cherry Collection, spread out across its Cherry Cultivars Area, Plant Family Collection, Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Osborne Garden, Cherry Walk and Cherry Esplanade. New York City's other botanical garden in the Bronx says its early season cherry trees have also started to flower. Its mid and late season cherries haven't started to bud yet. The garden says Prunus × incam 'Okame' is the star of the early season, followed by these others: The NYBG has 500 cherry trees on view in its Cherry Valley, Ross Conifer Arboretum and along the southern perimeter. Check out its online cherry bloom tracker HERE . Branch Brook Park, which runs through Newark and Belleville, is also known for its beautiful cherry blossoms . Each year, it hosts the annual Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival . This year's festival is from April 5 to April 13. The first weekend features a bike race and 10k run, followed by a Family Day on Saturday, April 12 and Bloomfest on Sunday, April 13. Watch a live webcam from the park HERE . Another popular spot outside the city is Wooster Square in New Haven, Conn., where they're hosting their 52nd annual Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday, April 6. The event kicks off at noon with food and live music. Perhaps one of the most famous places to see the cherry blossoms is the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. Japan gifted more than 3,000 cherry trees to the United States in 1912 as a symbol of friendship. They are situated around the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park and along the Potomac River and Washington Channel in East Potomac Park. According to the National Park Service , the trees hit peak bloom with a burst of pink and white on Friday, March 28. Officials say peak bloom is reached when 70% of blossoms on the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin are open.
