The Battery

The Battery takes its name from the line of artillery cannons that once stood along this shoreline to protect the early Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. These weapons were first positioned here in the late seventeenth century, long before the area was transformed into the twenty-five-acre public park you see today. You are walking on land that has been repeatedly expanded through centuries of landfill, effectively pushing the tip of Manhattan further out into the harbor. This site has served as the frontline for military defense, a gateway for millions of immigrants, and a center for high-society entertainment, all within the same few acres of waterfront ground.