Mount Tom

You are approaching a prominent outcropping of Manhattan schist known as Mount Tom. This rock formation sits near the end of eighty-third Street, serving as a rare, named geological survivor from the landscape that existed long before the city grid was established. In the mid-nineteenth century, the area surrounding this site was part of the rural village of Bloomingdale. Edgar Allan Poe frequently visited this specific rock between eighteen forty-four and eighteen forty-five while living at a nearby farmhouse. He named the spot after Thomas Brennan, the young son of his landlord. Poe often sat here for hours, looking out over the Hudson River and the Palisades, finding the rocky, quiet view to be a source of personal inspiration.