The house where Dennis Harris lived, at 857 Riverside Drive, is worse for the wear of many decades, shorn of its dignified shutters and cupola. Yet the rich history the house holds and the life story of Harris, the man who owned this Greek Revival-Italianate place in Washington Heights, are important to keep alive even as a neighborhood has transformed around this building. Harris, relatively unknown, was integral not only in the early development of Washington Heights but in an enclave of abolitionist fervor as an agent for the Underground Railroad.

This week, two men, Matthew Spady and Joseph Amodio, are leading a tour, “Ferry to Freedom: The Abolitionists of Washington Heights.” They will share the stories of Harris and others through a walk – virtually – from the sites of a sugar refinery on the Hudson River that Harris ran to an abolitionist church in this neighborhood to the extant building at 857 Riverside. Spady, Amodio, and others with the Upper Riverside Residents Alliance have been working to save this house from demolition by urging a city landmark designation. They led a virtual walk on Monday, May 3, and will do another on Wednesday, May 5, at 9 a.m. (all times are Eastern Daylight Time).

If you miss this one, this week you can take a video tour of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s waterways with the garden’s President, Adrian Benepe; do a virtual walk of the architecture and history of Staten Island’s West New Brighton; learn about the Syrian Quarter of Lower Manhattan; or check out, online, the Slavic East Village through its food, its shops, and its houses of worship. These are all part of Jane’s Walk NYC 2021, which the Municipal Arts Society of New York (MAS) presents. The Washington Heights virtual tour is one of literally hundreds of explorations of all kinds that Jane’s Walk New York is offering from May 3-9. In its 11h year, Jane’s Walk NYC is suspending in-person, guided walks and opting for a wide range of offerings and activities such as live, self-guided tours; Zoom and other online virtual walks; and on-demand programs that one can access any time. True to New York City, the show must go on.

This initiative is much in the spirit of what has energized Jane’s Walk from its founding in 2006, shortly after Jane Jacobs passed away that year. That is when friends and colleagues in Toronto sought a way through walks and citizen engagement to honor Jacobs, the writer, activist, and urbanist whose work and life in New York and then Toronto inspired a strong movement empowering the voices of communities and ordinary people in shaping vibrant, walkable neighborhoods. From a handful of walks for the first event in Toronto in 2007, Jane’s Walk has flourished to encompass citizen-led walks, tours, and walking conversations all over the world, happening annually in early May, to honor Jacobs’ birthday on May 4. (Discover more about Jacobs’ life in Greenwich Village and the places that defined her work and impact, through Village Preservation‘s Urban Archive story.)

857 Riverside Drive. 1937
Photo: Berenice Abbott / New York Public Library Digital Collections

857 Riverside Drive, today
Photo Source: Save Riverside

Yet during the past two spring times, the Covid pandemic has put a heavy strain on our ways of gathering, walking, and sharing in groups. A moment of why Jane Jacobs and Jane’s Walk resonates particularly this year: I have stayed quite close to my Hudson Valley home and, like many writers and tour guides, suspended the kinds of neighborhood experiences that Jane Jacobs inspired. The year has been one of much reflection and prayer; distress that so many millions of people are suffering due to Covid; connection with family and community (both near and far); and gratitude for nature’s solitude and the resilience of the birds and other wildlife in the backyard. Yet, it has felt like an exile from New York, the city that I love and that is part of my soul, while I have engaged in activism and connection in the ways that have been possible.

To that end, Jane’s Walk 2021 is rich, albeit on a different platform. Normally, it would be the first weekend of May, and filled with hundreds of in-person tours and walks, with groups gathering all over New York City. I led a Jane’s Walk based on the writer Joseph Mitchell’s love of building details on his long walks in New York. This year, the festival is a full week, with hundreds of programs and virtual tours in every corner of the city that can spark awareness, knowledge, enjoyment, connection, and activism. To be sure, its full slate can provide inspiration of places and sites to follow up on, post-pandemic – to walk. Furthermore, its virtual reach means people all over the globe can do Jane’s Walk NYC this year.

A Small Sampling

Here are just three Jane’s Walk activities as highlights. Be sure to consult the Jane’s Walk NYC 2021 site and prepare to be blown away by the sheer diversity of offerings.

Queens: Around the World in 90 Minutes – On Thursday, May 6, at 11 a.m., a Zoom walk will take participants through “the World’s Borough,” where 183 languages are spoken. The tour promises to “traverse the length and breadth” of Queens, learn about who lives where and why, and get a taste of various neighborhoods.

Virtual Walk: Sandy and Sheepshead Bay – Superstorm Sandy devastated this community in 2012. Through a virtual self-guided tour via Zoom on Saturday, May 8, at 10 a.m., architects who were involved in the neighborhood’s reconstruction will host this look at the renewal of this area of bungalows. Homeowners will be featured in interviews as part of the tour.

Hunts Point: Village of Murals, Environmental Justice, Print Day in May: On Sunday, May 9, at 11 a.m., this Instagram Live “walk” will focus on public art and environmental justice in Hunts Point in the South Bronx. In this birthplace of hip-hop, delves into “how industry, community, and nature intersect to fuse art, environmental, and social justice” in a city neighborhood.

Find the full listing at the Jane’s Walk NYC 2021 site.

An event on Sunday, the last day of this year’s Jane’s Walk NYC, perhaps sums up the difficulty and challenge that Covid brought during the past year and how cities are emerging with new realities, opportunities, and questions. In “New York Versus Barcelona: How the Pandemic Is Transforming Our Cities,” on May 9 at 11 a.m., a live walking tour (via Zoom) will be held in both New York City and Barcelona. Two New York-based Catalan architects will hold a conversation with a Barcelona-based artist collective and address questions such as: “How have public spaces been transformed? Could this stay forever or is this just temporary? What are the local communities’ visions?”

No doubt this liveliness, connection, and vital work are Jane Jacobs’ legacy.