The Bronx, New York

The New York Botanical Garden is one of the nations oldest and largest collection of plants, the region's leading educational center for gardening and horticulture, and an international center of plant science. The Botanical Garden is a living museum of plants featuring 50 gardens and plant collections across 250 beautiful acres. A National Historic Landmark, the Botanical Garden is also home to the nation's largest Victorian-style glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, itself a New York City Landmark. The Conservatory's permanent exhibition, A World of Plants, includes tropical rain forests, deserts, and the world's most comprehensive collection of New World palm trees under glass. At the Everett Children's Adventure Garden, children explore nature and plant science. The Botanical Garden also includes a 50-acre tract of the uncut forest that once covered New York City.

Founded in 1899, the Bronx Zoo is now officially known as the International Wildlife Conservation Park. It remains the largest city zoo in the country with over 4,000 animals spanning 764 species. A high proportion of endangered creatures such as the snow leopard have found a home at the zoo.

Before the Bronx Whitestone Bridge opened on April 29, 1939, the Triborough Bridge, five miles to the west, provided the only vehicular connection between Queens and the Bronx. The Bronx Whitestone opened to traffic a mere 23 months after the awarding of its first construction contract so that motorists could cross it on April 30, the opening day of the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadow Park.As part of the massive bridge project two major recreational areas were developed, Ferry Point Park in the Bronx and Francis Lewis Park in Queens. The bridge spans the East River.

Wave Hill is a non-profit cultural institution located on 28 acres in the northwest Bronx. Award-winning gardens and greenhouses are maintained along with an urban woodland; arts activities for children are available to strengthen environmental awareness; environmental education for City children, teachers, and visitors is offered annually; landscape history and design projects as well as exhibitions, readings, concerts, lectures, and workshops examine the aesthetic response to nature.

Final game - September 21, 2008!Yankee Stadium is perhaps the most famous and respected baseball park in the world. As home of the New York Yankees, the stadium has hosted some of the greatest players of all time: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Reggie Jackson and many more. The 1923 structure features plaques of its greatest players along a wall behind the outfield fence. The stadium now seats 54,000.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts was founded in 1971 to bring visual arts to the Bronx. The current collection includes 800 contemporary works of art in all media such as old master paintings as well as works by local artists. Contemporary art by artists of African, Asian, and Latin American descent are highlights of the collection at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

The City Island Nautical Museum is situated on City Island, a small nautical outpost on the northeast shore of the Bronx. The museum is housed in an old public school building complete with the gaping nine-foot jaw of a whale and displays the history of whaling. Other displays include yachting information, historic photographs and fishing.

St. Paul's Church is one of New York's oldest churches, built in 1665. The church was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary War. The grounds of the St Paul's Church has a cemetery that dates back to 1704 and the remnant of a Village Green that was the sight of a now famous Election in 1733, which raised issues of Freedom of Religion and the Press.

The Van Cortlandt Mansion was built in 1748 and served as the home of the wealthy Van Cortlandt family. As the focal point of the large grain plantation and milling operation, the mansion's dining room was once used as Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War. The interior has American period furnishings.

The Maritime Industry Museum is located at the New York Maritime College Campus. Displays feature ship models, historic artifacts, nautical photographs and prints that represent the past and present. The museum offers visitors a glimpse into life in the merchant marine or passenger cruise line industry.

The Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum was built by Robert Bartow in 1842 as a Grecian style stone house with Greek Revival interiors. On the grounds are a fountain, gardens, and a stone carriage house. The house was opened in 1946 as a museum.

The Judaica Museum houses numerous artifacts relating to Jewish art and culture over the last three centuries. The Museum began with the collection from Ralph and Leuba Baum, which includes more than 800 Jewish ceremonial objects.

The Museum of Bronx History is located in the Valentine-Varian House which was built in 1758. The museum features exhibits relating to the Bronx area.

The last home of famous poet Edgar Allan Poe has been restored and includes original furnishings.

Woodlawn Cemetery is the burial ground of several distinguished New Yorkers such as F.W. Woolworth, Herman Melville and Duke Ellington.