The Bronx

Often overlooked by most tourists and locals alike, the Bronx—one of five boroughs that comprise the city of New York—is rich in cultural and historical attractions. From the Bronx Zoo (the largest urban zoo in the United States) to the New York Botanical Garden (one of the most visited botanical gardens in the world), this borough has something for everyone. Visitors can explore historical locations (including where George Washington slept and where Edgar Allan Poe lived and worked), watch a game in one of the most famous baseball stadiums in the United States—Yankee Stadium—and sample delicious Italian food in New York’s real “Little Italy” on Arthur Avenue and New England style seafood at City Island along the edge of Long Island Sound. Author and foremost historian of the Bronx Lloyd Ultan and educator Shelley Olson have teamed up to create a handy guidebook with detailed maps that will provide all the information prospective visitors need for planning their adventures to famous and little-known sites, including the hours, admission fees, and directions to featured attractions.

The Bronx—which includes thirty-six color photographs—provides visitors with informative chapters on more than twelve of the borough’s extraordinary destinations as well as self-guided walking tours of some of the most ethnically, architecturally, and historically diverse neighborhoods. History buffs will find beautifully preserved eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes, the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (which pays homage to many familiar faces in American history), and Woodlawn Cemetery (the final resting place for prominent Americans including Duke Ellington, Joseph Pulitzer, Gloria Vanderbilt Whitney, and Thomas Nast). In addition to the botanical garden, nature lovers can enjoy the beautiful Pelham Bay Park and Van Cortlandt Park. The Bronx also highlights the surprising number of art galleries, museums, and performance venues that visitors are sure to enjoy, further demonstrating the borough’s cultural prominence. .

LLOYD ULTAN holds the appointed government position of Bronx Borough Historian. He is a professor of history at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and the author of over 1,000 articles about the Bronx and ten books including The Northern Borough: A History of the Bronx, and The Birth of the Bronx, 1609–1900.

SHELLEY OLSON taught at the University of Houston, the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and Wake Forest before relocating to New York City, which inspired her to write this book.

— Arlene Alda, author of Just Kids From the Bronx

— Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President

— Dion F. DiMucci, performer, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee

— Stacy Shaw, Library Journal

— Winnie Hu, New York Times

— Avery Corman, author of My Old Neighborhood Remembered

— The Riverdale Press