3. The Stones on The Hills Are from the Former Sea Wall

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There are two ways to get up to Lookout Hill – you can take a path that goes up on a gentle slope or walk up the an adventurous scramble of large stones. Turns out these stones were originally part of the sea wall on this part of Governors Island. When used as a sea wall, the stones that were most refined were facing out. The flat stones were used as capstones and the awkwardly shaped stones were in the back.

In the architectural design for Lookout Hill, there was a plan to use the stones but no exact layout. Landscape architect Will Johnson said that he used blocks from his kitchen renovation and did little mockups. The result is fantastic – you see it and you just want to climb up.

The new seawall is made of concrete wall and riprap.