Boathouses
Inwood Canoe Club
Most of the old rowing clubs are gone, but the Inwood Canoe Club has kept Inwood’s boating culture afloat. Founded in 1902, its boathouse is located on the Hudson River in Fort Washington Park near Dyckman Street. The ICC has evolved from a competitive group that launched the careers of several Olympians to a recreational organization that hosts open houses on Sunday mornings during the summer in which visitors can get out on the water for short trips in a canoe or kayak for a nominal fee. You can become a member to participate in longer voyages.
Scenes from Inwood Canoe Club Open House
Gould-Remmer Boathouse and Class of 1929 Boathouse
1929 Boathouse and Gould-Remmer Boathouse (Columbia University), Harlem River
Inwood is also the home of Columbia University‘s two boathouses, which are located on the Harlem River Ship Canal, alongside Inwood Hill Park at the north end of the neighborhood. These include the Gould-Remmer Boathouse, built in 1931, a white brick English style clubhouse, and the Class of 1929 Boathouse, completed in 2001. Named for the school’s last rowing team to capture a national championship, 1929 replaced the ’97 Boathouse, paid for by alumni from the class of 1897, which opened in 1922.
Gould-Remmer Boathouse (Columbia University), Harlem River
Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse
Along the Harlem River, Inwood’s newest boating facility, the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, opened in 2004. The New York Restoration Project created it as part of a larger crusade to revitalize the Sherman Creek area, which once had been home to several boathouses (check out this 1950s map) but had become an abandoned area with illegal dumping by the late 1990s.
Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, Sherman Creek
This floating boathouse is used by Row New York, a non-profit which operates programs for local young people and adults, as well as the rowing teams of Fordham University and Manhattan College. It also hosts a variety of boating events throughout the year, such as the Harlem River Youth Regatta.
Harlem River Ship Canal Seen From Inwood Hill Park
Besides human-propelled craft, the waters around Inwood are also populated by all manner of motor-powered vessels, visible from the neighborhood’s parks and bridges.