Riverside

Poe’s Mountain

Q. Central and Riverside Parks were largely designed and practically hand-built. But there is a huge boulder in Riverside Park at 83rd Street that looks like a single rock. Surely no one shipped that in. Is there a story to it?

A. For one thing, it isn’t a boulder, but an exposed section of the island’s bedrock, according to Philip Abramson, a parks department spokesman. It is made of Manhattan mica schist, and it has a name: Mount Tom.

“Lore has it that Edgar Allan Poe, who lived for a while on 84th Street, used to sit there for inspiration,” Mr. Abramson said in an e-mail message.

“As with Central Park,” he continued, “Frederick Law Olmsted incorporated this outcrop into his design when he laid out Riverside Drive, and Mount Tom is visible in early photos of the park. There are several other areas of outcrop further north, but Mount Tom is the most spectacular.” It is the only outcrop in Riverside Park that is formally named.

Bridge Bumpers

Q. I live on the Hudson River just north of Spuyten Duyvil. Construction has been taking place at the railroad bridge there for the past few months, and I am curious about what is being done.

A. The work is to replace the fender support system, which protects the movable bridge from damage from passing ships, said Cliff Cole, a spokesman for Amtrak.

The project is scheduled to be finished around the end of August. Amtrak owns the bridge, and both Amtrak and Metro-North trains use it.

By MICHAEL POLLAK

F.Y.I.

New York Times