Indian Road Playground

Situated in what may well be Manhattan’s wildest, most history-laden nature preserve, the refurbished Indian Road Playground in Inwood Hill Park lends its bucolic surroundings a welcome kid-friendliness. Built with American Indian references in homage to the nearby road of the same name and the people who used it, the playground sports a wooden canoe that kids can sit in or fill with sand, a Native symbol–bearing tic-tac-toe game and a thoughtfully shaded circular sand pit, plus two climbing structures (one for tots, the other for older children) that resemble science-class atomic models. After the kids are done playing, head down to the river for a gorgeous vista of Spuyten Duyvil and a peek at the park’s kid-friendly Nature Center.