Rantings of a New Yorker

Ever wonder what Manhattan looked like before it was full of buildings and skyscrapers?  The Mannahatta Project has done that for you.  An interactive map and website, you can explore all points in Manhattan to see what it used to look like.

“The goal of the Mannahatta Project has never been to return Manhattan to its primeval state. The goal of the project is discover something new about a place we all know so well, whether we live in New York or see it on television, and, through that discovery, to alter our way of life. New York does not lack for dystopian visions of the future…. But what is the vision of the future that works? Might it lie in Mannahatta, the green heart of New York, and with a new start to history, a few hours before Hudson arrived that sunny afternoon four hundred years ago?”

- from Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City