1, colloquially known as The Blockhouse, is a small fort in the North Woods section of Central Park, Manhattan, New York City.

[a] It is located on an overlook of Manhattan schist, with a clear view of the flat surrounding areas north of Central Park.

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the designers of Central Park, treated Blockhouse No.

In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, British and Hessian troops sealed off lower Manhattan from colonial armies by controlling the pass and defending it through a series of fortifications.

In the first phase, under the direction of General Joseph Gardner Swift,[4] the fort was hastily constructed by New Yorkers during the War of 1812 in anticipation of a British invasion.

[5] The fort consists of a two-story bunker surrounding a small area, inside which a wooden platform would have originally stood.

1 stands in North Woods at the northwest corner of Central Park, at a location that is still rugged, high, and hard to reach.

This structure was initially built as a defensive fort for New York City and soldiers were stationed at the Blockhouse.

The ceremony was performed by Mary Van Buren Vanderpoel, president of the Women's Auxiliary to the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society.

The plaque read "This blockhouse was part of a line of fortifications extending from the Hudson to the Harlem River built for the defense of New York by it's [sic] patriotic citizens during the war of 1812-1815.