Columbia University

In the 1800s these hills north of the city were farmland, with a lunatic asylum and an orphanage looking out over the Hudson. Then, in the 1890s, Columbia University, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and a cluster of colleges and seminaries all moved up here within a few years, and the neighborhood earned the nickname the Acropolis of New York. Today Morningside Heights is a student town inside the big city, full of bookshops, cheap diners and coffee shops where people read for hours. This walk takes you from the giant unfinished cathedral through the campus to Riverside Church and Grant’s Tomb on the Hudson. One thing to know before you go: since the protests of spring 2024, Columbia has kept its campus gates closed to the public, so you may see parts of the campus from the gates rather than from inside.