The Markeroni Blog
The blog of Markeroni, the Gentle Art of Landmark-Snarfing

Snarfing in New York City doesn’t have to be intimidating for Markeroons.

Here’s a primer of what you need. First off, this post will focus on the borough of Manhattan. It’s located in New York County, hence why a lot of people only think of Manhattan when referring to the whole city. In reality, New York City consists of five boroughs. I grew up in the borough of Queens so I might be a touch defensive about that issue.

New York City Landmarks is indispensable for snarfing. The latest copy is the third edition put out by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2004. It retails for $24.95, but I got a used copy via Amazon for $8.24, including shipping. I use the book because if it’s a National Register site, odds are it’s also a city landmark.

The book groups Manhattan’s 585 individual city landmarks and 46 historic districts by area. It creates a series of very walkable tours. You can easily reach a few dozen snarfs, especially in Lower Manhattan, by walking within a one-mile radius. It’s got a very good map that tells you how to get from place to place. All you need to do first is find a convenient subway station to use as the starting point. You can use the New York City Mass Transit Authority’s trip planner to figure out where to go to first.

Forgotten New York by Kevin Walsh is also a good supplementary source. It also organizes things to see by geographic region, with a good accompanying map. It’s especially good at identifying wild cards such as statues and war memorials.

I hope some of you will take the plunge and do your own Big Apple snarfari.

• Resources for New York landmarks can be found here..
• If you want to get started landmark-hunting, Markeroni’s home page is here.

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