Manhattan’s oldest surviving house is in need of some renovation. The exterior restoration and accessibility project broke ground at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in the autumn.

     Scaffolding around the front porch columns is the first order of business. The second big job of the project is to replace the roof. This requires that everyone leaves the building—staff and visitors—for four to six months on weekdays during active work on the roof. The good news is that on weekends the mansion will continue to offer programming outdoors and in the basement.

     The mansion closed on December 1. We’ll keep posting its events, though they will be smaller in number.

     Uptowners and staff from the Columbia University Medical Center flock to the Fort Washington Green Market for its bounty of fresh, locally grown offerings.

     Mexican herbs, peppers, greens, honey, cheese, juice pressed from ripe orchard fruit—it’s all grown in the rich soil of Orange County's Black Dirt region.

    Pastries and fresh bread make this the perfect market for putting together a healthy lunch or stocking up your larder mid-week. Visit the Market Information tent each week for cooking demonstrations, nutritional information, kids’ games and health-related events and activities throughout the season.

     Tuesday from 8 to 4 on 168th Street at Fort Washington Avenue. Weekly on Tuesdays through December 23.

     Over 60 and want to excercise with your crew?

     Columbia invites you for wellness walks and fitness sessions, organized around incentives and rewards for your effort.

     The weekly workouts are held indoors—on the world’s fastest indoor track. (Spiked shoes not required.) To sign up, call (212) 305-9483.

      Free. Tuesday mornings from 10 to 11:30 at the Armory in Lower WaHi on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street.

     Get ready for a sizzling night of klezmer with Hot Pstromi for a family-friendly evening of post-Hanukkah klezmer music. The world-renowned klezmer artist and violinist Yale Strom will be joined by Elizabeth Schwartz (vocals), Norbert Stachel (clarinet/flutes), and Peter Stan (accordion) for joyous and soulful music, and a vibe that’ll have bubbe and the kinderlach alike dancing in the aisles.

     The concert is is a fundraiser for the seventy-fifth anniversary of Beth Am, the people’s temple. The evening will include raffles and a silent auction; refreshments also available.

     $6 to $25. Tuesday evening at 6:30 at the Hebrew Tabernacle in Hudson Heights, on Fort Washington Avenue at 185th Street.

     From the height of Spain’s imperial power in the middle of the sixteenth century to the fall of the Habsburg dynasty at the close of seventeenth century, Spanish fashion was characterized by luxurious excesses that were widely critiqued within Spain and that shaped perceptions of Spanish culture abroad.

      A new exhibition at the Hispanic Society draws exclusively from its collection, recreating the strange splendor of Golden Age Spanish fashion with a rich array of objects that includes illuminated manuscripts, textiles, ecclesiastical vestments, jewelry, and more.

     This exhibition examines how Spain’s most powerful institutions—the crown, the church, and the military—harnessed the power of fashion, and the ways that ordinary citizens of the Spanish Empire used clothing to shape their identities and social status.

     Free. Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 at the Society’s museum on Audubon Terrace, at Broadway and 155th Street. Through February 8.

     Four new exhibits are on display at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

     Watch for information about gallery shows by the photographer and filmmaker Sam Contis (right), the sculptor Diane Simpson (above), the poet and sculptor Rhea Dillon, and the multimedia artist Eric N. Mack.

     Free. Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 6 at the Academy on Audubon Terrace, at Broadway and 155th Street. Through February 8. 

    The Inwood greenmarket is a year-round neighborhood favorite.
    People of all ages, backgrounds, and tastes gather each Saturday to meet and greet their friends and neighbors and do their weekly shopping. Even on the coldest, darkest winter Saturdays, loyal Inwood shoppers come out because they know they can’t get products like this anywhere else.
     A core group of 15 farmers attends every week of the year, and during the peak of the season, five more join to round out the offerings with the summer’s bounty.
     Saturdays from 8 to 3 on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street. Open year-round.

     Find out what old New York was like on a walking tour of Lower WaHi. 

     Morris-Jumel Mansion interpreters will bring to life the city’s past in the Uncovering Uptown History guided walking tour, It’s a 90-minute, one-mile mobile experience beginning at the Morris-Jumel Mansion and ending at Trinity Cemetery.

     Spanning over 260 years, the tour will illuminate little-known corners of history and connect the paths of legendary figures to the ones we walk today. 

     $23.18. Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 and 1:30 starting in Roger Morris Park and ending at Broadway and 155th Street.

     If you can identify a tree by its leaves, how can you identify it when it’s bare?

     Join the Urban Park Rangers for a winter walk around Manhattan’s only untouched forest to learn how to identify trees even after their leaves have fallen.

     Dress for the weather and take a bottle of water (or a thermos of hot cocoa) for the 90-minute trek.

     Free. Sunday afternoon at 1 in Inwood Hill Park. Meet at 218th Street and Indian Road.

     Explore materials and process through artist-led demonstrations and drop-in art-making activities with Met Museum experts during an open studio. Hosted in the Pontaut Chapter House.

     For visitors of all ages. All materials are provided.

     Free with museum admission. Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 in the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     The power of art to make an emotional connection is on display every Sunday afternoon in Apartment 3F—that’s  Marjorie Eliot’s place, where she invites veteran musicians to play along to her piano accompaniment. 

     Famous and up-and-coming artists perform at Eliot’s weekly sessions and her free concerts are legendary among jazz aficionados.

     Join her live—in her home for Parlor Jazz.

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 3:30 at 555 Edgecomb Avenue, Apartment 3F, in Lower WaHi at 160th Street.

     Take in an evening of live jazz from Uptown musicians and their collaborators around the city in a weekly performance. The lineup varies, so check this week’s personnel here.

     There’s no charge for the music. Food and drink are on you.

     Tuesday nights at 7:30 at Kismat restaurant in Hudson Heights on 187th Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

     It’s the fifth day of Christmas, time to give your true love five golden rings. According to PNC Bank, you’ll pay $1,649.90 for them, which is a striking 32 percent more than you would have paid just a year ago.

     Inflation, Fed rate cut expectations and a declining U.S. dollar are sending investors racing for gold and other precious metals. 

     If you were to buy everything in the song, you’d still pay more then the overall inflation rate this year. Even with its small basket of goods and services, the PNC Christmas Price Index grew 4.5 percent, reaching $51,476.12. Merry Christmas!

     Start 2025 by stretching your legs and your expectations.

     The Shorewalkers’ Happy New Year’s Day Hike starts in Inwood Hill Park and from there strolls along the east side, taking you  under the three great bridges that span the Harlem River in High Bridge Park.

     Dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes, pack some water and take a snack.

     Thursday morning, January 1, at a time and an Uptown meet-up spot shared with participants.

     Explore medieval images of marriage, from earthly acts of devotion to mystic visions of divine love.

     On this thirty-minutes tour, you’ll join curtors from the Cloisters for a deep dive, into a selection of objects in the galleries. On this visit, you’ll see pieces from the exhibition Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages, which explores the themes of desire, sexuality, and gender in the medieval past, when most artistic production served religious purposes. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions. 

     Free with museum admission. Friday afternoon, January 2, at 3 at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. On Fridays through January.

     It’s cold, it’s dark, and you’d rather stay home than bundle up after sunset.

     But UP Theater gives you a reason to venture out. On four January evenings, the troupe presents the Dead of Winter series, featuring readings of new plays in various stages of development. After the curtain call, stay and share your thoughts with the  playwright. 

     January 4 Groupthink, by Mathew Goldstein and directed by Em Walter: Kevin's attempts to sink his PR firm’s campaign for some of the world’s most vile hate groups backfires when he and the rest of his team become media darlings. 

     January 11 Al Gore Rhythm, by Phil Darg and directed by Chloe Champken. A love triangle among a man, a woman, and an AI. The play explores the way in which technology infuses our daily lives and how it can deliver everything we have ever wanted … except happiness.

     January 18 Ageless, by Bridgette Dutta Portman and directed by Kathy MacGowan. At the beginning of the twenty-second century, Marin is one of the few holdouts for an anti-aging drug that makes 90 the new 30. Her increasingly marginalization impacts not only herself but also the people she loves. 

     January 25 Coco Queens, by LaDarrion Williams and directed by Laura E. Johnston. In Helena, Alabama, in 1975 four Black woman reunite after one of them has abandoned the others for fame. They navigate love, forgiveness, and identity as their bonds, once tested, are strengthened. 

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 3 in January at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Hudson Heights, on Fort Washington Avenue at 190th Street.

     It would be hard to believe that you haven’t heard enough holidy music yet. Even so, on the twelfth day of Christmas it’s time to order up twelve drummers drumming.

     The percussionists, along with other performers, are charging modestly more than a year ago, according to PNC Bank. This year, a dozen drummers will set you back $4,106.08, a jump of 2.2 percent.

     If you were to buy everything in the song, you’d still pay more then the overall inflation rate this year. Even with its small basket of goods and services, the PNC Christmas Price Index grew 4.5 percent, reaching $51,476.12. Happy Epiphany!

     The No Name Comedy/Variety Show producer Eric Vetter brings the city’s best established and emerging authors and storytellers together for a monthly revue.

     Stories, humor, and poignancy are all part of the super storyteller party.

     Free. Tuesday night, January 6, at 7 at Word Up Community Bookshop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. Monthly on the first Tuesday.

     The first concert of the year from Music at Our Saviour’s features the Magpie Duo performing a selection of classical and contemporary violin and piano miniatures.

     The evening features selections by Bach, Débussy, Sibelius, Ysaÿe, and others, including a new work by Matthew Schultheis.

     Come early for snacks and drinks.

     Free but donations gladly accepted. Tuesday night, January 6, at 7 at Our Saviour’s Church of the Atonement in Hudson Heights, on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.

     Explore old New York—really old New York. Back before street cars, when Inwood Valley was still agricultural, and look further back before Europeans arrived, and sometimes even earlier.

     This month, a look at the Inwood homes of the well-to-do. In the mid to late 1800s, Victorian captains of industry built lavish country homes atop Inwood Hill. For a few decades the neighborhood was like today’s  Hamptons, a weekend getaway for the wealthy, filled with stately mansions, formal gardens, and reflecting pools.

     Today, the houses are all gone. Or are they?

     Cole Thompson, an armchair historian (and real estate broker) presents stories of Inwood’s history in his series on Uptown’s past. Can you imagine the days when  mastodons roamed the hills and meadows or settlers harvested wheat?

     Tuesday night, January 6, at 7:30 at the Inwood Farm (though not at the farm in Inwood) on 218th Street at Indian Road. On the first Tuesday of the month.

     Experience the Met Cloisters’ collection through creative drawing challenges in the galleries with expert teaching artists.

     Materials are provided, but you may bring your own sketchbook. Please note, only pencils are allowed in the galleries. Demonstrations repeat every 30 minutes over two hours. For visitors of all ages. First come, first served.

     Free with museum admission. Saturday afternoon, January 10, from 1 to 3 in the Cloisters. On the second Saturday of the month.

     Human connections can often be the spark that breathes life into great music. The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra’s theme this season is The People That Inspire Us.

     The winter concert begins with Revelry by the American composer  and WHCO Spotlight Composer, Valerie Coleman. The work pulses with rhythmic drive and jubilant energy. Next is Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, inspiring not only because it was composed by a woman in a male-dominated musical world, but because of its extraordinary emotional depth, formal elegance, and expressive power.

     The concert concludes with a rarely heard gem from Louise Farrenc, a French Romantic composer and groundbreaking music educator. Her Nonet combines the textures of strings and winds in a richly melodic, symphonic-scale chamber work.

     $21.50; seniors, $16.25. Saturday night, January 10, at 7:30 at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 179th Street.

     Try your hand at medieval are in a two-session class to learn crewel embroidery.

     You’ll adapt an image from the Met Cloisters into a piece of art in three-hour classes. On day one, delve into the foundations of embroidery, such as materials, how to transfer a pattern, and how to outline stitches. Take your work home to practice and return the following Sunday to learn a variety of creative stitches to achieve a finished piece.

     Materials and admission to both sessions are included. Attendance at both sessions is required to complete the project.

     $150. Sunday mornings, January 18 and 25, at 11 at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Make a day off a day on when you honor Martin Luther King, Jr., and celebrate WaHi at the same time.

     Gather to assemble care kits while taking in the diversity of Uptown. Volunteer in the morning to design canvas tote bags and pack warming kits, hygiene supplies and food for neighbors. Then stick around in the afternoon to distribute the bags and enjoy a hot meal.

     Free. Monday morning, January 19, at 10:30 at the YM & YWHA in Fort George on Nagle Avenue between Broadway and Elwood Street.

        The history of United Palace, Manhattan’s fourth-largest theater, began in 1930 when it was then one of five Loew’s Wonder Theatres across the boroughs and New Jersey. Designed by the noted architect Thomas Lamb (Cort Theatre, the former Ziegfeld Theater) with interiors overseen by decorative specialist Harold Rambusch (Waldorf Astoria, Radio City Music Hall), it was one of the region’s premier vaudeville and movie houses.

      If you like outdoor geometry, get on the street for sunrise and sunset when the shadows line up with the streets.

      The so-called Manhattanhenge effect works Uptown on days different from the rest of the island’s.

      To see the sun line up with the streets in Hudson Heights (on 181st Street in the photo), where the street grid is aligned differently from most of the borough, get out on August 26; it’s also on April 18 in Hudson Heights Henge. Fort George Henge is on May 28 and 29, and July 12 and 13, the same as Manhattan, and Inwood Henge is on January 23 — the grid there is so katy-wompus that the sun aligns when it is due “south.”

     You can look for the dates in all of the city’s neighborhoods on this map from Carto.

     Inwood Henge: Friday, January 23, at dawn and dusk.

     Celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the  documentary about 11-year-old public school kids, including pupils from P.S. 115 Alexander Humbolt in Lower WaHi, who journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way.

     Told from their candid perspectives, the young dancers in Mad Hot Ballroom are transformed from reluctant participants to determined competitors. The film provides insight into the age when becoming a cool teenager vies for position with familiar innocence, all while learning how to merengue, rumba, tango, foxtrot, and swing.

     After the screening the film’s main subjects, including Alejandro (aka Wilson) and Yomaira Reynoso, alond with the director Marilyn Agrelo will be interviewed by Dancing Classrooms’ executive director Eve Wolff.

     $12.72. Friday night, January 23, at 7 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi, on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Gather your teammates, your wit, and your sparkle, and come for an evening of Panoply: The Golden Age.

     Celebrate Motzei Shabbat together. From ancient history to modern movie magic, from music to literature, and from science ot progress, it's a night of trivia, puzzles, and prizes that shine.

     $25 to $35. Saturday night, January 31, at 8:15 at the Mount Sinai Jewish Center in Hudson Heights, on Bennett Avenue at 187th Street.

     Join the UP Theater company us for a look back at its productions in the fifteen years since its founding.

     UP Until Now reviews the troupe’s daring and challenging work, featuring presentations and performances from alumni playwrights, directors, designers and casts. Support an Uptown creative group at this fund-raising party.

     $44.52 Thursday evening, February 12, at 6 at the Hebrew Tabernacle in Hudson Heights, on Fort Washington Avenue at 185th Street.

     Follow your heart to the Cloisters and celebrate an early  Valentine’s Day with a special after-hours event dedicated to medieval love and desire.

     Take a stroll through the galleries, create art to give your sweetheart, mingle with experts, and catch a live performance. The evening is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages, so when y ou spend the evening with someone special you’ll discover the passionate side of the Middle Ages.

     Space is limited; arrange tickets before setting out. Drink specials and light fare are available for purchase.

     $50. Thursday evening, February 12, from 6 to 9 at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Join your friends for the fifth annual wine & cheese tasting with Brent Delman, aka The Cheese Guy.

     You’ll sample an array of the finest cheeses available on the kosher market, alongside a selection of wine pairings. Learn all about your favorite cheeses and meet The Cheese Guy himself at this Motzei Shabbat evening.

     $33 to $40. Saturday night, February 14, at 8 at the Mount Sinai Jewish Center in Hudson Heights, on Bennett Avenue at 187th Street.

     What happens when two legends of justice share the same screen? On the 96th anniversary of the opening day of Loew’s Uptown Wonder Theatre, sit in on an  American heroes double feature.

     The afternoon unites Superman (1978) and Batman (1989), two cinematic giants whose stories helped define what heroism means in the American imagination. Experience the classic films as they were meant to be seen: On the United Palace’s 50-foot screen, with 7.1 surround sound and live, and interactive entertainment before the main features.

     $23.32. Sunday afternoon, February 22, with Superman at 1 and Batman at 4 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi, on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Known for his memorable roles on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, not to mention his hit specials including Takin’ It Too Fa, Tracy Morgan shares his sharp wit and unfiltered humor on stage with an Uptown audience.

     $42.56 to $87.36. Saturday night, February 28, at 8 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi, on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Take a step toward the New York Marathon at the Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K.

     Both races are sponsored by the New York Road Runners, so the perennial Uptown jaunt is a qualifying race for the fabled autumn marathon. The course takes you from Lower WaHi, up through Hudson Heights,  turning around at the edge of Fort Tryon Park to head back downhill.

     Sunday morning, March 1, with stages starting at 8 in Lower WaHi on Fort Washington Avenue between 172nd aand 173rd Streets.

      Like any visionary not afraid to rock the boat, the journey of Wim Hof has been filled with love and dedication, perseverance in the face of ridicule, joy and heartbreak. During an evening with him, you will hear about every high and every low, and how each critical turn of events helped shape the method that now transforms the lives of millions of people around the world.

     In this presentation, Hof shares his story of exploration, resilience, and discovery. You’ll experience all the trials and triumphs that shaped both the man and his breathwork method.

     $64.90 to $344.40. Sunday night, March 8, at 9 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Indulge yourself in music from the ancient highlands and emerald isles in Celtic Woman: A New Era.

     The concert blends the ensemble’s sound with fresh arrangements, exquisite harmonies, and world-class musicianship brought to life by sopranos Mairéad Carlin, Muirgen O’Mahony, Sean-Nós singer Caitríona Sherlock, and fiddle player Ciara Ní Mhurchú, joined by the Celtic Woman band and dancers.

     $46.20 to $123.20. Friday night, March 20, at 8 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi, on Broadway at 175th Street.

     In The Places That Inspire Us, the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra explores music inspired by real-world settings and the emotional landscapes they evoke.

     The program of the season’s final concrrt begins with Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans, a thrilling contemporary work for chamber orchestra that channels the turbulence and strength of the sea. This work draws inspiration and its title from A Woman Speaks, a poem by Audre Lorde.

     Next on the program, the ensemble is joined by Ariadne Greif for Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a nostalgic meditation on childhood and place, set to the words of James Agee. Concluding the concert is Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 “Scottish,” a sweeping tribute to the rugged romance of the Scottish Highlands.

     $21.50; seniors, $16.25. Saturday night, April 18, at 7:30 at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 179th Street.

     Join the Shorewalkers on a hike to Bear Mountain.

     On this Memorial Day trek, you’ll walk from Battery Park to the GWB.

     The second leg of the journey, over the George Washington Bridge, down 400 steps, and continuing along the Palisades, takes place on Independence Day.

     Register here.

     Monday, May 25, at a place and time shared with registrants.

     On Thursdays, this stretch of Lower WaHi transforms into a bustling marketplace overflowing with fresh local fruits and vegetables. Neighbors show up to mix and mingle while purchasing produce, Mexican specialty products and bread, pies and scones made with local flour. In many ways, the market doubles as classroom and social center. 

     Greenmarket’s farmers and fishers come from parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, providing a bountiful array of fresh foods.

     Opens in the spring. Thursday from 8 to 4 in Lower WaHi on 175th Street between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue.

     Want to learn about the golden age of cinema? Discover Paris for romantics? Take a class at Columbia University.

     The university’s School of Professional Studies invites adults who are not enrolled in college to attend selected courses for free from the University’s offerings in the Arts and Sciences during the academic year.

     It’s a community benefit available to Uptown residents. Class auditors are silent participants in class who are encouraged to keep up with the reading. No examinations or papers are required, no grade is assigned, and no credit is granted for course completion.

     Find the current list of open courses and sign up for class.

     Free. The deadline to sign up for the fall semester is in July. Class is held at Columbia in Morningside Heights and Manhattanville.

     Spend some time on Thanksgiving to remind yourself of the Lenape people and the blessings of their land we now call home.

     Shorakopoch Rock is fabled to be the spot where the Lenape traded the island to Peter Minuit for goods worth 60 Dutch guilders. In pre-pandemic years, a short ceremony honored inhabitants’ duty to Mother Earth and responsibility to the forest, the river, and each other.

     Did you know that the location is in Manhattan’s only untouched forest? The Shorakopoch Preserve was inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network last year.

     At Shorakopoch Rock in Inwood Hill Park. From the intersection of 214th Street and Indian Road, follow the path that runs along the water; the boulder is on the far side of a large, open field.

    You’ve had plenty of turkey and too much pie, so now’s the time to burn some calories.
     On this Shorewalkers trek, you’ll start at the southern tip of Manhattan, walk the Hudson River Greenway, and end in Fort Washington Park at the Little Red Lighthouse.

     Sign up here. Dress for the weather, take a snack, and wear comfortable shoes.

     Saturday morning, November 28, at a time and meetup spot shared with the participants.