Manhattan’s oldest surviving house is in need of some renovation. The exterior restoration and accessibility project broke ground at the Morris-Jumel Mansion this month and Sienia Construction posted the permit on the front door of the mansion.

     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 will close on December 1. Activities at the site will be posted here.

     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.

     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.

     Thursday from 8 to 4 in Lower WaHi on 175th Street between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue. Weekly on Thursdays through November 20.

     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. 

      Join flute and percussion ensemble Coriolis Duo for a musical exploration of the connections between art, nature, and technology, in the Pontaut Chapter House.

      You’ll also hear Ted Babcock’s new work, Daisy Chain, and then get to make some botanical-inspired art of your own.

      Free with museum admission. Thursday at noon at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Get a behind-the-scenes look at Broadway’s Buena Vista Social Club during a discussion with the show’s cast and creative team. They will show the history of Cuban music and dance, and the way these stories influenced the development of the musical.

     Reservations are required. 

     Free. Friday at noon at the Hispanic Society on Aubudon Terrace, at Broadway and 155th Street.  

    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.

     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,from 1 to 3 in the Cloisters. On the second Saturday of the month.

     Charles Lonny West was the director of the Bethune Senior Center, on 157th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, from 1973 until 2003. He became aware that some men who frequentled the center to have lunch, shoot pool, or just hang out, were retired jazz musicians who had played with jazz and swing bands in the Big Band Era.   

     Lonny West got the men together and organized and developed the Bethune Big Band, which over time performed at senior centers across the area.

     His brother, Paul, a jazz bassist who work with Dizzy Gillespie and Lee Morgan, continues to keep the band playing as a tribute to its founder.

     $5. Saturday afternoon at 2 at Word Up in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.

     Composers often find inspiration from other music, drawing from history, tradition, and artistic lineage. The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra’s new season, The Music That Inspires Us, begins with Reena Esmail’s Avartan, a transcendent fusion of Indian and Western classical traditions.

     Next on the program is Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte for string orchestra. Written in 2011, the piece was inspired by a moment in a Haydn string quartet when the music suddenly shifts in tone and texture. 

     The concert concludes with Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. Taken from his ballet on the Italian commedia dell’arte character, the Pulcinella Suite is a witty and colorful homage to eighteenth-century Italian Baroque music filtered through Stravinsky’s modernist lens.

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

     Step back in time and experience the sights and sounds of the Revolutionary War at the historic commemoration of the Battle of Fort Washington. The event brings history to life with a dramatic  battle, eighteenth-century demonstrations, and hands-on activities for all ages.

     You can expect:

• Live reenactment of the Battle of Fort Washington with British and American troops

• Blacksmith demonstrations showcasing traditional craftsmanship

• Live period music to set the scene

• Guided battlefield tours with reenactors in full costume

     Dress in your colonial best—Margaret Corbin, right, wore a dress to the battle—and immerse yourself in the past. Pack a picnic lunch, take your friends and family, and enjoy an autumn afternoon celebrating American history as it happened in our own neighborhod.

     Free. Sunday afternoon from noon to 3 on the café lawn 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.

     The artists Josiah McElheny and Diane Simpson met a dozen years ago in Chicago, where McElheny first encountered Simpson’s work. They immediately formed a long-term friendship, often talking about model-making and drawing as methods to develop sculptural forms.     

     McElheny will lead visitors in a conversation about Simpson’s distinctive drawings and sculptures while walking through her exhibition, Formal Wear.

     You’re welcome to join the tour. Reserve your spot here.

     Free. Sunday afternoon at 4 at the American Academy of Arts & Letters on Audubon Terrace, on Broadway at 155th 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.

     The Opera Cowgirls, an alt-country band, meets where grand opera and the grand ole opry collide.

     Founded by Caitlin McKechney (mezzo-soprano/guitar/banjolele) after she was asked to open for a rock show at a bar, the group blends the greatest operatic hits with some country flavor. The Cowgirls cover Puccini to Parton.

     $20. Monday afternoon at 4 at Castle Village in Hudson Heights, on Cabrini Boulevard just above 181st Street.

     Celebrate the power of women in salsa with Lulada Club, New York’s all-women salsa orchestra.

     Presented by Jazz Power Initiative, this unforgettable evening invites you to hit the dance floor and experience the joy, energy, and rhythm of salsa at its finest. 

     Free. Wednesday night, November 19, at 7 at the Alianza Dominicana in Lower WaHi on 166th Street between Broadway and Audubon Avenue.

     Step into a journey through musical archives when the Spanish pianist Antonio Galera investigate anecdotes and highlights musical references found in the correspondence of the collection of the Hispanic Museum and Library.

     In Musica y Letra, Galera shares letters from other renowned Hispanic artists who traveled to New York City throughout the Museum’s history, including Joaquín Sorolla, Concha Piquer, Zenobia Camprubí, and many others.

     Free. Thursday evening, November 20, at 6 in the society’s library on Audubon Terrace at Broadway and 155th Street.

     Learn techniques to create memorable photographs with your mobile phone, led by Paul Muratore.

     The workshop is sponsored by NoMAA Labs, a hub for critique sessions and networking events.

     $10; members, free. Thursday evening, November 20, at 6 at the NoMAA Gallery in Fort George on Broadway at 176th 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.

      In a new play by James Bosley, neighbors share their intimate desires, disappointments, and differences—until an unthinkable event makes it all seem irrelevant.

      The staged reading of All That We Know at This Time is directed by Kirby Fields. Reserve your seats here.

      Free. Friday night, November 21, at 7:30 at the Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Hudson Heights, on 181st Street at Col. Robt. McGaw Place; and on Saturday night, November 22, at 7:30 at Holyrood Church in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at 179th Street.

     The holidays are almost upon us, and then the weather turns cold and the days turn dark. Steel yourself with a meditative hike.

     Join the Urban Park Rangers an autumnal walk through Manhattan’s only old growth forest. Explore the connection between nature and personal well-being, engage in fire building and storytelling, and allow the changing season to inspire you.

     Wear comfortable shoes, pack a bottle of water, and take your journal in case you’re inspired along the way. The experience lasts 90 minutes.

     Free. Saturday afternoon, November 22, at 1; meet at 218th Street and Indian Road.

     The Ensemble Échappé presents a salon concert of contemporary works by recipients of 2025 awards in music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

     The performance features Piedras de Ida y Vuelta, by Aruán Ortiz; Moonstrike, by Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha’ Tate; Take It Easy, But Take It, and Redlin[ing], by Shawn E. Okpebholo; and Lightenings, by Elizabeth Ogonek.

     Reservations are required. A reception will follow.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, November 23, at 3 at the academy on Audubon Terrace at 155th Street.

     From Carnegie Hall to Radio City, Anna Urrey shows her musical versatility everywhere she plays.

      Urrey will be joined by the award-winning pianist Amir Farid in a program that includes music by J.S. Bach, Lili Boulanger, Valerie Coleman, and the U.S. premiere of a sonata by Jonathan Slade.

     $15; $12 seniors and children; kids 7 and younger, free. Sunday evening, November 23, at 5 in The Lounge at Hudson View Gardens in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street.

     Mark Latin American culture week with music from the Americas on flute and guitar.

      The recital features the award-winning artists Yael  Archer “Kat” Mondiano, flute, and Boron Guzelsoy, guitar.

     $20; students and seniors, $10. Sunday evening, November 23, at 6 at the Frances Cabrini Shrine in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at 190th Street.

     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.

     Walk off your Thanksgiving feast while enjoying the majestic views from Uptown’s storied forests.

     The Urban Park Rangers lead their annual 90-minute super hike. for a hike! It takes you through the hills and landscaping of Fort Tryon Park and the untouched forest of Inwood Hill Park.

     Wear comfortable shoes, pack a bottle of water, and maybe take a snack too.

     Friday afternoon, November 28, at 1; meet at the entrance to Fort Tryon Park at Margaret Corbin Circle in Hudson Heights. The hike will end at the Inwood Hill Nature Center.

     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 29, at a time and meetup spot shared with the participants.

     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. Sanday afternoon, November 30, from 1 to 4 in the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. Also on December 28.

     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, December 2, at 7 at Word Up Community Bookshop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. Monthly on the first Tuesday.

     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, insane asylums on Uptown. A little more than a century ago, the ridgeline above the Hudson was crowned with massive brick and stone institutions—places built to isolate, reform, or simply hide away those whom the city preferred not to see.

     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, December 2, 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.

     For his fourth and final concert, the Spanish pianist Antonio Galera presents Cuadros de una Exposición, featuring works by Granados and Mussorgsky, as well as the world premiere of two solo piano pieces by Francisco Coll, commissioned by the Hispanic Society and Antonio Galera. The acclaimed Valencian composer has created two contrasting pieces inspired by Goya and Zurbarán, both represented in the museum’s collection. 

     Free. Thursday evening, December 4, at 6 at the Hispanic Society and Museum on Audubon Terrace at Broadway and 155th Street.

      Slow down, tap into your powers of observation, and discover a work of art through close looking and discussion. Led by a curator of medieval art.

     You don’t need any particular knowledge to enjoy yourself. All adult learners are welcome. Stools are provided.

     Free with museums admission. Saturday afternoon, December 6, at 2 at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     The Inwood Chamber Players present classical holiday classics arranged by Inwood resident Gilbert Dejean.

     A reception with light snacks and beverages follows the performance.

     $28.29; children, $10. Sunday afternoon, December 7, at 2 at Good Shepherd Church in Inwood at 620 Isham Street.

    The Cornerstone Chorale brings major sections of Handel’s timeless masterpiece to life. 
     The Uptown ensemble performs The Messiah in Mario Montenegro’s Spanish translation, with soloists and orchestra. The Chorale will perform the entire Christmas section plus other favorite parts, in Spanish.

     The performance will be performed with orchestra, and will feature soloists Maria Brea, soprano, Melisa Bonetti, mezzo-soprano, Cristóbal Arias, tenor, and Gilberto Gómez, baritone.  Music Director Richard Stout conducts.

     $20; students and seniors, $15. Sunday afternoon, December 7, at 4 at Holyrood Church in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at 179th Street.

     The critically acclaimed CSOT Concert Chorale, conducted by Courtney Carey, brings Handel's masterpiece to life. The Messiah was an instant popular upon its premiere in 1742 and has remained a perennial favorite ever since.

     Established in 2014, the Courtney’s Stars of Tomorrow  performs a range of choral repertoire from early Baroque classics through twenty-first-century choral literature. This program lasts about an hour and includes Part I and the Hallelujah chorus.

     Free. Monday night, December 8, at 7:30 in the Grand Foyer of the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Imerse yourself in the holiday season with Frank Capra’s beloved 1946 classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore.

     Before the movie, enjoy festive pre-show caroling by students from Statement Arts and a special introduction by Mary Owen, daughter of Donna Reed. 

     $12.72. Sunday evening, December 14, at 6 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     New York City’s leading avant-garde string quartet kicks off its 2025–26 Met residency with a holiday-season homage to medieval music at the Cloisters.

     Over the last 20 years, the JACK Quartet has championed twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers around the world. In this concert, the ensemble features new and old works inspired by the most daring musical experiments of the Middle Ages.

     Violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, along with New York City trailblazers, perform amid Romanesque architecture.

     $75. Two performances on Sunday, December 14, at 6:30 and 8:15 at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     Prepare for Christmas in a European cloister.

     After two sold-out Renaissance marathons, the four-time Grammy nominee Clarion Choir returns Uptown with a serene program for Advent. Take a deep breath and bask in the splendor of music from Renaissance motets to recent settings of favorite carols, presented by some of New York City’s finest vocalists.

     Featuring works by Poulenc, Sweelinck, Victoria, Davis, Dawson, Tavener, and Weir.

     $95. Saturday night, December 20, at 6:30 and 8:15 in the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

     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.

     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.

      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.

     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 176th Street.

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

     Annually in March, usually on the first Sunday morning.

      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.

     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.

     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.