West 119th Street Gatehouse

Image by Jim Henderson

The novel begins at the West 119th Street Gatehouse, which was part of the Croton aqueduct built in the early 1800s. The aqueduct was an impressive engineering project that brought water more than 40 miles from the Croton River up state and was in use until the 1950s. Several gatehouses still exist but they're no longer in operation.

The gatehouse made its way into the novel due to the film Marathon Man - I've always loved the waterworks set at the end of the film - and Caleb Carr's the Alienist which ends a water facility - I've long been a fan of that novel and its sequel.

Originally, The Devil's Highway opened with the Sand Hogs infiltrating the 135th Street gatehouse which is one of those great municipal wonders. For some reason it looks like a castle, complete with a turret. While working on the novel, however, the building was rescued by the Harlem Stage and turned into performance space. My loss was New York City's gain, and a new site had to be found. Next stop West 119th Street.