Krissy Oechslin walked every block of Manhattan in 13 months. Krissy Oechslin 2025-04-17T10:30:02Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Krissy Oechslin, 48, moved to New York City from Charlotte, North Carolina, in February 2024. She always wanted to walk every block of a city, but Charlotte wasn't pedestrian-friendly enough. It took her 13 months to walk every block in Manhattan. It helped her adjust to her new home. This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Krissy Oechslin. The following has been edited for length and clarity.For years, I wanted to walk every block of a city.In 2012, I read a New York Times story about Matt Green, who was on a mission to walk every block of all five boroughs of NYC. I thought it was incredible and wanted to replicate a similar walking project one day.During the pandemic lockdowns, I toyed with the idea of doing it in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I lived at the time. It wouldn't really be possible — Charlotte is very car-centric, and there are parts of the city that just aren't pedestrian-friendly. I knew I would get odd looks if I was strolling next to a highway. Not all of Charlotte, North Carolina is pedestrian-friendly. joe daniel price/Getty Images When I decided to move to New York in February 2024, I thought exploring every block of Manhattan would be a cool way to get to know my new city.It took me 13 months of on-and-off effort to walk every block. When I was finished, I felt like I saw so many unique parts of Manhattan — ones even lifelong New Yorkers might not know about.I tracked my progress with a 6-foot map I hung up a six-foot-long map to help track my progress. Krissy Oechslin Originally, I planned to both bike and walk the city, so I couldn't use CityStrides, a map that only tracks running and walking. (In the end, I walked over 99.5% of the project.)Because I wanted to tackle the blocks out of order, tracking them was a multi-step process. First, I needed a map of Manhattan.Finding a complete one was trickier than I expected. The first one I bought on Amazon stopped after 110th Street and many I found capped the island at Central Park. Manhattan stretches over 100 blocks further north, ending at Marble Hill right before West 230th Street. Sylvan Terrace, on St. Nicholas Ave between 160th and 162nd Street, wouldn't show up on some of the Manhattan maps I saw. Krissy Oechslin The best one I could find was from 2011, a 6-foot-long version that I stuck to the wall in my apartment.By the time I was done with the project, I learned that one was not fully up to date, either — I encountered areas in real life that were blank on the map, like Waterline Square on the Upper West Side, which was completed in 2020. Some of my favorite buildings, like the UN Headquarters' Turkevi Center (left) and the Lantern House in Chelsea (right) were finished in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Krissy Oechslin I downloaded Strava to track exact steps every day, then traced my progress to the map with a Sharpie.My first entry began in Harlem, right after I returned my moving truck and walked 10 blocks to my new home. Afterward, I started trying to find unique routes when I made plans — how could I incorporate a new block on my way to meet my friends? Other times, I specifically walked to new areas on my list, like the FDR Drive highway service road on the easternmost side of the borough.The oldest streets were my favorites Historic rowhouses in Hamilton Heights; a building in Sugar Hill, built in the late 1800s. Krissy Oechslin I didn't want to miss any historic landmarks.When I started the project, I bought "The New York Nobody Knows" by William B. Helmreich, a sociologist who walked every block in NYC. It felt more like a sociology textbook than a walking guide, but it gave me some ideas of what I wanted to stop and look at on certain blocks, so I saved them in Google Maps. The original Statue of Liberty sculpture, used to cast the real one, located in Midtown; vintage ads in Harlem. Krissy Oechslin I also stopped a lot during my walks to search different buildings or historical figures on Wikipedia, with what felt like hundreds of tabs open on my phone.Walking up to 10 miles a day sometimes, I ended up saving a lot of buildings on Google Maps that I plan to revisit during Open House New York, a weekend when normally private buildings are accessible to the public.I'm a sucker for cobblestone streets, so some of my favorite neighborhoods were the West Village and Tribeca. I also loved the Financial District — some of the oldest streets in New York combined with towering skyscrapers made for such a cool contrast of old and new. The West Village was one of my favorite neighborhoods, especially around the holidays. Krissy Oechslin One of the most beautiful streetsIn the East Village, I encountered the two oldest cemeteries in New York: New York Marble Cemetery and New York City Marble Cemetery. The former, established in 1830, is partially obscured: I could only see it at the end of the block through an iron gate.I stumbled upon other hidden gems like a Mexican folk art store or a used record shop in the middle of an apartment block. I loved learning that they exist.I finished at an iconic New York spot I ended my project at Tom's Restaurant, which served as the exterior diner shot in "Seinfeld." Krissy Oechslin/NBC By March 2025, I bought a co-op apartment in a neighborhood I hadn't finished exploring: Morningside Heights, at the top of Manhattan.That month, I officially ended my project near my new home, in front of Tom's Restaurant, otherwise known as the "Seinfeld" diner.Four people completely ignored me when I asked them to take a photo of me in front of the restaurant. It made me feel like a real New Yorker.Moving to a new city, I didn't have many friends yet. Having this project gave me built-in plans every weekend — if I had nothing else going on, I could always go for a walk.When I tell people I walked every block of Manhattan, I can tell how long someone's lived here based on their response. The ones who've been here the longest aren't too impressed: walking everywhere is just part of the experience. Recommended video