Central Park is the
most visited urban park in the United States, with approximately 40 million
visitors per year from around the world. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and
Calvert Vaux, it is a beautiful and welcome hiatus for New Yorkers and tourists
alike. The park has several lakes and ponds, two ice-skating rinks,
the Central Park Zoo, Belvedere Castle and the famous Strawberry
Fields. There are also lots of grassy areas good for picnics, and there are
also quite a few playgrounds for children. Many events and concerts take
place every year in Central Park, and many people also like to celebrate their special
events and weddings in the surrounding beauty.
The park is home to
over 25,000 different species of trees, including 1,700 American elm trees.
This is one of the largest clusters of American elms found in North America.
Common mammals within the Park include the raccoon, eastern gray squirrel,
chipmunk and opossum. The arthropod was discovered in Central Park in 2002 and
is one of the smallest centipede species in the world.
History of the Park
Central park, The first landscaped
public park in the United States, built primarily between the 1850s and 1870s,
encompassing 843 acres in New York City between Fifth Avenue and Eighth Avenue
and running from 59th Street to 110th Street.
New York bought the land for Central Park and removed about
1,600 immigrants and African Americans who lived there at the behest of the
city's elite, who were embarrassed by European claims that America lacked
refinement and believed a park would serve as a great cultural showpiece. The
original plans of architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux sought to
re-create the country in the city, but over the years, the story of Central
Park has been the story of how a diverse population changed it to meet various
needs.
At first, Central Park catered almost exclusively to the rich,
who used its drives for daily carriage parades. Though some working-class New
Yorkers visited the park on Sunday, most lacked leisure time and streetcar
fare, and they resented the park's strict rules, including the infamous
prohibition against sitting on the grass. By the 1880s, however, shorter
workdays and higher wages made park attendance more convenient for the poor and
recent immigrants. With additions such as boat and goat rides, the zoo, Sunday
concerts, and restaurants, Central Park's focus gradually shifted from nature
to amusement. During the Great Depression, the powerful parks commissioner
Robert Moses continued this trend, financing massive improvements, including
more than twenty new playgrounds, with New Deal money.
In many ways, the 1970s marked Central Park's low point. Though
never as dangerous as reported, the park experienced a dramatic increase in
crime, and it came to represent New York's urban decay. Moreover, New York's
fiscal crisis decimated the park budget, and in the 1980s, the city gave up
full public control by forming a partner-ship with the private Central Park
Conservancy. Today, Central Park symbolizes New York's grandeur, as its
aristocratic founders expected. They never dreamed it would also serve the
recreational needs of a city of 8 million people.
Size of the Park
Central Park in New York covers 843 acres. Central Park is located within the Manhattan
borough of New York City, stretching 2 1/2 miles in length between 59th Street
and 110th Street and a half-mile in width between Fifth Avenue and Central Park
West
Sights & Attractions
There's
plenty to see and do in Central Park. Sports facilities can be found all over
the park but most of the interesting sights are found in the lower half of
Central Park. You'll come across historical buildings, statues, monuments,
beautiful bridges, and of course plenty of nature. Some of it is quite rugged
like the forest-like Ramble while other parts of the park are more manicured
and feature beautiful flowers and shrubs.
Merchants' Gate
There
are eighteen gated entrances to the park. Each of them has its own name.
Several of these gates are ornate such as the Vanderbilt Gate, Engineers' Gate
and in particular Merchants' Gate at Columbus Circle.
Central Park Zoo
Many
people enter the via the Scholars' Gate at Grand Army Plaza, near Fifth Avenue,
which leads to a nice pond with a beautiful stone bridge. More to the north is
one of the park's most popular attractions: Central Park Zoo. The zoo has
exhibits divided into several regions such as a tropic zone and polar circle.
Some of its popular residents include polar bears, snow leopards, red pandas
and penguins. Just north of the Central Park Zoo is the Tisch Children's Zoo,
where small children can see and touch domestic animals.
Dairy
West
of the Central Park Zoo is the Dairy, a Victorian style cottage created in
1870. The picturesque building houses a Visitor Center where you can get maps,
guides, gifts, and information on events that are planned in Central Park. The
Dairy is located at a former pasture, where cows grazed to provide fresh milk
for the city's children, hence the name of the building.
Bethesda Terrace
The
Mall, a wide boulevard lined with American elm trees, brings you from the Dairy
to the Bethesda Terrace, one of Central Park's architectural highlights. The
terrace has a central covered arcade flanked by two staircases that lead to a
plaza. The focal point of the plaza is the Bethesda Fountain, installed here in
1873. The fountain's statue, Angel of the Waters, was created in 1842 by Emma
Stebbins to commemorate the opening of the Croton water system, which for the
first time provided New York with clean water. Bethesda Terrace overlooks The
Lake and the Loeb Boathouse, where you can rent rowing boats or even a gondola.
Statues
Remote
controlled model boat enthusiasts head to the Conservatory Water, a pond
situated east of The Lake. There are two statues near the pond that are very
popular with children. At the west side of the pond stands a statue of Hans
Christian Andersen while a sculpture group of Alice in Wonderland and her
friends can be found just north of the Conservatory Water. Children love to
climb on the giant mushroom. Another famous statue in Central Park shows Balto,
a Siberian Husky sled dog who in 1925 helped transport medicine across Alaska
to deliver a serum necessary to stop a deadly outbreak of diphtheria.
Sheep Meadow and Great
Lawn
Just
west of the Mall is one of Central Park's largest open spaces: Sheep Meadow, an
expansive pasture popular in summertime with sunbathers. The Great Lawn, more
to the north and at the geographical center of Central Park, is even larger.
The oval lawn, created in 1937, often plays host to free summer concerts.
Metropolitan Museum and
Cleopatra's Needle
The
most important monument in Central Park is Cleopatra's Needle, an authentic
Egyptian obelisk, located east of the Great Lawn. The 20 meter tall granite
obelisk was originally erected at Heliopolis and later moved to Alexandria. In
the mid-nineteenth century it was donated to the US as a gift from Egypt.
The
obelisk stands near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the world's most
important museums, with an enormous collection of artwork from all continents,
covering a period from prehistory to today.
Strawberry Fields
Strawberry
Fields is a memorial garden situated near the entrance to Central Park at W
72nd Street. It was created in honor of John Lennon, who was shot dead in front
of the Dakota Apartments, where he lived. The tear-shaped garden was dedicated
in 1985 as a garden of peace. It is named after a Beatles song written by John
Lennon. The famous mosaic with the word Imagine (another Lennon song) was a
gift from the city of Naples in Italy.
Bow Bridge and Ramble
There
are many bridges in Central Park - each with a unique design. One of the most
interesting is the 18 meter (60 ft) long cast-iron Bow Bridge, that spans The
Lake between Cherry Hill near the Bethesda Terrace and the Ramble, a 15 hectare
(38 acre) large woodland. Here Central Park is at its most natural, with narrow
paths winding through thickets of trees. This is a popular place for
bird-watching: the Ramble is on a trans-Atlantic migration route and more than
250 different bird species have been spotted here.
Belvedere Castle
Just
north of the Ramble is the Belvedere Castle, situated at the highest point in
the park. The castle was created in 1869 as a lookout tower after a design by
Calvert Vaux. The tower overlooks Turtle Pond, named for the many turtles that
live here.
Shakespeare Garden
Shakespeare
Garden was created in 1913 as the Garden of the Heart. Three years later, on
the 300th anniversary of the Shakespeare's death, it was dedicated to the
famous play writer. The garden contains plants that were mentioned in
Shakespeare's plays. Stairs connect the garden with the Swedish Cottage, a
replica of a Swedish school from the nineteenth century. It was transported to
Philadelphia on the occasion of the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876
and it eventually ended up here in New York's Central Park.
Conservatory Garden
The
upper part of Central Park is less visited and there are also less interesting
sights. One major exception is the Conservatory Garden, the only garden in
Central Park with a formal layout. It is divided into three sections: a central
Italianate garden flanked by a French-style garden to the north and an
English-style garden to the south. The gardens are adorned with several
beautiful fountains, including "Three Dancing Maidens", created in
1910 by the German sculptor Walter Schott.
Charles A. Dana Discovery
Center
Further
up north, bordering Harlem, is Harlem Meer, one of the largest lakes in Central
Park. The pretty Victorian-style building near the lake is much younger than it
looks: it was built in 1993. It is home to the Charles A. Dana Discovery
Center, an environmental educational center targeting families and children.
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