- Bow Bridge spans the Lake at its narrowest point
- East end of the Lake and Loeb Boathouse, foreshortened as seen from Bethesda Terrace
- Rustic Shelter, central to the Ramble
- The Ramble in the spring
The Ramble and Lake are two geographic features of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. Part of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's 1857 Greensward Plan for Central Park, the features are located on the west side of the park between the 66th and 79th Street transverses.
The 38-acre (150,000 m2) Ramble, located on the north shore of the Lake, is a forested area with highly varied topography and numerous winding walks, designated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as a protected nature preserve. It was designed as a "wild garden" away from carriage drives and bridle paths, in which to be wandered, or to be viewed as a "natural" landscape. The Ramble includes several rustic bridges, and formerly contained a small cave. Historically, it has been frequented for both birdwatching and cruising.
The serpentine 20-acre (81,000 m2) Lake offers dense naturalistic planting, rocky outcrops of glacially scarred Manhattan bedrock, small open glades, and an artificial stream (the Gill) that empties through the Azalea Pond, then down a cascade into the Lake. At the northwestern corner of the Lake, the ground rises toward Vista Rock, crowned by a lookout and folly named Belvedere Castle. The western shore includes the Ladies' Shelter, the southern shore contains a waterfront porch called Bethesda Terrace, and the eastern shore contains the Loeb Boathouse.
The Ramble is one of three main woodlands in Central Park, [1] [2] [3] : 44–45 the others being North Woods and Hallett Nature Sanctuary. [3] : 2–3 The Ramble covers 36 to 38 acres (14.6 to 15.4 ha), and contains a series of winding paths, as well as outcrops, rustic structures, and several bridges. [2] [4] [5] : 131 The Ramble is designated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as a "Forever Wild" natural preserve, which prevents any future redevelopment of the site. [6]
During construction, the park's most varied and intricately planted landscape was planted with native trees such as tupelo ( Nyssa sylvatica ); American sycamore; white, red, black, scarlet, and willow oaks; Hackberry; and Liriodendron . [7] These trees were arranged to create a colorful tropical effect. [5] : 131 These coexisted with some American trees never native to the area, such as Kentucky coffee tree, yellowwood, and cucumber magnolia, and a few exotics, such as Phellodendron and Sophora . Smaller natives include sassafras. Aggressively self-seeding black cherry and black locust later came to dominate the Ramble. [7] A 1979 census of the Ramble's trees, taken by Bruce Kelly, Philip Winslow, and James Marston Fitch, found 6,000 trees, including 60 specimen trees of landscape value. [8]
The Lake, covering 20 acres (8.1 ha), [9] unified what Calvert Vaux called the "irregular disconnected featureless conglomeration of ground". [10] It was excavated, entirely by hand, from unprepossessing swampy ground transected by drainage ditches and ramshackle stone walls. [11] The Lake is connected to two additional watercourses. The Gill, adapted from the Scottish word for "stream", starts from a water pipe in the middle of the Ramble and flows southeast into Azalea Pond, [12] [13] [14] a collecting pond adjacent to the Lake frequented by birdwatchers. [14] [12] In addition, an inlet called Bank Rock Bay extends off the extreme north end of the Lake. [13]
The Ladies' Skating Pond once abutted the western side of the Lake. It was partially infilled due to malaria concerns in 1888, [15] and it was completely drained by 1936. [16] [13] Today, the site of the Ladies' Pond is occupied by a lawn and dog walk that is much lower than the surrounding topography. [17] [13]
Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are located at the southeastern end of the Lake. [1] [18] They form the northern end of the Central Park Mall, the only formal feature in the park's original blueprint, the Greensward Plan. [19] The terrace is composed of two levels, the lower of which houses the fountain. [20] [18] The center of the fountain contains the sculpture Angel of the Waters (1873) by Emma Stebbins, the first large public sculpture commission for an American woman. [21]
There are multiple bridges in the Ramble, including one across the Lake. Bow Bridge connects the Lake's southern shore with the Ramble, on the northern shore of the Lake. [1] The span is notable for its intricate cast iron design. Its 87-foot-long (27 m) span is the longest of any bridge in the park, though the balustrade is 142 feet (43 m) long. [22] [23] [24] Bow Bridge was restored in 1974. [23] [24] [25]
The northern end of the Lake is spanned by a small bridge called Oak Bridge or Cabinet Bridge. [26] It crosses Bank Rock Bay and for this reason is also called Bank Rock Bridge. [27] The original structure was a wooden trestle made of yellow pine upon stone abutments. After a period of decline, the bridge was completely replaced in 1935, [27] and again in 1982 [28] and 2009. [29] The abutments are the only holdovers from the original span. [27] [28] The railings of the current span are made of cast-iron panels between wooden posts. [28]
There are also three smaller spans in the Ramble. One of them, the Ramble Arch, is a stone arch that carries one pedestrian walkway over another, and is made of rockface ashlar. [30] [31] [32] [33] Additionally, the Gill Bridge, a wooden bridge, crosses the Gill at its mouth. [34] [35] Another wooden bridge, unnamed, is located further upstream of the Gill. [35]
A cave was originally located inside the Ramble, adjacent to Ramble Arch. [31] [32] It was not originally part of the Greensward Plan, but rather, was originally a narrow cavity uncovered after a deposit of fertile soil was excavated at the site. Olmsted and Vaux lined the entrance of the cavity with boulders and created a stone staircase down to the Cave. [36] [37]
The Ramble Cave, also known as Indian Cave, was a popular attraction. [36] It was characterized as a romantic spot [38] [39] and as a play area for kids. [40] A teenage runaway may have lived in the Cave for a month in the late 1890s. [41] However, by the early 20th century, the Cave had become associated with crime. [13] For instance, a suicide in the Cave occurred in 1904, [37] and an alleged attempted robbery occurred in 1922. [42] Some of the more than 300 men arrested in Central Park in 1929 for "annoying women" were apprehended in the Cave. [43] [37] By 1934, it was sealed off because of numerous reports of suicides, crimes, and homeless people. [13]
The western shore of the Lake, between 75th and 77th Streets, contains a rocky promontory that Olmsted called the Hernshead. [1] Translated to "heron's head", it is named because the outcrop is shaped roughly like a heron's head. The outcrop was restored in 1987. [44] The Ladies Cottage was once located at the Hernshead. [45] It was so named because it abutted the Ladies' Skating Pond, and might have been used as a gender-separated locker room for female skaters [45] as early as 1860. [46]
The Ladies' Pavilion, a wrought iron shelter in a playful Gothic style, was later relocated atop the Hernshead. Jacob Wrey Mould had designed the pavilion in 1871 as a shelter for people waiting to change streetcars at Columbus Circle in the southwest corner of the park. [45] [47] [48] Though no drawings remain of the original Ladies' Pavilion, Mould designed a similar shelter at the southeast corner, on Fifth Avenue, between 1871 and 1872. [45] When the USS Maine Monument was installed on the shelter's site, the cast-iron elements were disassembled and stored, to be re-erected on the Hernshead. [47] The exact date of the pavilion's relocation is unclear: some accounts give a date of 1904, [45] [48] while others cite the 1930s. [45] The Ladies' Pavilion declined over time due to rust and vandalism, and though individuals and groups advocated for the restoration of the Ladies' Pavilion, vandals destroyed the structure in 1971. [45] [49] The pavilion was partially rebuilt with some of its overhead panels in 1973, though the city deemed a full renovation to be too expensive, as it would have cost $95,000. [48] Six years later, it was completely restored in a project funded with a $7,000 grant from the Arthur Ross Foundation and a $150,000 donation from a Japanese donor. [50] [45]
The Loeb Boathouse, on the eastern shore of the Lake, [1] is one of several boat landings that have existed on the Lake throughout its history. Boating concessions were granted in the early 1860s, and rowboating on the Lake soon became popular. [51] Six docks on the Lake were built by 1865, although the boats were stored near Bethesda Terrace. [52] In 1870, Olmsted and Vaux suggested the construction of a permanent boathouse to launch and store the boats, and the Victorian style boathouse was finished by 1873 or 1874. However, it fell into disrepair in the mid-20th century and was destroyed by 1950. [52] [53]
A new boathouse, financed by a $305,000 donation from businessman Carl M. Loeb and another $110,000 from NYC Parks, was completed in 1954. [54] [52] [53] In 1983, the boathouse was renovated for $750,000, and a 40-seat restaurant opened within the boathouse. [55] Since then, the Loeb Boathouse has contained a formal dining room, dining terraces, and concession stands, as well as a rowboat rental. [52] [53] After the Loeb Boathouse's operators announced that the restaurant would close in October 2022, [56] [57] NYC Parks secured a new operator for the restaurant in early 2023. [58] [59] The Loeb Boathouse opened for limited service in June 2023 following a $3.25 million renovation, [60] [61] and it fully reopened in March 2024. [62] [63]
Vista Rock is on the northwest corner of the Lake, just above the 79th Street transverse. [1] With a height of 130 feet (40 m), it is the second-highest point in Central Park. [64] Atop the rock is Belvedere Castle, a folly built in 1869–1871. [64] [65] : 60 Though it originally had no doors or windows, these furnishings were installed when the castle was used as a weather station from 1919 to 1960. [5] : 162 Today, Belvedere Castle serves as a visitors' center. [66]
The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre is just northwest of the Lake and west of Vista Rock. [1] Originally prefabricated in Sweden and formerly known as the Swedish Schoolhouse, it was shipped to the U.S. for the 1876 Centennial Exposition before being relocated to Central Park. [67] [68] A 200-book nature library was opened in the structure in 1901. [69] Since 1947, it has housed one of the nation's last marionette companies. [67]
Strawberry Fields, a 2.5-acre (1.0 ha) landscaped memorial, is southwest of the Lake. [1] It is dedicated to the memory of former Beatles member John Lennon, who was murdered outside his nearby home, the Dakota. [70] The memorial was dedicated in his honor in 1981 [71] and rebuilt completely in 1985. [72] Its most notable feature is the "Imagine" memorial mosaic in the center. [70]
The Ramble and Lake were two of the first features to be built in Central Park. Together they formed the northern end of the Central Park Mall, the only formal feature in the Greensward Plan. The Lake was formed from part of the Sawkill Creek, a natural creek which flowed near the American Museum of Natural History. [19] The creek ran through the park site, south of Seneca Village, originally exiting the park under Fifth Avenue near East 74th Street, where Conservatory Water lies today, before emptying in the East River. [73] To create the Lake, the outlet was dammed with a broad, curving earth dam, which carries the East Carriage Drive past the Kerbs Boathouse (1954), at the end of the Lake's eastern arm. [74]
In late August 1857, after Central Park's construction was approved, workers began building fences, clearing vegetation, draining the land, and leveling uneven terrain. [75] : PDF pp. 31–35 [76] The Lake was the first feature to be completed, [77] [78] partially due to the fact that it was being filled from water that was drained from the adjacent Ramble. [74] It opened to the public as an ice skating ground that December. [78] The Lake's center was seven feet deep, with terraced shorelines to lower levels for skaters' safety. [74] The Ramble, the second section of the park to be completed, formally opened in June 1859. [79] [80] : 10 (PDF p. 11) The Ramble and Lake soon gained popularity: while 15,000 people visited the Ramble daily in July 1859, this number grew to 20,000 by late August, 40,000 by mid-October, and 50,000 by Christmas that same year. [81]
The Greensward Plan was required to include a musical venue, and the original plan was for a music stand to be placed at the Rumsey Playfield, above the Mall and just south of the Lake. [5] : 160 The first concert in Central Park occurred in the Ramble on July 6, 1859, and later on, concerts also occurred in the Lake. [5] : 160 [82] [83] However, concerts in the Ramble were a short-lived phenomenon. [83] A concert pavilion in the Mall, at the top of Bethesda Terrace, was approved in 1862, [5] : 160 and by the pavilion's completion three years later, most of the concerts had shifted to the Mall. [83]
The maintenance effort of the Ramble and Lake, as did the rest of the park, declined slightly in the early and mid-20th century. [84] In 1927, mayor Jimmy Walker commissioned Herman W. Merkel, a landscape designer, to survey the park and create a plan for improvement. [85] Merkel's report noted that while the condition of the Ramble was "disreputable" with its many dead plants and trees, Central Park's overall condition was "fairly good". [84]
Some structures were closed or demolished in the mid-20th century. The Cave was closed by 1934 due to crime. [13] The deteriorating boathouse on the Lake was closed in 1950 and replaced in 1954. [52] [53] By 1971, the Ladies' Pavilion had also been destroyed by vandals, though it was replaced two years later. [45]
The Ramble was partially restored in the late 20th century. [86] These renovations started with the Ladies' Pavilion, which was restored to its original design in 1979. [45] In early 1981, the Central Park Conservancy cleared trees in the Ramble to allow more sunlight to reach the Ramble. [87] However, this decision was criticized by birders, who said that the destruction of trees would remove shelter places for birds. [86] [88] [89] The restoration of the Gill was subsequently approved in 1982. [90] A path in the Ramble, Iphigene's Walk, was dedicated in 1987 to one of the key backers of the Ramble's 1980s renovation. [91]
The Central Park Conservancy renovated the Lake's shoreline starting in 2006, in a project to enhance both its ecological and scenic aspects. [9] In mid-2007, the first phase of a restoration of the Lake and its shoreline plantings commenced, with replanting using native shrubs and understory trees around the northern end of the Lake. In the earliest stages, invasive non-native plants like Japanese knotweed were eradicated, the slopes were regraded with added humus and protected with landscaping burlap to stabilize the slopes while root systems became established and leaf litter developed. [92]
Bank Rock Bridge was recreated in its original materials following Calvert Vaux's original design of 1859–60. [93] The replacement bridge was made of steel, clad in ornamental cast iron facings, with a wooden deck. [27] The new bridge was rededicated in September 2009. [29]
The cascade, where the Gill empties into the lake, was reconstructed to approximate its dramatic original form, inspired by paintings of Asher B. Durand. Sections of the Lake were dredged of accumulated silt—topsoil that had washed off the surrounding slopes—and the island formerly in the lake, which gradually eroded below water level, was reconstructed in mid-2007 with rugged boulders along its shoreline, graded wetland areas, and submerged planting shelves for water-loving native plants, like pickerel weed. [92]
The Ramble is one of the major centers of birdwatching in Central Park. [94] At least 250 species of birds have been spotted over the years, including more than 20 species of warblers that pass through during spring and fall migration in April and October. [95] [2] One of the most popular birding spots is Azalea Pond, along the waterfront. [14]
Since at least the early 20th century, the seclusion of the Ramble has been used by gay men for cruising. [94] In the 1920s, the lawn at the north end was referred to as the "fruited plain", and in the 1950s and 1960s, the Ramble was feared by many as a haven for "anti-social persons". [96] In the early 1960s, under Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., the Parks Department proposed building a senior center in the Ramble with the hope of curbing cruising and anti-gay assaults. [97]
In 1980, an ad was placed in The Village Voice looking for gay men interested in playing soccer in the Ramble, giving rise to the New York Ramblers, among the world's first openly gay soccer clubs. [98] Today, the Ramble's reputation for cruising has given way somewhat to nature walks and environmentalism. However, some in the gay community still consider the Ramble to be "ground zero for outdoor gay sex", enjoying the "retro feel" of sneaking off into the woods. [99]
Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City that was the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the sixth-largest park in the city, containing 843 acres (341 ha), and the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually as of 2016. It is also one of the most filmed locations in the world.
Prospect Park is a 526-acre (2.13 km2) urban park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The park is situated between the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, and Windsor Terrace, and is adjacent to the Brooklyn Museum, Grand Army Plaza, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. With an area of 526 acres (213 ha), Prospect Park is the second-largest public park in Brooklyn, behind Marine Park. Designated as a New York City scenic landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Prospect Park is operated by the Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks.
Belvedere Castle is a folly in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It contains exhibit rooms, an observation deck, and since 1919 has housed Central Park’s official weather station.
Seneca Village was a 19th-century settlement of mostly African American landowners in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, within what would become present-day Central Park. The settlement was located near the current Upper West Side neighborhood, approximately bounded by Central Park West and the axes of 82nd Street, 89th Street, and Seventh Avenue, had they been constructed through the park.
Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of the Lake in New York City's Central Park. The fountain, with its Angel of the Waters statue, is located in the center of the terrace.
The Central Park Conservancy is an American private, nonprofit park conservancy that manages New York City's Central Park under a contract with the government of New York City and NYC Parks. The conservancy employs most maintenance and operations staff in the park. It effectively oversees the work of both the private and public employees under the authority of the publicly appointed Central Park administrator, who reports to the parks commissioner and the conservancy's president.
The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond are two connected features of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The lawn and pond are located on the site of a former reservoir for the Croton Aqueduct system which was infilled during the early 20th century.
Harlem Meer is a man-made lake at the northeast corner of New York City's Central Park. It lies west of Fifth Avenue, south of 110th Street, and north of the Conservatory Garden, near the Harlem and East Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattan. The lake, as originally constructed, was 12.634 acres (51,130 m2), but after the completion in 1966 of the Lasker skating rink and swimming pool, it was reduced to approximately 11 acres (45,000 m2) in area and approximately 0.75 miles (1.21 km) in circumference.
Conservatory Water is a pond located in a natural hollow within Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located west of Fifth Avenue, centered opposite East 74th Street. The pond is surrounded by several landscaped hills, including Pilgrim Hill dotted by groves of Yoshino cherry trees and Pug Hill. These plantings were intended to match the flora around the mansions that once lined the adjacent stretch of Fifth Avenue.
Crotona Park is a public park in the South Bronx in New York City, covering 127.5 acres (51.6 ha). The park is bounded by streets of the same name on its northern, eastern, southern, and western borders, and is adjacent to the Crotona Park East and Morrisania neighborhoods of the Bronx. It is divided into four portions by Claremont Parkway and Crotona Avenue, which run through it.
The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, also known as Central Park Reservoir, is a decommissioned reservoir in Central Park in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, stretching from 86th to 96th Streets. It covers 106 acres (43 ha) and holds over 1 billion US gal (3.8 million m3) of water.
The Central Park Mall is a pedestrian esplanade in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York City. The mall, leading to Bethesda Fountain, provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux for Central Park.
Sheep Meadow is a 15-acre (61,000 m2) meadow near the southwestern section of Central Park, between West 66th and 69th Streets in Manhattan, New York City. It is adjacent to Central Park Mall to the east, The Ramble and Lake to the north, West Drive to the west, and Heckscher Playground and Ballfields to the south.
The Sawkill or Saw-kill was the largest hydrological network on Manhattan island in New York City before the Dutch colony of New Netherland was founded in 1624. This 44,980-foot-long (13,710 m) stream began "within four blocks of the Hudson River":
A rill flowing east from the rocky ridge overlooking Bloomingdale Village, which rose near Ninth Avenue and 85th Street, flowed in a southerly direction through Manhattan Square, where it spread into a little pond, and then turned east, crossing Central Park to Fifth Avenue, receiving three tributaries within its limits, two from the north and one from the south. At 75th Street near Third Avenue it was joined by another stream. Near this junction the old Boston Post Road crossed it, and then from this point, the stream ran due east to its outlet near the foot of 75th Street
The Pond and Hallett Nature Sanctuary are two connected features at the southeastern corner of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located near Grand Army Plaza, across Central Park South from the Plaza Hotel, and slightly west of Fifth Avenue. The Pond is one of seven bodies of water in Central Park.
The Bow Bridge is a cast iron bridge located in Central Park, New York City, crossing over the Lake and used as a pedestrian walkway.
The Central Park Casino, originally the Ladies' Refreshment Salon, was a restaurant in Central Park, near East 72nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The name of the building came from the Italian for "little house"; the Casino itself was not a gambling business.
North Woods and North Meadow are two interconnected features in the northern section of Central Park, New York City, close to the neighborhoods of the Upper West Side and Harlem in Manhattan. The 90-acre (36 ha) North Woods, in the northwestern corner of the park, is a rugged woodland that contains a forest called the Ravine, as well as two water features called the Loch and the Pool. The western portion of the North Woods also includes Great Hill, the third highest point in Central Park. North Meadow, a recreation center and sports complex, is immediately southeast of the North Woods. Completed in the 1860s, North Woods and North Meadow were among the last parts of Central Park to be built.
Heckscher Playground is a play area located in New York City's Central Park, located close to Central Park South between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. It is the oldest and largest of Central Park's 22 playgrounds.
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