Awesome Central Park

Even if you have never visited Central Park in New York City, you may be able to see it in your mind’s eye. Its extensive lawns, winding paths, rustic bridges, rock outcrops, ponds and lakes, all surrounded by towering skyscrapers, have featured in hundreds of popular films. Central Park not the largest park in NYC, however, it is iconic: an impressive public green space covering 843 acres right in the middle of Manhattan.

The park’s visionary architects, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, succeeded in creating a public expanse where people can roam and mingle while marveling at the beauty of the natural world. When it opened in 1858, it was the first public landscaped park in the U.S. Today, it gets more than forty million visitors every year, many of whom live or work locally.

We have visited Central Park several times over the years. Following our last visit, in November, we were curious to find out more about the history of the park. As it turns out, the very creation of Central Park and the fact that it has retained, to this day, most of the features of the architects’ original proposal, are nothing short of astonishing.

By the 1840s, New York’s elite and city officials were keen to establish a large park in Manhattan. One intent was to provide a space for recreation for the city’s fast-growing population. They also hoped that a great park, as grand as those found in Paris and London, would enhance the prestige of their young city.

In 1852, the political green light was given to develop a 166-acre park on the Upper East Side, in an area called Jones’ Wood. After much political wrangling, threats of legal action by the landowners, and a newspaper campaign to sway public opinion, the decision was later reversed.

Soon after, in a move that was novel for the time, the State Government approved the Central Park Act and authorized the purchase of a 775-acre site (later expanded to the current park acreage) in the centre of Manhattan. Although most of the land was swampy and considered unsuitable for real estate development, some of it was occupied by approximately 1,600 African American, Irish, and German smallholders. These people were forced to sell and their communities were dispersed.

The park, which took twenty years to complete, was an immediate sensation. This led to a movement to create public parks across the country and around the world.

Notwithstanding its initial success, Central Park faced serious financial challenges from time to time throughout its history. As a result, there were periods when the parkland went untended and infrastructure deteriorated. The early decades of the 20^th century and the 1960s and 70s were particularly difficult and the park became branded as an unsafe eyesore to be avoided.

In order to generate revenues, there were proposals, at various times, to expand commercial activities within the park. Fortunately, each time, park advocacy groups and an involved community succeeded in saving the park and preserving its character.

In 1980, the private not-for-profit Central Park Conservancy was created to revitalize the park. It entered a partnership with the City of New York’s Parks and Recreation Department, and today it manages the park under the terms of this agreement. The organization’s mission is: “to preserve and celebrate Central Park as a sanctuary from the pace and pressures of city life, enhancing the enjoyment and wellbeing of all.”

Guided by this mission, it is doing a wonderful job of maintaining, restoring and enhancing the park. The Conservancy is a fundraising powerhouse and donations and endowments provide most of the funding for the maintenance and development of Central Park.

The park’s fifty-eight miles of meandering roads and pathways (map) are always alive with people engaged in a range of leisure pursuits. With its ten thousand benches and twenty-one children’s playgrounds, Central Park is the perfect setting for families to linger and relax.

Each season brings its own variety of activities. The day we were there, many people were skating on the Woolman Rink, and some brave souls were boating, despite the cool weather. The trees still had their magnificent autumn leaves, and the sun was bright in the sky: a perfect day for a walk or a jog.

For the first time, we walked as far as the Harlem Meer at the northern edge of the park. This lake and adjacent facilities are undergoing a complete makeover. We also visited the Frederick Douglass Circle, with its statue of the famous abolitionist.

Despite repeated visits, there is still so much of Central Park that we haven’t seen yet. With what we know now, we look forward to our next visit. The video below takes you on a short tour of some of the sights that caught our attention during our latest visit. We hope you like it.