Central Park

Article By: Dan Hill

4 years ago

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Culture-Landmark Nature-Park

Central Park sits in central Manhattan - between the Upper East and Upper West sides - and is the breath of fresh air you just might need amongst the hustle and bustle of city life. There are 18 gates used to get in and and out of the park - located around the nearly 9km long stone wall that surrounds it. The park covers 843 acres (3.4 square km, or 1.3 square miles), and is 2.5 miles long, by 0.5 miles wide (4km by 0.8km). When you're in it, this feels like a very substantial urban park - but it is actually only the fifth largest park in New York City. There are approximately 40 million visits to Central Park per year - made by approximately 9 million people. It is estimated that 70% of these visitors are New York City residents. The winning design for the park was selected in April 1858: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's "Greensward Plan". Top soil was shipped in to the park in enourmous quantities: around 5 million cubic feet (140,000 cubic meters). 700 workers contributed to the overall building project - that included a reservoir and lakes, 3 wooded areas (North Woods, the Ramble, and Hallett Nature Sanctuary) contributing to the more than 20,000 trees in the park, numerous plazas and entrances. There are 29 monuments in the park - with Bethesda Fountain being the only statue actually commissioned for the park. If zoos are your thing, you can check out the Central Park zoo while you are here. Residents of Manhattan make great use of Central Park for recreational purposes. The 6.1 miles (nearly 10km) of driveways are used daily by joggers, runners and inline skaters, to get their cardio fix. A staggering 26 baseball fields lie within the park's bounds. In the winter months, the park plays host to 2 skating rinks. Younger children need not feel left out as there are no less than 21 playgrounds in the park - the largest being Heckscher Playground. On my last visit, I rented a model boat from the Kerbs Memorial Boathouse - which I found to be very relaxing. Both radio controlled and wind powered boats are available. If a full size boat is more your thing, then between April and October you can rent a rowing boat or gondola at the Lake - from 10am until dusk. For more information, check out: thecentralparkboathouse.com. You can also enjoy a ride in a horse driven carriage, or take part in a bicycle tour around the park. On your way around, check out some of the stone bridges (for example, Balcony Bridge) - at least to me they felt like they had been lifted right out of the European countryside. There are so many features of interest in the park - and I can highly recommend visiting the Central Park Conservancy's website to get a full overview: https://www.centralparknyc.org/attractions/ There are numerous opportunities for refreshments in the park. 3 restaurants and 6 cafés supply the parks visitors with their fares. Check out Ballfields Cafe if you fancy a sandwich, salad or a burger. Photo Credits: 1. Image by David Mark from Pixabay 2. Photo by Jason Forrest on Unsplash 3. Image by Leonhard Niederwimmer from Pixabay