Central Park: The Green Heart

Grand Army Plaza

The gilded southeast gate of Central Park, where a Civil War general rides in bronze and a Roman goddess pours water into a fountain funded by Joseph Pulitzer.

You are standing at Grand Army Plaza, the southeast gateway to Central Park. Behind you, Fifth Avenue runs downtown past the Plaza Hotel. Ahead, the park opens. The gilded equestrian statue in front of you is General William Tecumseh Sherman, led by the winged figure of Victory.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpted it, and it was dedicated in 1903. The fountain behind you, topped by Pomona the Roman goddess of abundance, was a gift from newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. This plaza has been the ceremonial entrance to the park since the 1860s. When you are ready, walk straight into the park.

You are aiming for the Pond, a 3.8-acre lake just inside the tree line.

Gapstow Bridge

A schist bridge arching over the neck of the Pond, with the midtown skyline rising behind it like a postcard come to life.

You are on Gapstow Bridge, one of 30 ornamental bridges in the park. The original 1874 bridge was a fanciful wooden and cast-iron structure that rotted. This replacement, built in 1896, is plain Manhattan schist, covered in vines for much of the year. Look south and you get the money shot: the towers of Central Park South rising above the trees, reflected in the Pond on a still day.

To your west, the steep wooded hill is Hallett Nature Sanctuary, a 3.5-acre preserve that has been closed to the public for most of its history. To the north, the open space is Wollman Rink, built in 1951 on what was once the northern arm of the Pond. In the 1860s, more people came to the park in winter than summer because of the ice-skating craze right here. A red ball was hoisted on downtown trolleys to let the whole city know the ice was frozen.

The Mall

A quarter-mile cathedral of American elms, the only straight line in the park's original blueprint and the grandest promenade Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux ever designed.

You have stepped onto the Mall, the park's formal promenade. Olmsted and Vaux called it an open-air hall of reception. The American elms were chosen because their branches arch and meet overhead, creating the feeling of a vaulted ceiling. This is one of the largest remaining stands of American elms in the world.

The southern half is called Literary Walk for the statues of writers that line it: William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Fitz-Greene Halleck. In 2020, the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument was added here, the first new monument in the park in over 50 years. The northern stretch opens into a concert ground where a cast-iron bandstand once stood, replaced in 1923 by the Naumburg Bandshell that still hosts performances today. The Mall was designed as a place where every New Yorker, whatever their background, could come together.

On a busy Saturday, you still see exactly that.