Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted’s plan for Central Park in 1857 was to bring the serenity of nature to a swampy, rocky stretch of the city.
After bulldozing shantytowns and draining swamps, they (and masses of laborers) spent the next several years fabricating pastoral lawns, hills, ponds, and lakes.
The also created the North Woods: a 90-acre refuge at the northern end of the park designed to replicate the secluded Adirondack forests of central New York State.
“Although much less was done to rearrange the northern end’s rugged topography than had been done elsewhere, park workers built a twelve-acre lake called the Harlem Meer on the swamp, carved out and planted the Ravine and Waterfall, and constructed another mile of drive, a mile and a half of walks, and several rustic bridges,” reports centralparkhistory.com.
The result: “Within the woodlands, traffic disappears, buildings are hidden by trees and a gentle stream bubbles over sounds of the city, states the Central Park Conservatory website.
It really does feel like a slice of the Adirondacks just yards from the subway. And hidden in the thick forest is one of the city’s oldest structures: a blockhouse from the War of 1812.
[Top and bottom photos: Central Park Conservatory]
Tags: building Central Park, Calvert Vaux, Central Park 1875, Central Park North Woods, Central Park old map, Frederick Law Olmsted, secluded Central Park, Secret Central Park
Ephemeral New York 
September 5, 2013 at 10:02 am |
Reblogged this on KREUZBERG´D and commented:
Speaking of parks in big cities (please read http://kreuzberged.com/2013/09/03/green-in-the-city-tempelhofer-feld/) – here is the story of most probably the best known urban park in the world: Central Park. From Ephemeral New York.
September 5, 2013 at 11:38 am |
Check out reference to war of 1812
Sent from my iPhone
September 5, 2013 at 2:22 pm |
OUTSTANDING post!
If you ❤ NY, you will love my blog.
http://bravonatalis.wordpress.com
September 5, 2013 at 2:23 pm |
Reblogged this on Savoring Moments and commented:
Wonderful post. A quick must read about central park.
September 5, 2013 at 3:28 pm |
Thank you! It’s not quite like hiking Mt. Marcy but still pretty isolated.
September 5, 2013 at 4:54 pm |
Curious as to why the map of the 8th Ave side of the park labels all the cross streets numerically except for 106th St, which is spelled out (One-Hundred Sixth Street). All the other streets (103rd, 104th, etc) are written numerically.
Odd.
September 6, 2013 at 2:30 pm |
I think because the park’s northern boundary originally was supposed to be 106th Street.
September 8, 2013 at 4:32 pm |
i was wandering around up there yesterday… one of my favorite sections of the park…
October 26, 2013 at 11:47 pm |
thank you for this wonderful post, I want to run right out and find that structure from 1812. Here is more info on the park – seems getting it built was just as difficult and fractious as it might be today!
http://www.centralpark.com/guide/history.html
February 20, 2014 at 8:01 am |
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