ONI - Central Park

Central Park feels like it shouldn't exist: a manufactured oasis of nature surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the world. For a hundred years the Parks Department has been fighting developers from stealing away this gift of organized wilderness. Getting your bearings in the park may seem a little complicated when you first arrive, as the designers sought to divorce the park from the rest of the city, so it purposely doesn't align with any of the streets surrounding it.

One word of warning before you begin, the Park is closed between 1 AM and 6 AM, and to be inside the borders at those hours risks a trespassing fine from the police. While this could certainly be seen as a New York night photographer’s rite of passage, it is not worth it.

This guide starts at The Pond in Central Park, near 5th Avenue and 59th Street, but this route is a loop and can be started anywhere in either direction. This excursion is designed to bring you past some wonderful highlights of what makes this space both beautiful and necessary for the city and hopefully put them both into context with each other.

The Walk

Coming down the stairs from 5th Avenue and 59th Street you will pass the Lombard Lamp, a gift from Hamburg, Germany where similar lamps are on their Lombard Bridge. In the spring the grounds near the Pond will be covered with tulips, in the fall the trees explode with color, but at any time of year the picturesque Gapstow Bridge presents a lovely subject. If you continue to the east of it and upwards you'll pass the Wollman Rink on your left and the path winds around to The Dairy.

This building was once exactly what its name suggests. Back when Central Park first opened, fresh milk wasn't available for most urbanites so children could come and pick up milk daily. These days it's a charming Victorian building highly suitable for night shots. Your path then takes you up and over the 65th Street Transverse, designed to drop horse and carriages below sightlines so park visitors wouldn't have to see any crossing traffic. The walk then leads to the start of the Literary Walk, where statues of writers line both sides of the walk and the world's largest, and one of the last, collections of American elm trees creates a canopy down the mall. Follow this to the overlook of Bethesda Terrace.

Curving to the west, and going under Greywacke Arch the trail turns to the right and up the hill to The Obelisk. The obelisk is 3,500 years old, with a twin that now resides in London, and was gifted to the US in 1869 to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. Walking westward from here brings you to the Great Lawn with a lovely view of Belvedere Castle, a small but elevated architectural folly that often has a reflection on the Turtle Pond. It’s lit very nicely in the evenings and one of my favorite locations. Going eastward around the Turtle Point and up the hill brings you to the overlook from Belvedere Castle. Continuing westward down the trail will lead you to the Shakespeare Garden, an English-style garden filled with plants from Shakespeare’s literature.

This also brings you to the back of the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre. Originally brought to the US for the 1876 exposition, it is a lovely timbered cottage with a rustic fence. Take a left on the roadway back over the 79th Street Transverse. The third left will lead you across Oak Bridge, with beautiful views south of the city. This is one of the entrances to The Ramble, the section of the park that was designed to be a naturalistic semblance of upstate New York. This wooded path will lead you under the Stone Arch, which looks great from both sides. At the end of this trail, take a right and go south along the lake, which will lead you to the Bow Bridge, the longest bridge in the park. The Bow Bridge isincredibly photogenic from both sides. Crossing the bridge and taking a right will send you up Cherry Hill, and bring you to a fountain originally designed for horses.

Link to map for downloading

Over the 65th Street Transverse, you will find the baseball fields on your left. After passing them, take a left and climb on top of the large rock formation, revealing a panoramic view of the city to the west and south. Coming off the rock to the south and moving to the east will lead you past the Heckscher Playground to the main drive. Continuing to the right around the hill, you will find the rustic gazebo Cop Cot, and then the path will lead you to the entrance on 6th Avenue and 59th Street, where there is a stair leading down to The Pond. Following the trail on the south of The Pond will lead you back at our starting point at 5th Avenue and 59th Street.

Go make some art!

The Terrace is notable for the variety of stonework carvings and the beautifully lit tiled ceiling of the arcade underneath. The Terrace leads out onto Bethesda Fountain, the largest fountain in New York City and one of the centerpieces of the park. You'll also now be adjacent to The Lake, and you will follow this around to the east, to find the attractive Loeb Boathouse, which is now a restaurant.

You will cross the roadway and go down the hill to Conservatory Water, which is surrounded by cherry trees in the spring but has a wonderfully playful Alice in Wonderland sculpture to the north. Continuing northward you will pass under Glade Arch and then over the 76th Street Transverse to arrive at the southern end of the Metropolitan Museum.

Early Out Option:
You can go east along Terrace Drive and end up back at Bethesda Terrace, where it’s a quick 15 minute stroll back Literary Walk and around The Pond back to the starting point of 5th Avenue and 59th Street. This shortcut will save you about 15-30 minutes. However, going westward and curving south along the roadway will lead you past the Sheep Meadow, originally designed as a decorative landscape with grazing sheep.