A Visit to Central Park in New York City
With spring finally here, I wanted to take a drive through the historic and incredible Central Park in Manhattan. Many of the photos I took the other day, focus on a stretch known as the Met to the Meer, a beautiful, diverse landscape extending along the east side of the Park from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and north to the Harlem Meer, at the northernmost section of the Park. This area is being restored by the Central Park Conservancy, a non-profit founded in 1980. This group has made great strides in restoring Central Park to its former splendor after decades of neglect.
The Conservancy's restoration of the historic area will build on its history as a horticultural zone - using Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's original arboretum concept as an organizing principle - while connecting disparate landscapes to one another and to the rest of the Park. This area includes the Mount (see my photo), home to the Park's composting operations. Each year, more than 3,000 cubic yards of leaves are taken to the Mount to be broken down into compost. Another 5,000 cubic yards of wood mulch is generated from tree and shrub clippings. The rich compost is recycled and returned to the Park’s landscapes, used year-round in all of the Conservancy’s planting and horticultural projects. This area of Central Park is also is home to the stately Conservatory Garden, which serves as the venue for the really fun annual Frederick Law Olmsted Awards Luncheon hosted by the Conservancy's Women's Committee - this year on May 5 - which I often attend. The women guests wear the most fabulous hats for this event.
My friends at the Conservancy tell me that this restoration work includes infrastructure improvements - irrigation and drainage, for example - and that funds raised for the project also go toward long-term operating support. The East Meadow work begins this summer, while restoration in the Reservoir East section will begin in 2011. While this area is a magnificent site, I can't wait to see it after the Conservancy completes its restoration. After all, this is the organization that restored the Great Lawn, the lush expanse of green that's a favorite for many New York summertime picnics, bringing it back from its 70's-era 'Dust Bowl' nickname.
Amazingly, in its 30-year history, the Conservancy has invested more than $530 million into Central Park, 80 percent of which has been raised from private sources. If you'd like to do your part to keep Central Park looking beautiful and support the Met to Meer restoration, consider a donation to the Conservancy. For more information about getting involved and to plan your own springtime visit, click here to find out more about this wonderful space.
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- Redbuds in bloom at the East 86th Street entrance to Central Park
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- Redbuds in bloom at sundown in Central Park
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- A view of the Guggenheim peeking through trees along the Reservoir East stretch of Central Park
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- Another view of the Guggenheim from the east side of the Reservoir in Central Park
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- A glimpse onto East 94th Street from inside Central Park – the barricades mark the site where, due to the excessive rain and snowfall in the past six months, a tree recently came down.
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- A view of the East Meadow – Restoration work will begin this summer as part of the Central Park Conservancy’s long-term vision to bring Central Park back to its original splendor.
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- A pathway at the Mount, home to the Conservancy’s composting operations
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- Harlem Meer – looking east to the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, one of the Park’s visitor centers, across the water
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- Another view of Dana Center, with beautiful crab apples in the foreground
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- The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center sits across the water of the Harlem Meer, one of the many areas in the Park restored by the Central Park Conservancy.
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- A view of The Pool in Central Park, just northwest of North Meadow and south of the Great Hill
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- The blooms around The Pool are magnificent.
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- A crab apple tree blooms along the West Drive in the northern section of Central Park.
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- The Reservoir near 91st Street
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- The sun reflecting on the glass of a building through flowering cherry trees at the Reservoir
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- A view of blooms and lush lawns near the 86th Street entrance along the West Drive
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- A view of the El Dorado building, which peers into Central Park from Central Park West and 90th Street
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- The Merchants Gate entrance at 59th Street and Central Park West
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- A carriage in Central Park near the entrance by 59th Street and Fifth Avenue
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- A Central Park Conservancy zone gardener loading trash at the top of the East Drive and East 66th Street. Conservancy crews care for 250 acres of lawns, 26,000 trees, 150 acres of lakes streams, 130 acres of woodlands; install hundreds of thousands of plantings annually, including bulbs, shrubs, flowers, trees; maintain 9,000 benches, 26 ballfields, 21 playgrounds; preserve 55 sculptures monuments 36 bridges; remove graffiti within 24 hours; collect over 5 million pounds of trash a year; provide horticultural support to City parks.
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- A beautiful view of the lush Dene – a term that means ‘valley’ – a long stretch of east side landscape in the Park.
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