Central Park, New York

Central Park is the 843-acre (341-hectare) public park in the middle of Manhattan, New York City, between 59th and 110th Streets, designed in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. It is free and open from 6:00 to 1:00 every day, and first-time visitors usually spend two to four hours in the southern half.

The park runs between 59th and 110th Streets and from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West, about 4 kilometres long and 800 metres wide. In 1853 the New York State legislature allowed the city to take the land, then rocky ground with farms, quarries and Seneca Village, a mostly Black community of landowners. About 1,600 residents of the area were evicted through eminent domain.

Olmsted and Vaux won the design competition in 1858 with their Greensward Plan. Builders removed about five million cubic feet of soil and rock and brought in more than 18,500 cubic yards of topsoil, so the lakes, hills and meadows are largely man-made. Sunken transverse roads carry city traffic across the park out of sight. The Lake, the first area to open, welcomed skaters in December 1858. After decades of decline, the Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980 to restore it, and has managed it under contract with the city since 1998. The park became a National Historic Landmark in 1963.

In the southern half, the Mall is a long tree-lined walkway leading to Bethesda Terrace and its fountain topped by the Angel of the Waters, by Emma Stebbins, the first large public sculpture commissioned from an American woman. Bow Bridge crosses the middle of the Lake, where rowing boats can be hired. Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon, lies near West 72nd Street, and Sheep Meadow is the main sunbathing lawn.

Further north are Belvedere Castle, a small stone lookout completed in 1869 on Vista Rock, the park's second-highest point, then the Great Lawn and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir with its popular running path. The northern section is wilder, with the North Woods, the 22-hectare forest of the Ravine and the Harlem Meer. The Conservatory Garden, entered through the Vanderbilt Gate at Fifth Avenue and 105th Street, is the park's only formal garden.

The park is free and open daily from early morning until 1am, with paid extras such as the zoo, boat rental, carriage rides and winter ice skating. Weekday mornings are the quietest. Walking the full length takes about an hour without stops, so most visitors pick the southern half for a first visit. The Dairy, the park's first visitor centre, has maps and information.

Subway stations ring the park: 59 St–Columbus Circle (A, B, C, D and 1) and 5 Av/59 St (N, R and W) at the southern corners, the B and C along Central Park West, and the 4, 5 and 6 under Lexington Avenue. The park drives are closed to cars. Most main drives and paths are paved and step-free, and the Conservancy publishes an accessibility map, while the Ramble and North Woods have rough, hilly paths. Shakespeare in the Park and SummerStage concerts fill summer evenings, and the New York City Marathon finishes in the park in early November.