ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBAN A-CH AMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library Brittle Books Project, 2014.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2014THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 917.4-7/ £39^THE WATER TEPJiAGE AND THE MALL.GUIDE TO THE CENTRAL PARK. ILLUSTRATED. BT T. ADDISON RICHARDS. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, (Successor to c. s. francis & co.,) 522 BROADWAY. ' 186 6.Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1866, By JAMES MILLAR, In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.117, f'! I *V»j i CONTENTS. r* ___ pag* ^ Origin and History of the Park....................................................1 Original Aspect of the Grounds.......................... Location and Extent of the Park................................................11 The Area of the Park, as compared with that of the Qhief Pleasure-grounds of the United States and Europe, and * the other Parks and Squares in New York............. 12 General Plan of the Park: Drives, Bridle-roads, Walks, Transverse-roads, Bridges, Lakes. Lawns, Arbors, etc.. 14 Cost of the Park................................................................................22 The Park Trees.............................................22 Geology of the Park....................................................25 The Attendance at the Park..........................................................28 The Access to the Park..................................................................29 The Park Hours....................................................................SI The Park Walls................................................................................82 The Park Gates.......................................i 34 The Croton Reservoirs....................................................................85 The Marble Arch.............................................................89 The Mall......................... ......................................89 The Park Music .........................................................................41 Trees planted by the Prince of Wales......................................42 The Japanese Tree......................................................43 The Terrace......................................................................................43 The Ramble............................................47 The Vine-covered Walk................................................................49 The Stone Arch...................................................50 The Cave........................... ....................................50 The Tunnel................*......................................................51 Yoot-bridges by the Lake...................................................51 Xhe Bow Bridge....................................................52 68Q334ii CONTEN'iS. PAQE The Central Lake: the Swans; the Boats ; Winter Refresh- ment-houses; the Skating Carnivals ; Skating Laws.... 52 The Balcony Bridge.......................................................................62 The Museum, or Arsenal..............................................................63 The Zoological Garden....................................................................65 The Birds of the Park....................................................................67 The Pond..........................................................................................67 The Flower Garden.....;..................................................68 The Green..........................................................................................69 The Playground................................................................................70 The Dovecot..............................................................71 The Evergreen Walk.................................71 The Cedars.......................................................................72 The Maze...............................................72 The Winter Drive....................................................73 The Conservatory Lake..................................................................74 The Knoll............................................................................................74= The Pool.......................................................................................75 The Loch....................................................................................76 Cascades in the Upper Park..............................................77 Stone Bridge near Harlem Lake..................................................77 The Grotto Bridge............................................................................80 The Boulevard Drive..........................................................81 The Refectories............................................82 Mount St. Vincent............................................................................83 The Harlem Lake..................................................85 The Arboretum.....................................................86 McGowan's Pass..............................................................................87 The Great Hill.................................................88 Elevations of various localities in the Park above tide-water 89 The Bluff.........................................................90 The Great Drive................................................................................91 Underground....................................................................................92 The Designers and Constructors of the Park..........................93 The Government of the Park...................................................97 Ordinances of the Park..................................................................97 The Future of the Park..........................................1011M JWW- ORIGIN" AND HISTORY. The great Central Park of New York has become already so much the pride of the citizen and the marvel of the stranger, as to need a chronicle which may serve both as a guide to the visitor while exploring its va- ried beauties, and as a memorandum for after reminder and reference. Such a guide and sou- venir we shall endeavor to provide in the follow- ing pages. The idea of a great park for the metropolis, commensurate in extent and embellishment with the needs of a vast and ever- increasing population, was first whispered about the year 1851, the project commending itself at once to the4 CENTRAL PARK. popular fancy, and rich and poor alike, with laudable liberality and intelligence, giving a hearty assent The lamented Andrew J. Downing, then in the height of his fame as a landscape gardener and rural architect, employed his able pen enthusiastically in advocacy of the scheme. " The leading topic," said he, in a paper written at the time, uof town gossip and newspaper paragraphs in New York is the proposed new park. Deluded New York has, until lately, con- tented itself with the little door-yards of space—mere grass-plots of verdure—which form the squares of the city, in the mistaken idea that they are parks! The fourth city in the world, with a growth which will soon make it the second—the commercial metropolis of a continent, spacious enough to border both oceans, has not hitherto been able to afford sufficient land to give its citizens (the majority of whom live there the whole year round) any breathing space for pure air, any re- creation ground for healthful exercise, any pleasant roads for riding or driving, or any enjoyment of that lovely and refreshing natural beauty from which they have, in leaving the country, reluctantly expatriated themselves for so many years, perhaps forever. Some few thousands, more fortunate than the rest, are able to escape for a couple of months into the country, to find repose for body and soul in its leafy groves and pleasant pastures, or to inhale new life on the refreshing sea- shore. But, in the mean time, the city is always full. Its steady population of many hundred thousand souls is always there—always on the increase. Every ship brings a live cargo from over-peopled Europe to fill up its ever-crowded lodging-houses; every stearuer bringsCENTRAL PARK. 5 hundreds of strangers to fill its thronged thoroughfares. Crowded hotels, crowded streets, hot summers, busi- ness pursued till it becomes a game of excitement, pleasure followed till its votaries are exhausted—where is the great reverse side of this picture of town, life in- tensified almost to distraction ?" In this same earnest paper Mr. Downing goes on to discuss at length the many benefits to be gained through the creation of such a park as the one then proposed and since so amply provided. He dwells upon, the sanitary, the social, and the aesthetic advantages so sure to accrue; and even upon the financial view of the subject, showing its promise, with all its cost, as a mere paying business investment. He speaks of the physical rest and recuperation it would afford to all, especially to the poor and the over-worked ; of the innocent and the ennobling pleasures it would give to all—rich and poor, old and young alike; of the effect its beauties would produce in the awakening and the cultivation of the public taste; and of the wealth which it would bring to the city, indirectly, through that refinement and elevation of the moral tone of the people which could not but follow; and, directly, by the increased value it would give to much of the real estate of the city, and through the expenditures of the thousands of strangers who would be attracted hither by its multi- form beauties. This paper, like many others in the same vein, was but an expression of a feeling which had been for a long time increasing in the popular heart; and it was evident that the great park question was one only of locality, extent, and style. 1*6 CENTRAL PARK. The Hon. Ambrose 0. Kingsland, then major of New • York, recognized the public sentiment on the subject, and, on the 5th of April, 1851, took the initiatory official steps towards a realization of the general wish, by commending it in a special message to the attention of the Board of Aldermen. This message was referred to the Committee on Lands, who reported that the matter had elicited a high degree of interest, and that they heartily concurred in the views of the mayor,—a report evincing an intelligence and a regard for the public good not proverbially characteristic of the action of " Common Councils." The park being thus resolved upon, the next question was as to where it should be located and what should be its extent. The report of the aldermen, in answer to the mayor's message, suggested the ground lying in the upper part of the city along the East River, known as Jones' Wood—a very pleasant domain then and now, and well supplied with fine forest-trees. The sugges- tion of the Common Council, was acted upon, and, in accordance therewith, application w^as made to the Legislature at its extra session in 1851, and an act known as the "Jones' Woods Park Bill" was passed by that body on the 11th day of July, 1851. The passage of this act gave rise to a warm dispute in respect to the relative advantages of this and other grounds, which resulted in the appointment of a special committee to examine and report whether there was not, within the limits of the city, a spot more adapted to the requirements of a public park than the one desig- nated by the Legislature. As the park question was considered, it gained dailyCENTRAL PARK. 1 in estimation; so that the one hundred and fifty acres embraced in the Jones' Wood manor, though they might have been thought extended enough at the be- ginning of the sche^me, now began to be looked upon as entirely too narrow in compass, and more room was soon declared to be necessary. Heretofore the city parks had been measured by tens of acres, but now the public ambition demanded that the enumeration should be by hundreds, if not by thousands! The result was, that the special committee of the Common Council made a careful report, in which they urged the use of that particular central district which was afterward so wisely chosen. In accordance with this amended geography, the Legislature was again applied to, and an act was passed on the 23d of July, 1863, authorizing the taking of the new site—that now inclosed in the park walls. The Jones' Wood project was gradually dropped, and the bill referring to it was afterward repealed. The original Charter and plan of the park embraced the present grounds northward as far as One Hundred and Sixth street only,—the extension to One Hundred and Tenth street having been subsequently made, after various legal difficulties and delays, very annoying and inconvenient to the commissioners, architects, and en- gineers of the park, but of little interest to the visitor now, beyond the pleasant fact that the area has been so aptly and advantageously extended. On the 17th of November, 1853, the Supreme Court appointed a board of five commissioners of estimate and assessment to take the lands for the proposed park. These commissioners completed their labors on the8 CENTRAL PARK. second day of July, 1855, and their report was con- firmed on the 5th day of February, 1856. On the 19th of May following, the Common Council adopted an ordinance, creating the» Mayor and Street- Commissioner commissioners of the Central Park, with power and means to proceed in the execution of the work proposed. This board immediately entered upon their labors, after inviting and securing the co-operation of several distinguished citizens, among whom was the late Washington Irving and the historian Bancroft. These gentlemen met on the 29th of May, 1856, and organized by electing Mr. Irving president of the board. They speedily arranged the preliminaries for carrying into effect the objects of the commission, and fell at once into the consideration of the respective merits of the various plans submitted for their approval, from which they selected the one in general accord- ance with which the work has since been executed. The coast thus cleared, an efficient c^rps of engineers commenced the required surveys, under the direction of Egbert L. Yiele, now General Yiele, and then the chief executive officer of the park. The entire area was divided laterally into four sections, each of which was assigned to a separate squad, consisting of a surveyor- in-chief, a first and second assistant, and an axe-man. The surveys were begun early in June, 1856, and the results were satisfactorily reported six months later. Thus, after six years of suggestion, discussion, legis- lation, and other preparations, every thing was in com- plete readiness for action; and, in the spring of 1857, large forces were employed, and have been engaged in the great work ever since.CENTRAL PARK. 9 ORIGINAL ASPECT OF THE GROUNDS. The Central Par^, though blossoming in beauty like the rose to-day, was yesterday, as it were, only a wil- derness—as barren and dreary a wilderness as one might ever wish to enter. Despite the marvels of science, art, and enterprise now to be seen there at every step, the whole region, less than a single decade ago, was a jungle, in which desolate ridges of barren rock alternated with dark morass and stagnant fen, and from which even such scant charms as nature had originally bestowed upon it had been stripped by the lawless vagabonds who had hidden themselves within its wild recesses. The region tl was made up," say the commissioners in their reports, " of low hills and hillocks, the rock, of which they were chiefly composed, everywhere crop- ping out, sometimes boldly, sometimes in large, smooth, flattish masses washed bare, of soil. With the excep- tion of portions of two* swampy valleys, and some boggy meadow tracts, there was scarcely an acre in the present Lower Park in which the great underlying ledge of gneiss rock did not thrust itself above the surface. Probably not a square rood could be found throughout, where a crowbar could be thrust its length into the ground without encountering rock, and often, in places where no rock was visible, it was found to be within three inches to two feet of the surface for long dis- tances together. u Many of the people dwelling in the squalid huts of this God-forsaken terra incognita were (still quoting10 CENTRAL PARK. the reports of the commissioners) engaged in occupa- tions which are nuisances in the eye of the law, and forbidden to be carried on so near the city. Occupa- tions followed, therefore, at night, in, wretched hovels half hidden among the rocks, where also heaps of cin- ders, brickbats, potsherds, and other rubbish were de- posited by those who had occasion to remove them from the city." This doleful aspect of the country now so charming was made even more repulsive by the confusion inci- dent to the grading of streets then in progress through the rocky ledges and slimy fens. Some idea of the ancient appearance of the park-grounds may be ob- tained from a glimpse at the yet remaining rugged look of some of the streets in the immediate vicinage. The gentlemen employed in surveying and reclaiming the country could hardly have had wilder, and certainly not more dangerous work in the solitudes of a western forest. It is of such unpromising material that the present Arcadia has been made, and which lias proved to be, in judicious and skilful hands, of far greater ca- pacity for the creation of beauty and variety of effect, than could have been the richest and most lavishly wooded level lawns and slopes, showing in the picturesque as well as in the moral world, that it is from the nettle Danger the flower Safety may be most surely plucked. This look back upon the unpromising past of the park will, we trust, only heighten the pleasure of the visitor while contemplating its present wonderful met- amorphosis. as the oak grows to the eye grander in its forms when we remember the wee acorn from which its majesty has sprung.central park. 11 LOCATION AND EXTENT OF THE PARK. The city of New York, which occupies the entire island and county of New York, is about fourteen miles long from north to south, and in width varies from- half a mile to two and a half miles. It lies upon the' upturned edge of the primitive range, which extends through Westchester County and New England into Canada. The upper and middle sections are rough and broken, from the almost constant outcropping of the rock. The ground here is of very varied surface, some- times reaching an elevation above tide-water of from seventy to one hundred and thirty feet, forming pre- cipitous hills and deep valley stretches. There is a line of elevation along the western side of the island, from which the ground descends to the Hudson and East rivers. It is on the eastern slope of this range- that the park has been constructed. In form, it is an elongated parallelogram, extending north and south about two and a half miles, and in width half a mile; lying between Fifty-ninth street and One hundred and tenth street, in length, and between Fifth Avenue on the east, and the Eighth Avenue on the west. The lower extremity is about five miles from the Battery at the south end of the island, and nearly the same dis- tance from Spuyten Duyvel Creek at the opposite ex- tremitj. From the western side to the Hudson is three-quarters of a mile, and from the eastern side to the East River nearly a mile. The distance from one end of the grounds to the other is as great as that from the Battery to Union Square, and the breadth is as12 CENTRAL PARK. great as the space between the Bowling Green and the City Hall. Its total area is eight hundred and forty- three acres, which is more than seven times the united extent of all the other squares and public places in the city. To the measurement here given, there may be added nineteen acres more, which are contained in the ground known as Manhattan Square, lying near the centre of the western side of the park, and which has been placed by the city under the care of the Park Commissioners, to be improved and used in connection with the park proper. Manhattan Square extends from Seventy-seventh to Eighty-first street, and from the Eighth to the Mnth Avenue. It is reached from the park by roads passing under the high grade of the Eighth Avenue at this locality, and is intended for use, ultimately, as a zoological garden. The park far exceeds in extent any other cultivated pleasure-grounds in the United States, and compares, in this respect, favorably with the most famous works of the kind in the Old World—surpassing, indeed, many of wide repute and great age, as may be seen by a glance at the measurements given in the following table:— Extent of the Central ParTc as compared with the other great pleasure-grounds of the United States and Europe: Acres. Central Park, in New York......................................838 Hyde Park, in London................................................389 Kensington Park, in London....................................227 Regent's Park, in London..........................................372 Victoria Park, in London....................................284CENTRAL PARK. 13 Acres. St. James' Park, in London........................................83 Greenwich Park, in London......................................174 Windsor—Great Park, near London........................3500 " —Little Park, " " ........................300 Hampton Court and Bushby Park, near London.. 1842 Richmond Park, England..........................................2468 Ke>v Gardens, " ..........................................684 Battersea Park, London................................175 Phoenix Park, in Dublin............................................1752 Glasgow Green, in Glasgow......................................136 Gardens at Versailles............................................3000 Bois de Boulogne, in Paris........................................2158 Tzarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg....................................350 Tliiergarten, Berlin......................................................200 Englishher Garten, Munich................................500 Prater Garten, Vienna.........................................1500 Park of Schoenbrun, near Vienna............................711 Park and Garden at Madgeburg................................120. Birkenhead Park, near Liverpool..............................190 Druid Hill Park, Baltimore ......................................550 Common, Boston, Massachusetts..............................50 Prospect Hill Park, Brooklyn, New York..............267 The extent of the Central Parle as compared with that of other paries and squares in New York: Acres. Battery.....................................10 Park—City Hall...................10 Hudson Square ................... 4 Washington Square............... 9 Tompkins' Square.....................10 Union Place...................... 314 CENTRAL PARK. Acres. Stuyvesant Square................................3 Gramercy Park..............................1 Madison Park........................................6 Bloomingdale Square............................18 Hamilton Square.. ................................15 Observatory Place..................................25 Manhattan Square...............................19 Mount Morris.......................20 Total...................... 153 Central Park...................... 838 GENERAL PLA1ST OF THE PARK. The park is virtually divided crosswise into three sections of unequal extent, by reason of the position, near the centre, of the reservoirs of the Oroton aque- duct. The southern portion, which has been hereto- fore known, and which will, no doubt, continue to be known, as the Lower Park^ contains an area of about three hundred and thirty-six acre*, extending from Fifty-ninth to Seventy-ninth street—the lower margin of the old reservoir. This part of the domain was the first which was improved, and it has heretofore been, and may almost be said to be still, the park itself—the visitors generally, excepting those in carriages or on horseback, rarely extending their explorations further at present. The Croton Lakes, known as the old and the new reservoirs, occupy much of the central division, lying between Seventy-ninth street and Mnety-sixth street,CENTRAL PARK. 15 leaving only comparatively narrow spaces for the park lawns and drives and walks on either side, eaat and west. Above the reservoirs, and reaching to the upper ex- tremity of the grounds at One Hundred and Tenth street, is the section popularly known as the Upper Park. This division, as we have just said, has thus far been but little frequented^comparatively, both from the reason that it has but recently been constructed, and that it is more remote from the city proper,—visitors usually exhausting themselves before it can be reached, in exploring the multiform beauties of the lower and more readily accessible grounds. The Upper Park has, however, from its superior topographical character, greater picturesque capabilities than any other portion of the grounds, and will become in due time the most popular resort. The landscape there is bolder, the hill ranges more imposing, and the valleys, ravines, and brooks of more striking character than below; while the distant views- and glimpses of the wide world away beycrnd the park are, there, of extraordinary extent and beauty. It has obviously been the purpose so far of the com- missioners and engineers of the park, in its construc- tion, to produce an effect of simple, varied, rural, natural landscape, as widely distinguished as possible from the architectural effect of the all-surrounding city —to create, indeed, a veritable rus in urbe, with such art embellishments, of course, and such architectural structures as the character of the place and its intended use by great masses of people might need. The topog- raphy of the grounds afforded especial opportunities-16 CENTRAL PARK. for such an effect,—the uneven surfaces, and the rugged, rocky projections and elevations, the winding brooks, and even the dark jungles, so forbidding in their uncul- tivated and neglected state, presenting to the discern- ing eye and the skilful hand motives which required only, to be judiciously assisted to produce the most varied and pleasing results. . To what extent the present patural and rural character of the grounds may be made to yield to the more purely artistic, remains to be seen. Art embellishment in the form of sculpture and architecture, will harmonize most agreeably with the landscape aspect, if not employed to excess; but it is a grave query whether it would be judicious to so crowd the park with buildings and monuments, however beautiful and picturesque in them- selves, as to virtually cut it up into a catalogue of little parks, surrounding structures which may be seen just as well in the thronged streets. It* may perhaps be regretted, if there is any thing to regret in the admirable design and execution of this noble work, that the plan pursued has necessitated the use of so many structures in the form of bridges and archways as are to be found in the Lower Park, although a bridge is in its nature essentially picturesque. Never- theless the bridges serve so excellent a purpose, and are so ingeniously adapted to their especial use, to say nothing of their architectural beauty and variety, that they will not only be welcomed, but will be regarded as one of the happiest and most useful features in the park construction, serving as they do to carry the car- riage-drives, the bridle-paths and the foot-walks, over and under each other, in such manner that the visitorARCHWAY UNDER CARRIAGE DRIVE FOR FOOTPATH, EAST OF THE 11 AMBLE,CENTRAL PARK. 17 may pursue either drive, ride, or walk, for miles and miles throughout the whole winding tour of the grounds without ever once having occasion to intrude upon or to be intruded upon by the others. This very felicitous effect we shall see hereafter more fully in our tour of the grounds. Carriage Roads.—The great feature in the park design has been the construction of suitable carriage roads, a feature which has been so thoroughly realized under the careful supervision of Mr. William H. Grant, the engineer-in-chief, that the visitor may now drive, within the area of the park, over no less than nine and a half miles of charming macadamized and gravelled roads, winding, their devious ways through valleys, by lakes and brooklets, along hill-ridges and precipices, now peering into shady glens, and now looking abroad over the wide arcadian acres to the busy world without; roads so admirable in construction and finish that slip- pered feet might almost tread threm with ease and pleasure. Bridle Roads.—Another prominent feature in the plan was provision for equestrian exercise. This was achieved, of course, even on the construction of the carriage roads; but apart therefrom and entirely distinct, the park affords five miles and a half of horseback or tfridle road, as beautifully finished and as varied and attractive in its course as the grand drive itself; the road crossing the drives and walks, here, there, and everywhere, as before intimated, by means of picturesque archways over or underneath it, but never leaving the bridle-path proper. Walks.—After the drives and the bridle-roads, and 3*18 CENTRAL PARK. more important than either, as interesting most tho greatest number, was the matter of promenades and walks. .Of these delightful facilities, the park affords, within its reach of two and a half miles by half a mile, a devious and ever-changing stroll of twenty-seven miles; which, considering the many objects to detain and interest the visitor by the way, is as long a summer morning's ramble as most people would care to in- dulge in. This little walk will lead the visitor, by wide meadow stretches, along the margin of gentle lakes, into dark glens and caves, up toilsome acclivities, through bosky groves and tangled thickets, over broad terraces, studded everywhere with pleasant seats and rustic bowers, in- viting to quiet rest and luxurious repose. Transverse Roads.—A novel and peculiar feature in the construction of the park, is called in the park nomenclature the "Transverse Road." These roads, which are four in number, do not concern the visitor at all, but are provided for the use of the outside world, being in the park but not of "it. They were provided, most judiciously, to obviate the trouble which would have been caused by so long an interruption of the pas- sage from the eastern to the western side of the city, by the great length of the park. They traverse the breadth of the park from Sixty-fifth, Seventy-ninth, Eighty-fifth, and Ninety-seventh streets, entering on the .Fifth Avenue, Sixty-ninth street, Manhattan Square, Eighty-sixth and Ninety-seventh streets on the Eighth Avenue. Drives and walks cross these traffic roads in such a manner that the* trees and shrubbery hide them from view for the most part, so that they are rarelyTRANSVERSE ROAI). -SIXTY FIFTH STREET.CENTRAL PARK. 19 noticeable in the park except at their extremities, where they unite with the exterior streets. Thev thus furnish a direct means of transit across the park without caus- ing inconvenience to visitors. The park too, not being directly accessible from these covered ways, they may be traversed at will by night, when the park itself is closed. The archways used in the construction of the Transverse Roads are plain in design, being made solely for use, and not as picturesque objects. The Bridges.—The bridges and archways, not in- cluding those on the transverse roads just spoken of, are forty-three in number, and serve to traverse the lakes, and ponds, and brooks, or to conduct the drives and walks over or under each other. They are costly and picturesque structures, in every variety of design and of material; some being imposing works of marble and other rare stones; some of iron; some of brick; and others, again, of wood—the latter material being used in the smaller and more rustic works. The Lakes.-—The lakes of the park are of great ex- tent and beauty, as we shall see when we come by and by to survey the ground in detail. The nucleus for these lovely waters was found in the springs and pools which abounded before the ground began to be culti- vated ; though they have been greatly increased, and are now amply fed from the Oroton reservoirs. The shores have in all cases been preserved in their original natural form, excepting where boat-landings have been erected, or in the case of architectural works touching the banks. The total area of the waters of the park is estimated at forty-three and a half acres, exclusive of the one hundred and forty-one acres occupied by the20 CENTRAL PARK. Croton reservoirs. The largest of the park lakes is that lying at the upper end of the Lower Park, between Seventy second and Seventy-ninth streets. This charm- ing body of water is extremely varied in outline, and picturesque in its surroundings. It is covered with gay pleasure-boats and gondolas, and a host of beauti- ful swans dot its surface. Jn winter, it is the chief theatre for the exploits of thousands of daring or timid skaters. The next of these picturesque waters in extent is that more recently constructed at the extreme north end of the park, and called the Harlem Lake. The area here is fourteen acres. The third lake, which is known as the Pond, of nearly four and a half acres, is a very irregular body of water, lying at the southeast corner of the Lower Park, be- tween the Fifth and the Sixth avenues, and between Fifty-ninth and Sixty-third streets. The Pool is a picturesque nook of about two and a half acres in the Upper Park, near the Eighth Avenue, between One hundred and first and One hundred and second streets. Conservatory Lake covers more than two and a half acres in the Lower Park, near the Fifth Avenue, and opposite Seventy-fourth street. Cascades.—Various little streams are found in the park, dropping at times most agreeably over obstructing rocks. There are eleven of these pretty incident?, which may properly be dignified by the name of cascades. Lawns.—Among the leading features of the original design of the park, which have been since accomplished.CENTRAL PARK. 21 are certain broad reaches of open meadow-land. There are now two such lawns on the western side of the Lower Park; one of ten acres called the Playground, and a second, close by, of fifteen acres, known as the Green. In the Upper Park, above the new reservoir, there are two other lawns of ample area, known as the East and the West meadows. Arbors.—The grounds abound in pleasant places of halt and rest, in the form of seats and benches by the roadside, and in summer-houses and bowers, rising on the summits of the hills, or nestled among the trees and shrubbery. These little places are chiefly of a very rustic character, and always picturesque in design. They contribute much to the general effect of the land- scape, besides affording grateful shelter from sun or shower. There is also ample provision of more private sum- mer-houses for both sexes, hidden here and there at intervals among the trees, and which may be readily found, when needed, by following the painted indexes placed by the wayside. Refectories.—It is intended also to provide suitable houses of refreshment within the park grounds, though only one such structure has thus far been erected. It is called the Casino, and we shall invite the visitor to its hospitalities in a later page of this volume. In the course of time, similar edifices will be re- quired and supplied in other portions of the park; for the honest exploration of the far-reaching ways and by-ways is very appetizing, and demands much susten- ance—a due provision for the inner man generally con-22 CENTRAL PARK. tributing much towards enlarging the capacity to por- ceive and enjoy the surrounding beauties of nature and art. COST OF THE PARK. The cost of the lands taken for the park was $4,815,- 671.60, and the expenditure for construction, from May 1, 1857, to January 1, 1865, was $4,368,136.50, making a total outlay up to the latter date of $9,183,808.10. The interest at six per cent, on the cost of purchase and of construction, added to the annual outlay for main- tenance, will be equal to a daily rental for the park of eighteen to twenty thousand dollars,—a rather high figure even in the present days of lavish expenditure; but the city, fortunately, if not rich, will be no poorer for the outlay, returned as it is with generous interest, in many ways. THE PARK TREES. The one great beauty wanting in the park, which neither money nor skill can wholly supply, and for which slow, steady-footed Time alone must be relied upon, is the crowning beauty and grace of vegetation, especially in large umbrageous trees. The site of the park, as we have already said, was not promising in this respect. It was a rough and rocky spot, with no grand forests, and no soil to produce such growth. With the exception of isolated trees, and ot clumps sparsely scattered here and there, the trees, though numerous enough, were but small and of by noCENTRAL PARK. 23 means luxuriant life. The vegetation originally found on the ground has not only been since much improved by careful nursing, but immense additions have been made by planting, and new beds of fertile earth have been created,—all giving promise of a future growth far beyond the natural capabilities of the original soil, and commensurate with the uses and requirements of the place as a sylvan retreat. In the surveys of the grounds, preparatory to the work of construction, a careful memorandum was made of the botany of the region, from which it was found that, in the original area of the park, extending north- ward at that period to One Hundred and Sixth street only, there were growing about one hundred and fifty thousand trees and shrubs, of about seventy different species, the names and numbers of the chief of which, as seen in the subjoined table, it may be interesting to know: Silver-leaved Maple (tree)........................9,000 Common Alder (shrub)............................12,000 Privet Andromeda (shrub)......................2,500 White Wild Honeysuckle (shrub)..........600 Red Birch (shrub)...................1,000 Paper Mulberry (tree)..............................500 Water Beech (tree).........................5,000 Chestnut (tree)......................500 Catalpa (tree)........ ................50 Bitter Sweet (climbing plant)........ . Sugar Berry (small tree)............. . Virgin's Bower (climbing plant).......200 Sweet Pepper-bush (shrub)....................1,50024 CENTRAL PARK. White Varied Dog-wood (shrub)..........1,500 American Dog-wood (small tree)..........3,000 "Wild Filbert (shrub)................................6,000 Persimmon (tree)......................................500 Beech (large tree)...................2*000 White Ash (tall tree)................................100 Honey Locust (medium-sized tree)________100 Witch Hazel (shrub)..............................1,500 Black Walnut (tall tree)..........................2,000 Red Cedar (tree-evergreen)....................few\ Wild Allspice (shrub)..............................250 Sassafras (middle-sized tree)..................20,000. Sweet Gum (tall tree)..............................6,000 Tulip-tree (40 to 80 feet high)................500 Bay Berry (shrub) ...................................6,000 Button Wood, sycamore (tall tree)________3,000 Balsam Poplar (tall tree)........................50 Cotton-tree (40 to 60 feet high)............50 American Aspen (small tree) ................100 Choke Cherry (shrub)............................2,000 White Oak (tall tree)..............................1,500 Red Oak (tall tree)..................................2,000 Pin Oak (small tree)................ . Common Locust-tree................................3,000 American Elm (tall tree)........................6,000 Maple-leaved Arrow-wood (shrub)________5,000 Mountain-bush Cranberry (shrub)... abundant. Fox Grape (climbing vine)......................2,000 American Ivy (climbing vine)................500 Many of the trees and shrubs and vines included in the preceding catalogue have, of course, been necessarilyCENTRAL PARK. 25 destroyed or removed in the process of the park con- struction, while others have been carefully tended and their growth improved. Large numbers of additional trees and shrubs of various kinds have been planted from year to year, and others are being continually set out, after due training, in the nurseries of the Upper Park. More than two hundred thousand trees, shrubs, and plants have been added to the original stock since the commencement of the work on the park—some of them being large trees transplanted, as along the great promenade of the Mall. GEOLOGY OF THE PARK. 0 Preparatory to the work of construction in the park, a careful examination was made of the geological struc- ture of the grounds, a correct understanding of such details being of course essential to a proper pictorial treatment, and especially in determining upon the direc- tion of roads, the best system of drainage, and tho nature and capacities of the soils. The rocks embraced within the original area are— First— Gneiss (micaceous gneiss.) Second—Mica slate. Third—Granite, in numerous intrusive veins. Fourth—Diluvial or drift deposits, including boulders. Fifth—Soils derived from the decomposition of the gneiss and associated rocks. The strata of gneiss exhibit no uniformity with regard to their strike and dip. They show everywhere violent dislocations, owing to the intrusion of various veins of 826 CENTRAL PARK. granite. In some localities they are in a vertical posi- tion or nearly so, varying from eighty degrees northwest to eighty degrees southeastern others they vary from forty degrees to sixty degrees to the northwest and to the southeast. The prevailing direction of the strike is north-northeast. Mica slate occurs in narrow layers and bands. There are also found among the minerals— Quartz, of various shades of white and gray, as con- stituents of gneiss, mica, slate, and granite. Feldspar, in two varieties. Adularia, in a boulder of gneiss. Red garnet, in compact grains and in small rhombic dodecahedrons, in gneiss, mica, slate, and granite. Magnelite, in grains and small masses in granite. Black tourmaline, in gneiss and granite. Chlorite, in gneiss and granite. Phosphate of iron and manganese, an altered form ot tetraphyline in feldspar, on the line of contact between gneiss and a vein of granite. Labradorite. Pyroxene. Of the rocks found in the park, the gray gneiss is best adapted for purposes of construction, owing to its being hard, easily dressed, and but little affected by exposure to the atmosphere. The interlaminated gneiss is also a good building stone, but more difficult to dress than the gray gneiss. The coarse kinds of granite decompose too rapidly when exposed, and the mica slate is totally unfit for use on account of its rapid disintegration. The localities in the Lower Park where the rocks areCENTRAL PARK. 27 perhaps least exposed to ail examination, illustrating their superstructure, are the areas between Seventh and Eighth avenues, Fifty-ninth and Sixty-first streets, where the strike is from north ten degrees east to north twenty-five degrees east, and the dip from seventy-five to eighty-five degrees northwest. Between Seventh and Eighth avenues, Sixty-second and Sixty-third streets, where the rock dips at the sur- face from eighty degrees northwest in perpendicular curving, and being considerably contorted at a depth of a few feet below the surface. Between Sixth and Seventh avenues, Sixty-first and Sixty-second streets, the strike is north fifty degrees east, the dip is from perpendicular to eighty degrees southeast. Between Seventh and Eighth avenues, Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth streets, the strike is north forty-five degrees east, the dip from perpendicular to fifty degrees southeast. On Seventh Avenue between Sixty-fifth and Sixty- sixth streets the dip is forty-five degrees northwest. ThS park has been carefully and judiciously designed and constructed, in accordance with the natural con- figuration of its surface. The hills, and valleys, and streams have been accepted as the perfect work of the great Artist, and the only effort made has been to dis- play and heighten their beauty, not to destroy or alter them. Thus ravines have been deepened, elevations have been increased; here the broken rock has been hidden by turf and trailing vines, and there it has been exposed in bolder masses; and the waters have been led over precipices or collected in broad pellucid lakes.28 CENTRAL PARK. THE ATTEOT)ANOE AT THE PARK. The great and ever-increasing popular interest in the establishment and development of the new park is strik- ingly evinced by the large and constantly growing num- ber of visitors. Records are kept by the authorities of the entrances at the various gates, which exhibit some curious and perhaps interesting statistics in this respect. From these chronicles we learn that more than four millions of people entered the park in 1862, nearly four and a half millions in 1863, and nearly six millions in 1864. During the latter year, the number of visitors on foot was 2,295,199; the number on horseback 100,399; and the number of carriages 1,148,161. The largest number of pedestrians entering the park during any one month of the year was 555,668, in January—that is, during the skating season. The greatest number of equestrians during any one month was 14,802, in June, and the greatest number of carriages within a like period, was 147,344, in May. The visitors on the Sundays of 1864 numbered 882,123 on foot; 15,860 on horseback; 199,590 car- riages; and 20,721 sleighs. During the same year, the number of visitors be- tween the hours of five and six o'clock in the morning was—pedestrians, 1,067; equestrians, 858; and vehicles, 1,H34; which speaks well for the habits of the people in the matter of early rising, though this was, of course, during the summer months. The largest number of pedestrians entering the park at any one hour of the day through the year wascentral park. 29 428,910 between three and four o'clock in the after- noon; of equestrians during the same space, 13,288, also from three to four o'clock p. m. ; and of carriages, 225,330 between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. The number of visitors on foot at the park, between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock at night, during the year, was 3,800; of equestrians, 14; arid of vehicles, 2,496. The largest number of pedestrians visiting the park in any one day in the year 1864 was 45,129, on the 17th of January, during the skating season. The smallest number of pedestrians in any one day of the same year was 46, on the 30th of March. The largest number on horseback during any one day was 1,075, on the 12th of June; and the smallest number, one only, on the 30th of March. The largest number of vehicles in any one day of the year was 13,814, on the 29th of May; and the smallest number was 101, on the 26th of March. ACCESS TO THE PARK. The public means of conveyance to the park from all parts of the city are ample—that is, from the city proper, lying below the park. The cars of the Sixth Avenue Railway, for the city fare of six cents, will leave the visitors at the Sixth Avenue and Fifty-ninth street gate, the chief entrance thus far for pedestrians, and a half mile or more only from the Mall, the Central Lake, the Terrace, and Ramble, and most of the leading points of attraction in the Lower Park. Taking the cars of the Broadway Railroad, or those 3*30 CENTRAL PARK. of the Seventh Avenue road, the visitor will be dropped at the Fifty-ninth street and Seventh Avenue entrance, intended for pedestrians only. By the Eighth Avenue Railway, the visitor will reach the park at the southwest corner—that is, at the junc- tion of Broadway and the Eighth Avenue—a gateway either for footmen, equestrians, or carriages. Continu- ing further on the Eighth Avenue road, which follows the western line of the park through its whole length, he may be dropped at either of the western gates on that side, which are placed at Seventy-second street, in a line with the Central Lake, the Ramble, the Mall, and other leading features of the Lower Park ; at Seventy- ninth street (Manhattan Square), in a line with the lower end of the Old Reservoir, the Tunnel, and the Ramble; at Eighty-fifth street, a point nearly between the Old and the New reservoirs; at Ninety-sixth street, in a line with the upper boundary of the New Reser- voir ; or at One hundredth street, near the Pool, and the great East Meadow of the Upper Park; or, leaving the cars of the Eighth Avenue road at the extreme upper end of the park, he may enter at this corner, or he may walk to the gate at One hundred and tenth street and Seventh Avenue, on the northern boundary line, and enter near the old historical grounds of the Upper Park. By the Fifth Avenue route, which is not traversed by railway, and only as far as Forty-second street by omni- bus, one may reach the chief carriage entrance at Fifty- ninth street and Fifth Avenue. The other gates on the Fifth Avenue, or east side of -the park, are located re- spectively at Seventy-second, Seventy-ninth, Ninetieth,CENTRAL PARK. 31 Ninety-sixth, One Imndred and second, and One hun- dred and tenth streets. The Seventy-second and the Seventy-ninth street entrances, particularly the former, are convenient to all the chief beauties of the Lower Park. The nearest entrance to the park at the northeast, for carriages, is at Sixth Avenue and One hundred and tenth street. The Ninety-sixth street gate is near the upper end of the New Reservoir; and that at One hundred and sec- ond street enters near the middle of the Upper Park. Taking the cars of the Third Avenue Railway, the visitor may reach either of the Fifth Avenue gates above named, by walking across from the Third to the Fifth avenue. The ears of the Belt Railway, plying between the South Ferry (near the Battery) and the park, by the line of the Hudson and East rivers, will leave the visitor at either of the Fifty-ninth street gates. THE PARK HOURS. As a necessary part of the police system of the park, for the proper care and protection of the grounds, due note will be made of entrances and exits, and the gates will be opened and closed at fixed hours. The park is open, by the present schedule of hours, as follows: During the months of December, ) January, > From 7 A* M, to 8 p. M. February, )32 central park. From 6 a. m. to 9 p. m. During the months of March, April, May, June, October, November, July, 1 August, > From 5 a. m. to 11 p. m. * September,) And in the skating season till twelve o'clock at night, at which hour it is necessary that the ioe be cleared, in order to fit it for the following day. In the latter part of November and in the early part of December, and in March, in this climate, there are but few persons who desire to be either riding or walk- ing in the park after nightfall;, and it would not be economical to keep the park open, with its force of keepers, to accommodate the few who might desire to use it as a convenience on their way out of or into the city. It is the general custom of the directors of all the great parks in Europe—a custom adopted as the fruit of a long experience—to close their grounds, earlier or later, at night: as, for example, at Hyde Park, in Lon- don, where the gates are opened at five a. m. and are closed at ten p. m. throughout the year; at St. James' Park, in London, which is accessible only from six a. m. to nine p. m. ; and at the Bois de Boulogne, in Paris, only open at certain hours. THE PARK WALLS. The exterior or boundary walls of the park, which are now in process of construction, are built of stone.CENTRAL PARK. 33 in a style varying in accordance with the surface of the ground and the grade of the surrounding streets. The total extent of wall, exclusive of gateways and of such portions as will, from the precipitousness of the rock, require no inclosure, will he twenty-nine thousand and twenty-five feet, or less than six miles. The kinds of stone thus far used on these walls are as follows: Gneiss, obtained from the vicinity of the park, for the part of the " vertical" wall below the level of the sidewalk, and for the " battered" walls. Hudson River Blue-stone, for the base course to*verti- cal wall (on Fifty-ninth street) at the level of the side- walk. • New Brunswick Freestone, for the balance of the ver- tical wall above the base. The general exterior height of the walls, where the surface of the park is nearly even with or is depressed below the grade-line of the outer streets, is three feet ten inches, and the inside height is eight feet. Outside of the boundary walls, along the whole line of the park, there is a broad gravelled walk, thirty to forty feet in width, planted both on the inner and the outer edge with maple or elm trees, which, when fully grown, will produce a magnificent promenade, over- arched with a canopy of charming verdure; while the opposite side of the street, across the public carriage- ways, will no doubt be soon lined with stately man- sions or crowded with gay and elegant shops, making of the outside of the grounds even a broad and beauti- ful boulevard.34 CENTRAL PARE, THE PARK GATES. The architecture of the gateways to be erected at the various entrances to the park is not yet determined, though it is understood and expected that it will be in generous accordance with the noble requirements of the case. It is obvious that these important structures—the portals of so magnificent a domain—should be them- selves of the most imposing character—replete with all that is! beautiful, and commanding in design and exe- cution. It is proposed to give the various gates certain names of dignity and significance, in the spirit of the beautiful and meaning symbolism found in appellations of similar structures in ancient times, of which many examples are seen in the sacred writings,—some drawn from local circumstances, as the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, the Prison Gate, the Gate of the Fountain; and again, others named in especial honor, as the King's Gate, the uGate of the Children of the People"—all dignifying the " gate" as the emblem and index of the spot or place it served to guard. In this spirit, the committee on the nomenclature of the park gates have advised the naming of them as follows, with the expectation that the several designs shall include the symbolical sculpture which the appel- lations suggest: 5th avenue and 59th street. The Scholars' Gate. 6th " " 59th " The Artists' Gate.WEST SIDE OF THE OLD RESERVOIR.CENTKAL PARK. 35 7th avenue and 59th street. The Artisans' Gate. 8th u u 59th u The Merchants' Gate. 8th " " 72d a The Women's Gate. 8th " " 79th u The Hunters' Gate. 8th " " 85th << The Mariners' Gate. 8th " " 96th a The Gate of All Saints- 8th " " 100th a The Boys' Gate. 5th " " 72d u The Children's Gate. 5th " " 79th a The Engineers' and Miners' Gate. 5th " " 90th a The Strangers' Gate 5th " " 96th u The Woodman's Gate- 5th " " 102d a The Girls' Gate. 6th " " 110th u The Farmers' Gate. 7th " " 110th u The Warriors' Gate. CENTKAL PARK. 35 Mr. Richard M. Hunt, the architect, has made impos- ing monumental drawings in this spirit of the past, for the four gates required for the lower boundary of the- park on Fifty-ninth street, which designs have been accepted by the commissioners, but for gome reason, have not yet been executed. THE CROTCH RESERVOIRS. The Croton Reservoirs, which lie near the centre of the park, were located, and one of them was con- structed long before the occupation of the region for its present 'ises, so that they became a necessity instead of a choice, as prominent incidents in the work. Thi& necessity, which at first seemed to be a matter of36 CENTRAL PARK. regret, now promises to be one of felicitation rather, so ingeniously have tlie park engineers turned it to account. The Old Reservoir is situated between Seventy-ninth and Eighty-sixth streets, and may be most directly reached by the Seventy-ninth street gates on the Fifth and the Eighth avenues. The lower line of the reser- voir forms the virtual boundary of the Lower Park, on Yista Hill, at the head of the Ramble. It is a parallel- ogram in form, 1,826 feet in length and 835 feet wide, covering an area of thirty-one acres, and holding 150,000,000 gallons of water. It is constructed of very solid masonry, forming ponderous inclosing walls twenty feet broad on the top and sloping down on either side. It is divided into two sections, one having a depth of thirty and the other of twenty feet. The top of the huge walls or banks affords a broad and beautiful promenade when the sun's rays are not too fervid or the winds too rough. The park walks lead here and there to this fine esplanade; the drives and rides now and then rise to a level with it, and present unexpected peeps for a moment at the broad, blue waters; while the grading of the roads and the disposition of the vegetation are in such wise as to best relieve the original monotony of the continuous walls, with their formal lines and lofty position. The New Reservoir, which was demanded by the increased needs of the growing population of the city, is a very much larger work and of much more recent date. It was constructed at the same time as the park itself, and is, indeed, yet hardly completed. It lies just above the other structure, and extends from Eighty- sixth to Ninety-sixth streets, occupying nearly theCENTRAL PARK. 37 whole width of the park. The area of this grand basin is one hundred and six acres, and its capacity, when full, is one thousand millions of gallons. It may be reached at once at its northern and southern extremities by the Ninetieth and Ninety-sixth street gates on the Fifth Avenue, or by the Eighty-fifth and Ninety-sixth street entrances on the Eighth Avenue. One of the four transverse or traffic roads cross the park just above, and another below it. Just above the New Reservoir are the East and West meadows, and beyond all the beautiful incidents of the Upper Park. The New Beservoir, unlike its older neighbor, is very irregular in form, but is inclosed, as the other, in high walls of massive stone, which seem strong enough to outlive'the ages. The summit of the walls serves as a promenade for the park visitors, as do the walls of the older work; though the walk here is broader and the lookout finer, reaching as it does over wider floods to far away scenes beyond the park limits. The drives and walks rise at intervals, as at the other reservoir, to a level with the top of the embankments, giving the tourist sudden glimpses ever and anon of the water, which are all the pleasanter from coining so unexpectedly upon him. These massive basins receive the floods of the great Croton Aqueduct, and hold them in safe-keeping for the needs and pleasures of the hundreds of thousands of the surrounding population. Were they far less picturesque in their physique than they are, they would, to the citizen at least, still be objects of most happy contemplation, in remembrance of the important work they help to perform. 438 CENTRAL PARK. The Gate Houses at the upper and lower sides of the New Reservoir are massive stone structures, of great interest in respect both to the architecture and their superb hydraulic machinery. Looking out upon the reservoirs, it will be pleasant to recall such a history as may be told in a few words of the great achievement of which they form a part. The Croton Aqueduct conducts the pure brooks of the Hudson River highlands to the city of New York, over a distance of more than forty miles. The whole of this long journey, from the Croton Lake where the mountain waters are gathered to the reservoirs of the park, is traversed by a spacious and costly structure of brick; and -stone, embellished at frequent intervals with massive viaducts and bridges, each one of which is in itself a fabric of daring enterprise and expenditure; and one of the most beautiful of which structures—the High Bridge at Harlem—comes into very picturesque view from many points of the upper grounds of the park. The construction of the Croton Aqueduct was com- menced in May, 1837 (just twenty years before the be- ginning of the park), and was completed in June, 1842. On the 27th of June, the water, after traversing for the first time the entire length of the aqueduct, entered the receiving reservoir in the city—now known as the Old Keservoir of the park—and, on the 4th of July fol- lowing, the-floods made their first entrance into the dis- tributing reservoir on the Fifth Avenue, at Forty-second street. On the 14th of October, 1842, the completion of the greatest work (except, perhaps, the Erie Canal) ever undertaken by the State or the city of New York, wasTHE MARBLE ARCH.CENTRAL PARK. 39 celebrated by the people with great porfp and festival, amidst the floating of banners and the thunder of can- non, and with general jubilee in all hearts. The total cost of the construction of the Croton Aqueduct was, in round numbers, twelve millions ot dollars. THE MARBLE ARCH. The Marble Arch is an imposing structure in the lower portion of the park, crossed by the carriage-road as it passes by the lower end of the Mall, and traversed underneath by the foot-path from the Sixth Avenue gate to the Mall and Terrace. After passing through the grand corridor of the Marble Arch, the visitor ascends at the upper end by broad flights of stone steps to the level of the Mall. On the sides of the corridor or in- terior of the archway, seats are placed for the repose of the weary pilgrim; and, by the steps at the upper end, the passage is faced by a niche or recess, in which is a drinking-fountain. This archway is one of the most stately and costly of the architectural embellishments of the park. THE MALL. The Mall is situated in. the southwestern portion of the park, and forms, both geographically and in point of attraction, a central feature of its lower division. Grouped around the Mall, and leading to or from it, are many of the finest architectural structures and in- cidents of the park. The Carriage-drive, from the Fifth40 CENTRAL PARK. Avenue gate at Fifty-ninth street, leads directly towards the Mall,—as it does indeed, more or less directly, from all the lower entrances to the grounds. The foot-paths also tend in the same direction, as all roads lead to Rome. The Mall is the grand promenade of the park, and the focus of that portion of it which is intended as an illus- tration of the beautiful and the sumptuous in the art of landscape embellishment and culture, in contradistinc- tion to the rustic and the picturesque simply. The grand aveiiue of the Mall, instead of being an intricate walk like the Ramble near by, with a thousand abrupt twists and turns, is a stately esplanade, generous in breadth, and perfectly straight and level in its course, planted on either side with rows of noble elms, whose spreading branches will, in due time, cover it with an overarching canopy of green. The length of the Mall is twelve hundred and twelve feet, or nearly a quarter of a mile, and the total width is two hundred and eight feet, the main central walk being thirty-five feet wide, and the rest of the plateau being covered with greensward. Besides the row of trees on either side of the central gravelled walk, there are, outside of them, two other rows, within which, also, paths may be made. This promenade is well furnished with seats for the weary, and at its extremities are found -drinking-fountains for those who thirst. The elevated and central position of the Mall makes it an eligible point from which to watch the teeming life and fashion of the place, since, as we have said, the great circuit or Drive skirts it on either side; and at its upper extremity are found the Music Pavilion, the Casino, the Vine-CENTRAL PARK. 41 covered Walk, the Carriage-concourse, the Terrace, and the Lake. The site for the Shakspeare Monument is on the Mall, at the southeast corner of the walk. W est from the centre of the Mall, and between it and the Drive, may be seen the oak and elm planted by the Prince of Wales during his visit to the city, in 1860. Not far from the Mall, northeasterly, is the site of the Conser- vatory and the Conservatory Lake. Lying west of the whole length of the Mall, across the grand Drive, is the broad stretch of greensward known as the Green; and just south of that, again, is the Playground, a beautiful lawn, scarcely inferior in extent to the Green. The hill climbed by the Ramble from the shores of the Lake, and upon the top of which lies the Old Reservoir, is in full view, with the whole slope of the Ramble itself, from all points on the Mall. PARK MUSIC. The MusJb Pavilion was erected in 1862, after the admirable design of Mr. Mould. It stands near the head of the Mall, on the west, and is an exceedingly pretty ornate structure of the pagoda fashion. The Music Pavilion is provided for the accommoda- tion of the fine bands which discourse their winning strains without charge to the assembled multitudes of the park, on fine Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in summer-time. The free musical entertainments of the park are of a high character, the musicians being skilled in their art, 4*42 CENTRAL PARK. and their selection of pieces being made from the most famous productions in the repertories both of native and foreign composers, interspersed with the national airs of all lands. Some idea may be formed of the popular appreciation of this item in the pleasures of the park, in the fact that over forty-six thousand persons are known to have assisted at the performances at one time; thousands enjoying the pleasant strains, while lounging on the lawns around, or on the rustic seats amply provided, and other thousands, while lolling in their luxurious carriages along the drives, and on the Concourse hard by. During the musical entertainments, visitors are per- mitted to occupy such portions of the lawns on the Mall as are for the time marked "common," though the usual injunction is to " keep off the grass." It is proposed to provide bands of music in other parts of the grounds, in order to accommodate the ever increasing number of visitors. The annual cost of the musical entertainments is about five thousand dollars, which is paid in part by the contributions of the various railway companies, whose lines lead to and from the park; they finding their reward in the increased fares which the greater rush to the park pours into their treasuries. TREES PLANTED BY THE PRINCE OF WALES. His Royal Highness Albert Edward of England, during his visit to New York, in the autumn of 1860,CENTRAL PARK. 43 honored the park, then in its infancy, by planting within it a specimen of the English Oak, and of the American Elm. These trees stand on the right of, and near to the great Drive, as it passes along the western side of the Mall, and almost opposite the centre of that promenade. They have thriven well, and promise to become wide- spreading ornaments of the grounds. May they, in their long life and health, be emblems of the royal planter's own career and destiny. THE JAPANESE TREE. During the same season, the autumn of 1860, in which the Prince of Wales made his offering to the park, in the planting of an Oak and Elm, the Japanese Embassy, then visiting the city, planted a young Cedar on the opposite side of, and a little further up that part of the Drive, by the margin of which the prince's trees are growing. * Unlike the prince's trees, though, that of their Jap- anese excellencies did not live. Its place has, how- ever, been supplied by another and more fortunate planting, in memento of the interesting incident. THE TERRACE. The Terrace, in its grand design and in its sumptuous beauty, maybe regarded as the crowning incident in the park architecture, as it is the culminating point in this44 CENTRAL PARK. feature of finished artistic elegance which it was intended to give to this portion of the grounds, in distinction from the more rural aspect of the rest; and to which the stately promenade of the Mall adjoining, and the Marble Archway just below, both lead the way aesthet- ically as well as geographically; and which is still further expressed in the studied design of the Conser- vatory Lake close by, with its proposed sculptured banks and its exotic gardens; also in the neighboring Music Pavilion, the Carriage-concourse, the Vine-cov- ered Walk, and the Casino. The Terrace, with its accessories, is regarded as the grand open-air reception-hall of the park, where all the beauty and elegance and state of which the city can boast is expected to gather at the fitting hour,—no mat- ter how it may, at other times, be scattered and lost amidst the glens and paths and labyrinths all around. The Terrace is the upper terminus of the Mall and of the plateau which it traverses. Descending from this plateau, it conducts the visitor, by broad and richly ornamented flights of stone steps, to the banks of the principal lake, where it ends in a broad, richly paved area, decorated with sumptuous fountains and balus- trades. A superb archway or arcade beneath the grand Drive, which passes around the head of the Mall and between it and the Terrace, makes a chief feature in the architecture of the Terrace. This archway is reached* from the Mall by broad flights of stone steps; as the open esplanade in front, on the lake, is reached from the upper side of the Carriage-way. The interior walls of the arcade are arched to cor- respond with the external openings, and within theCENTRAL PARK. 45 leading lines these arches are finished with marble and colored stone. Some of the recesses form semi-circular niches, and are occupied by wall-fountains. Others have a flat surface decoration, or are embellished with fine designs in fresco or relief. In the construction of the Terrace, with its massive steps, its arcade, and its esplanade, consideration has been had for its future decoration with sculptures of a high order, not at the expense of the park fund, but rather as gifts, in expectation of private munificence. Provision has therefore been made for such crowning adornment in the erection of the various parts of this work. Thus, it is proposed to place bronze statues of "Day" and. " Night," on either side, at the head of the south flight of steps leading from the Mall down to the arcade of the Terrace; and on each side of the steps at the two secondary entrances the piers are prepared for statues illustrative of "Sunlight," "Moonlight," "Starlight," and "Twilight." As a present substitute for the ex- pected sculpture, the piers are now capped with termi- nals, which are to be used for other ends by and by. The four large pedestals at the head of the north flight of steps, and facing the broad highway that over- rides this part of the design, are intended to support bronze statues illustrative of "Childhood," "Youth," " Maturity," and " Old Age." Each of the correspond- ing pedestals, in the same line with these, is to bear a stone base, filled with living flowers. The four pedestals at the intermediate landings are designed for bronze statues of "Spring," "Summer," " Autumn," and " Winter." The shields below these statues are prepared for illustrative quotations from the46 CENTRAL PARK. poets, and the ramps and balustrades of the staircases are designed and executed with reference to this mode of completion. For the four pedestals at the head of the two smaller staircases, at the end of the elliptical terrace-wall, bronze statues are proposed, illustrative of " The Moun- tain," "The Valley," "The River," and "The Lake." On the left of the intermediate terrace, preparations have been made for three important groups—two of bronze, opposite the main staircases, and illustrative respectively of "Science" and "Art;" and one of marble and Caen stone, under the arcade, illustrative of the idea of "Nature." This group is to consist of four figures, each arranged to occupy a separate niche or shallow recess in an architectural composition that will form a centre to the four and a background to each, and which will be terminated above with a vase of patera, filled with sculptured flowers, fruit, and forest leaves and grasses ; the marble statues being intended to illustrate the ideas most readily expressed at this moment by the words "Flora," "Pomona," "Sylva," and " Ceres." In the pavement above the site intended for this group a glazed opening is introduced; and special provision is also made in the design for the ornamental ceiling below: so that, without attracting attention to the real source from whence it comes, a tempered light will be shed over the group and appear to emanate from it. The fountain on the open esplanade in front is intended to be finished above the upper water-level in bronze, and (being, as it were, the centre of the centre) is intended to suggest, both earnestly and play- fully, the idea of the central spirit of " Love," that isRUSTIC BRIDGE IN TIIE RAMBLE,CENTRAL PARK. 41 forever active, and forever bringing nature, science, and art, summer and winter, youth and age, day and night, into harmonious accord. Miss Emma Stebbins has been commissioned to model the principal figures in the group of the fountain. The ceiling of the arcade or corridor is to be con- structed of encaustic tiles, secured to iron plates and arranged in panels ; and it is also intended to pave the floor with encaustic tiles or with marble. THE RAMBLE. The Ramble covers an area of thirty-six acres of slop- ing hill, dropping from the lower boundary of the Old Reservoir (Vista Hill), on Seventy-ninth street, to the waters of the Central Lake on the south and west, and the Drive on the east. It is a labyrinth of charming48 CENTRAL PARK. walks, all thickly planted with trees and shrubbery and flowers, and studded here and there with rustic seats and arbors. Following the intricate paths, fine views, or glimpses of views, are obtained occasionally of the grounds beyond, especially of the lake at the base of the hill-side, with its fleet of pleasure-boats and its flocks of swans; and of the Terrace, with its architectural beau- ties; and, yet beyond that, the Mall with the many sur- rounding objects of attraction. The pelicans and storks, and other semi-acquatic foreign birds, will be encoun- tered in certain moist portions of the Ramble, amongst the reeds and lilies and water-grasses.. On the west side, near the lake-shore, is the site of the monument to the poet Schiller. At the northeast and northwest corners of the ground there are carriage-steps leading from the grand Drive on either side. The general ac- cess to the Ramble is across the Lake over the Iron, or the Bow bridge, as it is more often called, after leavingCENTRAL PARK. 49 the Mall and the Terrace. One-half of the area of the Ramble has a lake-shore, all points of which, and it is of wonderful variety, are especially beautiful. The Ramble, with the grateful shade of its dense vegetation, with its quiet walks and its pleasant rest- ing-places, is deservedly the most favorite haunt of the park visitors, and particularly of those who go to lounge away the summer hours in dream or reverie, or to pore over the pages of a favorite novelist or poet, or to whisper words of love in accompanimeui to the sighings of soft airs. THE VINE-COVERED WALK. The Yine-covered Walk is a pleasant arbor of lattice- work, overrun with verdant vines. It overlooks the 550 CENTRAL PARK. Terrace at the head of the Mall, adjoining the site of the Carriage-concourse and the Casino. A pretty cascade enters the lake from the slopes of the Ramble. It is well seen to the left, looking across - from the esplanade in front of the Terrace. THE STONE ARCH. The Stone Arch on the western slope of the Ramble, through and over which the foot-paths are carried, is an object of very agreeable character to all visitors in the park. Crossing the lake from below on the Bow Bridge into the precincts of the Ramble, the Stone Arch gives direct access to the Cave and the Swiss Bridge near by. It is in part cut through the solid rock, and in other portions is formed by the skill of the engineers,— the shrubbery and vines trailing down over its rustic parapet are pretty passages, particularly when, as is constantly the case, children's laughing faces are to be seen peering out among the verdure and down upon the travellers beneath. THE CAYE. The Cave, or the Grotto, as it might perhaps more properly be called, is one of the most surprising of the many surprises which go to make up the mystery and delight of the Ramble. To the juvenile visitor espe- cially, the Cave is an Eldorado of pleasures. It is a romantic rock-fissure, which opens northward at the base of the western slope of the Ramble, and southward upon a little arm of the lake. It was discovered byFOOT BRIDGE OVER THE WEST ARM OF THE LAKE.CENTRAL PARK. 51 chance, but not in its present spacious and accessible form, for it owes all its availability to the judicious assist- ance of art. On the north side the rock is entirely* artificial, and has been made to possess its very natural aspect by being constructed of rock, first broken and then placed together again in its present position piece by piece. On the upper side, the Cave is entered on the floor level, and on the lower by a steep descent of rude rocky steps. THE TUNNEL. The Tunnel is rocky passage for one of the transit roads, cut through the high ground at the head of the Ramble, where it terminates at the southern boundary of the Old Reservoir. This locality is sometimes called Yista Rock, and will be remembered by those who watched the beginning of the work on the park as the site of the Bell Tower (now removed), from which the signals were given to the workmen in all parts of the grounds, particularly when the frequent blasting of rocks was everywhere occurring. The Tunnel has no particular interest, except as an in- dication of the extent of the labor which has been re- quired to convert the ancient wilderness of the park into its present garden-like beauty. FOOT-BRIDGES BY THE LAKE. * The two foot-bridges on the western side of the Ramble are objects of general admiration, harmonizing,52 CENTRAL PARK. as they do, so admirably with the picturesque spirit of the surroundings. The larger of these two bridges carries a walk from the Ramble across an arm of the Lake. The abutments are of stone, fifty-six feet apart, with four intermediate piers placed two abreast. The superstructure is chiefly of white-oak, with a flooring of yellow pine. The smaller bridge carries a foot-path over the Ramble brook at its entrance into the Lake. It is con- structed of red cedar, and is an extremely dainty little affair. THP BOW BRIDGE. The Bow Bridge, as it is popularly called from its shape, is one of the most pleasing of the many works of this kind erected in the park. It traverses the narrow neck of the Central Lake west of the Terrace, with a span of eighty-seven feet. It is made of wrought iron, and is constructed with one movable abutment resting on iron balls, to allow for the contrac- tion and expansion of the iron. The Bow Bridge is for the use of pedestrians only, and is the chief passage into#the Ramble from the grounds below the Lake. It makes a striking incident in the pictures of the Lake from many points of view. THE CENTRAL LAKE. The Lake, par excellence, or the Central Lake, as it is often named, both from its pre-eminence in the parkIKON FOOT BRIDGE.CENTRAL PARK. 53 waters and from its geographical position, belongs to the same group of attractions with the Mall, the Terrace, and the Ramble, and their multiplied accessories. It covers an area of twenty acres, very irregular in form, and with shores indented with numerous little bays and inlets. The greater portion of the water lies near the Eighth Avenue or western side of the grounds, while the smaller division stretches at right angles with the larger, towards the east. The entire eastern and northern bank is skirted by the woods and winding ways of the Ramble, while the grand esplanade of the Terrace is washed by the southern line. A beautiful iron bridge, sometimes (from its form) called the Bow Bridge, conducts the pedestrian across at the point of junction of the greater and lesser portions of the Lake, and lands him at once within the mazes of the Ramble; or he may take boat at the Terrace landing, and cross thence immediately to the landings on the upper or the Ramble shore of the Lake. The site of the Lake was originally a marsh fed by springs and by brooks, still preserved, which dripped into it from the hill-side occupied by the Ramble. "While the natural shores have been preserved, they have also t>een well secured, and the bottom of the*Lake is protected by cement. The depth of the water is now seven feet in summer; and in winter, when it is reduced, to insure safety to the thousands of skaters upon its surface, it is four feet. The water, as that of all the lakes and ponds and pools of the park, is drawn from the ample supplies in the great Croton Reservoirs above. The Lake is charmingly indented with little promon- 5*54 CENTRAL PARK. tories and headlands, and is spotted with the prettiest of wooded islands. A dainty incident of the latter class, which looks like a bit borrowed from the tropics, lies hard by the Bow Bridge, leading across the narrow strait which unites the two divisions of the water. The great Drive, in its course along the west side of the park, crosses another narrow passage in the lake, on a noble bridge of stone in a line with Seventy-seventh street, on the lower boundary of Manhattan Square. "West of this bridge the water washes up in narrow eccentric bays almost to the western boundary of the park. A short distance north of the carriage bridge just mentioned, a northern arm of the Lake is traversed eastwardly into the Ramble by means of a very beauti- ful structure of semi-rustic design elaborately executed in wood. This bridge is the largest and most imposing of its class to be found in the grounds. The swans moving so gently and so gallantly upon the quiet waters of the Lafcte, never fail to awaken the most pleasurable feelings in all hearts. They seem to like their home, an