It's a bit late to enjoy autumn views. It's even too late to enjoy kicking through colorful leaves on the ground. I did enjoy four colorful autumn walks in the park this past autumn and came away with some pretty decent views. Are you in the mood for a little walk in park?
The photo below, my personal favorite of the year, the view is the path that runs alongside the Turtle Pond and leads to Belvedere Castle. Not very impressive as a blog sized photo, so please click on this photo for a much better view.
This next one is not from this year but the Bow Bridge and a touch of autumn romance makes it one of my favorite Central Park autumn photos ever. I couldn't leave it out.
Below is a meander through the park this autumn that actually follows a path and is mostly focused on the less visited sections of Central Park. You are cordially invited to help me remember the autumn of 2013.
Kicking off with some Rock N' Roll.
I'm calling the above photo The View from the Cheap Seats because it comes with some fond memories. Back in the days of the “Schaefer Music Festival” great Rock, Soul and Jazz concerts used to take place in the Wollman Skating Rink. The rocks in this photo offered wonderful sounds and some pretty good views of the stage but they weren’t really the cheap seats. While the only cost was showing up early enough to find a place on the rocks, the entrepreneurs selling beer out of ice filled trash bags and the marijuana merchants, actual tickets were only $1 in 1967 and $3 in 1976 with out of pocket expenses being much lower on the inside. Those rocks were the good seats.
Outside of the park, Guggenheim and the Wall. Usually walls are not considered to be very inviting but somehow the Central Park Wall became one of the most welcoming sights in New York City. This wall stretches down Fifth Avenue from 110th Street to 59th, then across Midtown to Broadway and Columbus Circle, then reverse and repeat back up Central Park West and then finally across 110th Street.
The park has many breaks in the wall and twenty main gates, each with interesting and very Democratic names. In autumn the Marathoner's Entrance, actually the Engineers Gate is the main attraction. The sign at 5th Avenue at East 90th Street is temporary, a welcome to the runners and a reminder that that 26.2 mile long blue line on the ground will end, just 3.2 miles left to go.
On the other side of town, Central Park West offers a tree that I find to be entertaining. One long limb reaches out into traffic, as if attempting to hail a cab. Or perhaps the tree wants a better view of the American Museum of Natural History, that is just across the street. This tree has witnessed every single inflation of the Thanksgiving balloons and since high winds had the news media so obsessed with that event last year, Old Long Limb recently got a chance to wave to most Americans. Here's an early autumn view of this lucky tree.
Across 110th Street an allée of ginkgoes at the north end of the park that runs beside the high hills of the north woods makes for a colorful autumn walk.
Of the twenty main gates, there is only one that actually has a gate and that gate is the only entrance that is named after a person. The Vanderbuilt Gate on Fifth Avenue between and 105th Streets didn't start out in that location. After being designed by the American architect George B. Post that gate started out in French foundry and then stood at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street. This elaborate gate that once stood right across the street from the Plaza Hotel and guarded the mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt II is a reminder of the first Gilded Age.
Now the gate guards the six wonderfully sculpted acres of The Conservatory Garden, the Park’s only formal garden. The name stems from that fact that there was a conservatory that stood on the site from 1898 until the Great Depression. Robert Moses claimed that heating an enormous glass house was too expensive. A 1934 WPA work project constructed this new garden that was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke with planting plans by M. Betty Sprout. The center garden isn't very impressive in autumn but when spring comes, when the allées of white crab apples come into bloom and the background pergola is covered in purple wisteria, the view is breathtaking.
The view above of the Italianate Garden of Central Park is from the wisteria pergola where the walkway offers medallions inscribed with the names of the original 13 states. The name "Conservatory Garden" stems from that fact that there was a conservatory that stood on the site from 1898 until the Great Depression. Robert Moses claimed that heating an enormous glass house was too expensive. A 1934 WPA work project constructed these new garden grounds that were designed by Gilmore D. Clarke with planting plans by M. Betty Sprout.
The six acres of The Conservatory Garden is then divided into three smaller gardens. The center Italian garden which is complimented by a French and English gardens are each separated by two very pleasing blue stone paths. In the spring this Crab Apple Allée will be pink on the left and white on the right. During the bloom it is almost too bright to sit and read and in summer you almost need a flashlight. This time of year the light is just right for a good book.
During most of the year my favorite of the three is The English Garden. A series of concentric D shaped walkways with flowers, shrubs and fruit trees of all sorts surround a beautiful small lily pond. The English Garden offers the most variety of flowers in spring and the most shade in summer.
Many call the area "The Secret Garden" because of the lovely Burnett memorial fountain. The sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh is a tribute to Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of the children's classic.
Splich Splash, the statue is a big hit with the sparrows of Spanish Harlem.
During the autumn season the Korean chrysanthemums of The French Garden forces the English Garden to take a back seat.
Three Dancing Maidens who once danced at Samuel Untermyer's estate is the centerpiece of the French Garden. Very popular with the locals and created by the German sculptor, Walter Schott. I don't know why it is in Central Park instead of Untermyer Park.
The colors of the chrysanthemums in the French Garden are spectacular and on the last day people are invited to come to the garden to take a few home.
From the north gate of the French Garden, across the Harlem Meer is The View of 110th Street. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux picked "the Meer" for the 17th Century European settlers who first inhabited the village of Harlem. Meer is the Dutch word for lake.
Once Around the Harlem Meer, it is a very pleasant walk.
Seldom seen in the city, Bald Cypress on the Meer.
The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center is a place for Harlem children to learn about nature.
The Meer is U shaped and much less populated than its mirror on the south side of the park, the Pond.
The gateway between the Harlem Meer and the North Woods is called The Huddlestone Arch. It dosen't seem very impressive until you consider that the bridge holds up the Central Park Drive with no mortar. Just a huge well place pile of stones.
Walking the North Woods is far more pleasant that the more famous Central Park forest called The Ramble. This 40-acre of forest feels much further from city life.
Not a far away as a hiking path. The North Wood has park paths but the crazies from the Central Park Conservancy haven't gotten there yet to put up ugly fences that prevent people from stepping off the concrete.
Almost nobody to be seen but I did meet with a North Woods Earth Science Class. The Harlem Academy is waving to you.
Glen Span Arch carries the Central Park Drive over a stream that is called the Loch. This stream flows out of a pond that is named the Pool and the ravine under the arch separates that beautiful pond from the North Woods.
Out of the woods and Into the Pool.
The Pool in Central Park is one of my favorite autumn rest stops in New York City.
The view from the benches on the north slope that is the beginning of the Great Hill.
The Pool facing east from just inside of Central Park West and 98th Street.
And from the southwestern edge of the North Woods.
Moving right along, The Ramp to Jackie O.
"Hello Ladies." Jackie O. as in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.
The reservoir has long been a favorite place for people who like to run around in circles. In springtime when it becomes a circle of cherry blossoms the joggers have a hard time getting through the tourist and photo buffs. Autumn is not so bad for the runners.
Three O’clock and All is Well. Are you still with me here? My favorite feature of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir are three cast iron bridges that lead to the reservoir. The one in the photo above and below is simply called Bridge No. 24.
The three bridges run over a bridle path and once protected walkers from horse traffic.
My favorite of the three is The Gothic Bridge. Above is the view facing west on October 29, 2013.
And this is the Gothic Bridge facing east on November 2, 2013. Autumn moves fast in Central Park.
A Swinging Time. Alongside the Great Lawn that separates reservoir from castle, on the west side of the park you can find a few legacy swings. The pipes run a bit low for my taste but these are the only fly high swings left that I know of that will accept adult behinds. If you visit Central Park don’t miss out on this feature because you are never too old to fly high.
The View from the Castle. I can't help but get lost in a fond memory when I look down at the Turtle Pond from Belvedere Castle. It was September 19, 1981 when a rooftop stage was set at water's edge Simon & Garfunkel. Such a great night of music that it now simply called "The Concert in Central Park."
Cozy Crossroad, the walk from Belvedere Castle to the Ramble. Hang a left and your in Shakespeare's Garden, so beautiful in springtime.
From Ramble to Bow. The eighty-seven foot span that connects the Ramble to Cherry Hill was named "Bow Bridge" for the graceful shape of either a violinist or an archer's bow.
Sunshine on the Bridge. The Bow Bridge is also the second oldest cast iron bridge in the United States.
Sun Sinking Low, the Bow Bridge's other claim to fame, besides most likely appearing in more romantic comedies than any other place in the city, New Yorkers voted the bridge to be the most romantic place in New York City.
The Heart of the City. Can't have a Central Park photo diary without our Angel. She is the center of it all and it is said that if you stand before the Angel of the Waters long enough, you will see everyone that lives in New York City.
The Angel of the Water has inspired many, most recently she was the centerpiece for Tony Kushner's story, Angels in America. "The fountain is not flowing now. They turn it off in the winter, ice in the pipes. But in the summer it's a sight to see. I want to be around to see it. I plan to be, I hope to be."
Jazzin' Up the Central Park Mall. The Mall, which is the site of the Naumburg Bandshell, has seen much over the years. There is a history that includes both a speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Central Park eulogy read for John Lennon. It is now the place for rollerblades, skateboarders and street performers but it remains as the only formal feature of Olmsted and Vaux's naturalistic creation. Originally designed as an "open air hall of reception" this promenade was designed so the rich could get out of their carriages at the 66th Street southern end, mingle with the less affluent for a few blocks and then have their carriages waiting for them at the Bethesda Terrace on 72nd Street.
Scenes from a mall, The Central Park Mall in the Late Autumn Light.
Freewheelin' on the Poet's Walk, those American Elms that New Yorkers keep safe from harm. The Central Park Mall boasts one of the largest plantations of the American elm in the world.
The Conservatory Water where Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Andersen stand guard.
A pleasant view of The Ramble from the water.
The Lake in Late Afternoon, the view of the Ramble from the lake.
Day's End on the Central Park Lake.
Then the Rain Came.
And it ends with a visit to a sacred place, Strawberry Fields Forever.
The Playmates Arch and it's time to go home.