The Top 10 Secrets of NYC’s Central Park
11/26/2013 at 10:00 am
Posted In Architecture, Featured, Guides, New York
by rachel alban
We’ve done a few in-depth articles about the secrets of Central Park, such as what’s there that wasn’t in the original plan and some of its more naturalistic secrets. Here’s our top 10 list of our favorite secrets in this famous park!
1. The Survey Bolt
The bolt is believed to be one of the original survey bolts from when the Manhattan grid was first planned in 1811. As Central Park was not a part of the original plan, street intersection points may have been marked but left to remain since no intersection was actually built here.
The bolt is known to be in the park, but the exact location is kept a secret for fear that it will be stolen or destroyed. After some intense searching of both the internet and park, you might be able to find it like we did.
2. Revolutionary war-era cannon found fully loaded in 2013
Image via New York City Parks Photo Archive
This cannon was used on a British ship which sank in the East River. After an anonymous donation in 1865, it was installed at Fort Clinton in 1905 where it remained on public display until 1996 when the Central Park Conservancy brought it indoors to protect it from vandalism. In January 2013, workers were cleaning it when they found it was fully loaded with gunpowder and a cannonball! It’s currently undergoing conservation work and will be returned to Fort Clinton for public viewing. The gunpowder has been removed but the cannonball will stay.
3. Seneca, the Middle Class Village in What Became Central Park
The only remaining visible foundation from Seneca Village, inside Central Park near 85th Street. Image via City Connections Realty.
There was once a thriving village called Seneca located in what became Central Park, between 81st and 89th Street on the West Side. It wasn’t a shantytown or slum, like the rest of the settlements. This was a full fledged middle class town with over 260 residents, several churches, and a school. With wooden houses on assigned lots, it gave black residents what they need to vote–their own land. However in 1853 the city passed a bill authorizing the takeover of the land and paid the settlers off. By 1857, when the park officially opened, the settlement was gone.
3. The Ruins of the Academy of Mount St. Vincent and a Tavern
These stone walls behind the Conservatory Gardens at 105th Street are the ruins of the 1842 Academy of Mount St. Vincent, today known as McGowan’s Pass. After St. Vincent’s moved out in the 1850s, the original buildings were used for a hotel, a restaurant, and a museum.
The original Mount Saint Vincent buildings burned in 1881, but another tavern was built in its place. The last restaurant at the pass, McGown’s Pass Tavern, was closed and razed in 1915-1917. However its driveways and foundations remain and the Central Park Conservancy uses it as a mulching and composting area.
4. The Natural But Inaccessible Ramble Cave
Photo Source: Richard Perry/ The New York Times
The Ramble Cave, also known as the Indian Cave, was created from a natural cave discovered during park construction and used by lake rowers who could leave their boats to explore the area. Unfortunately, in the early 1900s, the cave was the site of several crimes and at least one suicide. In 1929 The New York Times reported that 335 men had been arrested for “annoying women” in the park, especially at the cave. Eventually, the cave became too dangerous to maintain, so it was sealed at both ends and the inlet was filled. Today, the cave is inaccessible but the entrance is visible from the path above and it adds a feeling of mystery to the area.
5. The Secret Christmas Tree for Pets
This existence of this tree is kept hush hush, and the locations left deliberately vague but we happened to stumble upon the annual decoration of the tree this year.
6. Historic Trees
When Central Park was built, the city planted more than 270,000 trees and shrubs and preserved a handful of trees that were original to the area. Today, only about 150 trees are left from the time of Olmsted and Vaux, but many of the trees acquired over the years have a unique story. These Yoshino Cherry trees along the east side of the Reservoir may be the original trees presented as a gift to the United States by Japan in 1912. They are among the first trees to bloom in the spring, before the Kwanzan Cherry. The delicate blossoms drop quickly before the trees green out, and stay leafy for the rest of the season.
7. NYC Drinking Water Flows in the Waterfalls
There are at least five waterfalls in Central Park, all completely man-made, and most of which are located in the Ravine. The water that flows here is actually New York City drinking water that comes from a 48-inch pipe hidden by the rocks at the Pool Grotto on West 100th Street.
8. The Ramble’s Role in LGBT History
In the heart of Central Park is the Ramble, a dense grove once known as the “Fruited Plain” because of the prevalence of anonymous sex that was well-known to have taken place there. One proposed idea to manage the area was to develop a seniors’ center there – a dismissive solution to the real problem of hate crime – which was rejected.
9. A Pre-Park Spring That Once Contained a “Friendly Cup” for Visitors
Near the skating rink at the northern end of the park is a small waterfall located after Huddlestone Arch. According to The New York Times, “Sara Cedar Miller, a historian of the Central Park Conservancy says it is a prepark feature, related to a sometimes-bubbling spring known as Montayne’s Fonteyn.” As far back as 1869, it was noted in a guidebook that a “friendly cup” was located there for visitors to drink out of. Twenty-some years ago, an iron lade was discovered in restoration work and is now kept at the Dana Discovery Center.
10. Remnants of the Old (Now Covered) Reservoir
Before Olmstead and Vaux got their hands on the Central Park site, a rectangular reservoir had been built in 1842. According to the Times, they felt “cursed” by the gawky thing and designed around it. It was filled in and covered in the 1930s but you can see elements when you walk by the 86th Street police station inside the park. There’s also a historic marker near the Shakespeare theater.
Bonus: The Lost Arches of Central Park
Robert Moses is responsible for destroying some of the fine bridges and arches of Central Park, including Marble Arch, the only bridge in the park made out of marble, which was crushed into pieces and buried underground. Other lost bridges include Outset Arch (demolished for the Central Park Zoo) and Spur Rock Arch (or Oval Arch), demolished for Heckescher Ballfields.
We know that with a park with such a rich history and diverse planning, a list of 10 could not ever capture everyone’s favorite secrets. Let us know what your haunts are. Read more about what Central Park could have looked like, what’s there that wasn’t in the plan, and aLGBT history of the park.
Additional reporting by Michelle Young and Alexander McQuilkin. See more photography from Rachel Fawn Alban.
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