Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great CityMcCabe, James Dabney
History
Lights and Shadows of New York Life: or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City
McCabe, James Dabney
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel; New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
The Central Park, so called because it is situated almost in the centre
of the island of Manhattan, is a parallelogram in shape, and lies between
Fifty-ninth street on the south, and One-hundred-and-tenth street on the
north, the Fifth avenue on the east, and the Eighth avenue on the west.
It covers an area of 843 acres, and is about two and a half miles long,
by half a mile wide. There are nine miles of carriage drives, four miles
of bridle roads, and twenty-five miles of walks within its limits. It is
the second park in the Union in size; the Fairmount Park at Philadelphia
being the largest. It is larger than any city park in Europe, with the
exception of the Bois de Boulogne at Paris, the Prater at Vienna, and the
Phoenix at Dublin. A rocky ridge, which traverses the whole island,
passes through almost the exact centre of the grounds, and has afforded a
means of rendering the scenery most beautiful and diversified. A part of
the grounds forms a miniature Alpine region; another part is the
perfection of water scenery; and still another stretches away in one of
the loveliest lawns in the world. The soil will nurture almost any kind
of tree, shrub, or plant; and more than one hundred and sixty thousand
trees and shrubs of all kinds have been planted, and the work is still
going on. Any of the principal walks will conduct the visitor all over
the grounds, and afford him a fine view of the principal objects of
interest.
The park is divided into two main sections, known as the Upper and Lower
Parks, the two being separated by the immense Croton Reservoirs, which
occupy the central portion of the grounds. Thus far the Lower Park has
received the greatest amount of ornamentation. It is a miracle of
exquisite landscape gardening. Its principal features are its lawns, the
Pond, the Lake, the Mall, the Terrace, the Ramble, and the Museum of
Natural History. The main entrances are on Fifty-ninth street, those at
the Fifth and Eighth avenues being for vehicles, equestrians, and
pedestrians, and those at the Sixth and Seventh avenues for pedestrians
only. All these entrances will ultimately be ornamented with magnificent
gateways. Paths leading from them converge at the handsome Marble Arch
at the lower end of the Mall.
Near the Fifth avenue gate is a fine bronze colossal bust of Alexander
Von Humboldt, the work of Professor Blaiser of Berlin, which was
presented to the park by the German citizens of New York, and inaugurated
on the 14th of September, 1869, the one-hundredth anniversary of the
birth of the great man.
Near the Eighth avenue gate is a bronze statue of Commerce, the gift of
Mr. Stephen B. Guion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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