New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [71]
The Arsenal.
Built between 1847 and 1851 as a storage facility for munitions, the Arsenal predates the park and is the second-oldest structure within its grounds—the oldest structure is Blockhouse #1. Between 1869 and 1877 it was the early home of the American Museum of Natural History, and it is now the headquarters of the Parks and Recreation Department. An upstairs gallery has changing exhibits relating to park and natural-environmental design. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s original plan for Central Park is in a display case on the third floor. | 830 5th Ave., at E. 64th St., Central Park | 212/360–8111 | Free | Weekdays 9–5 | Subway: 6 to 68th St./Hunter College.
Balto.
This bronze statue commemorates Balto, a real-life sled dog who led a team of huskies that carried medicine for 60 mi across perilous ice to Nome, Alaska, during a 1925 diphtheria epidemic. The surface of the statue is shiny from being petted by thousands of children. | East of Center Dr. near Literary Walk and E. 67th St., Central Park | Subway: 6 to 68th St./Hunter College.
Blockhouse #1.
The Blockhouse, the park’s oldest building, was one of three constructed hastily in September 1814 as a fortification against the British invasion of New York City. The builders were volunteers and worked quickly, as is evident in the unevenness of the stone facade. Only a shell of the blockhouse remains; the interior is not open to visitors. Because the area is heavily wooded and somewhat remote, it’s best to avoid going here after dusk or alone, since muggings do occur here, albeit rarely. | South of entrance at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. and Central Park N, Central Park | Subway: B, C to Cathedral Pkwy./110th St.
Bow Bridge.
This splendid cast-iron bridge arches over a neck of the lake between Bethesda Fountain and the Ramble. Stand here to admire the water’s mirror image of vintage apartment buildings peeping above the treetops—a quintessential New York image. | Midpark north of 72nd St. Transverse, Central Park | Subway: B, C to 72nd St..
Cherry Hill.
Originally a watering area for horses, this circular plaza with a small wrought-iron-and-gilt fountain is a great vantage point for the lake and the West Side skyline. | Midpark near 72nd St. Transverse, Central Park.
Cleopatra’s Needle.
This hieroglyphic-covered obelisk that began life in Heliopolis, Egypt, around 1600 BC, has little to do with Cleopatra—it’s just a nickname for the work. It was eventually carted off to Alexandria by the Romans in 12 BC, and landed here on February 22, 1881, when the khedive of Egypt made it a gift to the city. It stands behind the Metropolitan Museum, on the west side of East Park Drive. A century-plus in New York has done more to ravage the Needle than millennia of globe-trotting, and the hieroglyphics have sadly worn away to a tabula rasa. The copper crabs supporting the huge stone at each corner almost seem squashed by its weight. | E. Park Dr. north of 79th St. Transverse, Central Park | Subway: 6 to 77th St.
Conservatory Garden.
These magnificent formal gardens occupy 6 acres south of the Harlem Meer in Central Park’s northeast corner. The conservatory’s entrance is marked by elaborate wrought-iron gates that once graced the Midtown 5th Avenue mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The classic Italian–style Central Garden has a lawn bordered by yew hedges and cool crab-apple allées. Across the lawn is the large Conservatory Fountain, beyond which a semicircular wisteria-draped pergola rises into the hillside. The French-inspired North Garden has several bedding plants that create elaborate floral patterns. The three bronze girls dancing in the Untermeyer Fountain are at the heart of a circular bed where 20,000 tulips bloom in spring and 2,000 chrysanthemums herald autumn. Perennials in the English-style South Garden surround a statue of characters from the classic children’s book The Secret Garden by