Central Park, EXPLAINED | How it Became Manhattan

I'm in Central Park right now and I'm sitting next to this little rod that

pretty much nobody seems to even notice. It's really small in the ground but it is

a piece of history. This is one of the only remaining ones of thousands that

used to exist that represent a New York that could have been. A New York where

buildings filled where Central Park is today. In this lesson I'm gonna tell you

everything you should know about Central Park. To understand the significance of this rod

we have to go back to the beginning of the 1800s when New York City was growing at a rapid rate

and there were no signs of it slowing down. In 1811, the city council continued to displace

the indigenous peoples and expanded the city limits north along the island of Manhattan

Because of this expansion, they needed to make the streets more organized as they grew

So they decided to use a numbers-based system. The streets in the downtown area were full of twists and turns and weren't going to work well for a numeric-based system

So everything north of this street, Houston Street, they started making a more intentional grid system

Surveyors set out and placed rods like this all across the island, marking where intersections would go

And it's possible that they just didn't realize how expansive and crowded the city would become

but it's also possible that they just undervalued green spaces because while their plan included where all the buildings and roads would go

it didn't include any open spaces for leisure. There were nearly no parks, and there was definitely no Central Park

As the density of the city increased, cramped living situations started to create some major problems

like the ones in the Five Points area that we talked about in the Chinatown lesson. People realize that green and recreation areas directly affect the health of the city and its residents

And it was this realization that led to the idea of Central Park

The city chose a large portion of this grid to carve out as the nation first landscaped park But the position of this park was definitely not arbitrary There a really valuable reservoir in the park that supplied all the drinking water to the city

A competition was held to design this massive park. And these two men were the ones

that presented the winning design. There was one huge problem though. This huge area of the city

where they had planned to put this massive park, had 2,000 people living in it

Many of them were farmers, and there was also an entire settlement of middle-class black people called Seneca Village

that was completely destroyed to make way for this park. Today, you can come see the plaques

that tell a bit of this story right here in the western portion of the park around 85th Street

I'll make sure to put it on the map. So the city removed these people and landscaped this massive plot of land

Yes, almost this entire park, with all of its natural-looking landforms and greenery

was entirely landscaped. But doing so was not easy. One of the reasons that Manhattan can support so many tall buildings

is because just under the surface of this island is a thick layer of rock. And some of this rock

goes back to 450 million to a billion years ago. Yeah, I'm not exaggerating, literally a billion

years old. This robust bedrock serves as the foundation of many New York buildings. But when

When you're trying to landscape a park, all this rock isn't that helpful

So while constructing the park, workers had to remove hundreds of thousands of cubic yards

of this dense rock. But they left some of it here. Right here on the south entrance of the park, you'll see these huge rock outcroppings

If you go climb them, it's easy to forget you're in one of the busiest cities on earth

You might feel like you're on some mountain somewhere. That is until you look up and see the massive Central Park skyline towering over you

These rocks are millions of years old and are a powerful way to quickly connect with

nature and escape the city. So now I want to show you on a map how Central Park is laid out

Central Park is about two and a half miles long and about a half a mile wide

We about four kilometers by 0 kilometers If you want to think of it in terms of the grid system that I mentioned where the numbers go up the further north you go the park runs from 59th Street up to 110th Street

and between 5th Avenue and 8th Avenue, which becomes known as Central Park West along the boundary of the park

The whole park is surrounded by a three-foot wall, making the boundary very clear

Within the park, there are 21 playgrounds, nearly 50 fountains, tons of monuments and sculptures

as well as 36 bridges and arches. There are four main cross streets right here

that run east to west across the park. The traffic runs beneath the ground level

so you can't see the traffic unless you are crossing the green bridges over these roads

There are other roads on the park level but these are all scenic. All paths and streets in the park are curvy

to separate them from the surrounding city where all the streets are straight

These curvy roads also intentionally slow down the traffic. The one area in the park with straight paths

is the mall right here. This leads up to Bethesda's Terrace, a beautiful lakeside fountain built during the Civil War

There are a lot of great sites in the park. So we'll include a link to one of the many maps

that'll give you an overview at a glance of the many attractions you can go see

But as for now, I wanna show you a few sites whose story isn't really apparent at first glance

The first building I wanna tell you about is the Arsenal, which is over here in the southeast corner

and it actually predates Central Park. It was built as an arsenal for the military back in the day

but today it operates as part of the Central Park Zoo as well as offices for the park services

Another important part of the park is Sheeps Meadow, which is up here toward the middle

This is Sheeps Meadow. It's 15 acres of open land, and the designers of the park thought

if they put sheep here, it would bring out the English qualities of the park

I don't think they realize that there's a lot more to the world than just Europe. Anyway, a sheepfold was built across the way

and it's called Tavern on the Green, and it was later turned into a restaurant

which is still operating today. This area has always acted as a gathering place When the moon landing happened in 1969 it was broadcast here and tons of people gathered together to watch it Just north of this is Strawberry Fields

This building right here is where the Beatles member, John Lennon, lived. In December of 1980

as he was leaving the building, he was shot and killed. So five years later, a memorial was

dedicated to him. You may often find someone here playing his music in memoriam. If we keep working

Moving our way north, we'll get to the Ramble, which is a large wooded area full of winding

paths that will quickly pull you out of the urban landscape around you and give you a big

dose of nature. This is sometimes considered the heart of Central Park

It's a large wooded area that was intentionally designed to look like it was not designed

The designers wanted people to feel like they were in upstate New York with rustic bridges

babbling brooks, and meandering paths. Right now I'm in the Ramble and it's not the most efficient way to go from point A to point B

but it's more about the journey here. Near the Ramble is this mini castle

It's built atop one of these ancient rock outcroppings and it gives you a fantastic view of the park

In fact, that's why it was built in the first place. To give park goers a place to come and look out over the park

The castle is made out of Manhattan Schist, that 450 million year old bedrock that is all over Manhattan

The last site I want to show you in the park is up here at the north end

It's called the blockhouse and it's the oldest structure in Central Park

The blockhouse was also built from this ancient rock like the castle

But it wasn't built as a viewpoint but rather as a military fort

for when the newly independent U.S. was fighting a war with the British and indigenous groups

For all the forts built in New York during this war, the blockhouse is the last remaining one

It's worth a visit if you want to see the oldest structure in the park. Every time I come to New York I find myself coming through Central Park and the more I

learn about it and the more context I have, the more fun it is to explore it and enjoy it

So I hope that this has been helpful and I hope that you get the chance to explore Central Park