NYC Central Park: The Pool

Central Park is of the most amazing and wonderful things about New York City. Given the value of real estate in Manhattan, having a green space two-and-one-half miles long and a half-mile wide smack in between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West is astounding. 

Almost all of the features in the Park have a name given to them in the original plan or as later 19th-century additions. The Pool is a key element of the part of the Park called the North Woods, which extends from about 100th Street to the top of the park along Central Park North.

Like pretty much everything else in Central Park, the very natural look of The Pool was carefully crafted by the Park’s designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Cavlert Vaux.

Olmsted and Vaux created The Pool by damming up a natural spring just inside the west wall of the Park at about 102nd Street.  Nowadays, it’s fed by a pipe coming from the Reservoir to the south. The Pool itself is  several times longer than it is wide, with its long axis running from southwest to northeast. From the northeast end of The Pool, the flow of water continues via Glenspan Cascade to The Loch. Despite its name, The Loch is a stream that continues the flow northeastward, finally feeding Harlem Meer, a large lake that fills the northeast corner of the Park.

The Pool is arguably the most tranquil and charming feature of the Park. Especially since its complete restoration by the Central Park Conservancy in 2003, The Pool is a beautiful refuge for birds, fish, and amphibians, as well as the two-legged denizens of Manhattan.