Taisha Pagan

Leh 353 NYC

New York City is a wonderful place full of adventure and opportunity,
which attracts people from all over the world who are eager to explore all
that the city has to offer. One of the reason visitors come to NYC is for the
attractions, the monuments and landmarks. Although the city may have
many landmarks none bring me as much joy, love, peace and happiness as
when I enter Central Park. Surrounded by the city this park grants anyone an
escape from the city life.
After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics,
conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or
permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.
~Walt Whitman
New Yorkers are always active and on the move leading busy lives and
because of this people are constantly feeling the stress and pressure that life
in the city brings, but Central Park allows its people to come and find rest. It
is important that tourist and travelers see the beauty, peace and tranquility
that can be found in the middle of this busy city. Central Park is a place
where one can cast away their cares for a time and enjoy the simple beauty
of nature.
Central park is not merely a place to come sit and soak in the sun but
is full of rich historical value. Central Park was built to increase public health

and to help develop a more civil society. Central Park started out as an
undeveloped area that was unfitting for development filled with swamps,
bluffs, and rocky out cropping. This land was occupied be 1600 people who
were mostly poor immigrants such as Irish pig farmers, German gardeners
and an African American settlement. The African American settlement
consist of 264 people located at 8th avenue and 82nd street; the settlement
was called Seneca Village. The people of Seneca village were the most stable
African American settlement they had three churches, three cemeteries, a
school and houses or shanties.
In 1853 New York legislature authorized the use of the land from 59th106th street and from 5th avenue to 8th avenue, the park was later extended
to include up to 110th street in 1869. This initiative would lead to the
displacement of the people who resided on these lands. By 1857 the city had
paid off the residents giving them $700 per land lot, far below the price value
of their land. For those who would not move eminent domain was use to
acquire their land.
In 1857 along with the eviction of the people from their land the city
held a public design competition that would bring Frederick Law Olmsted and
Calvert Vaux together; the winners of the competition who designed Central
Park. The design for the park included turning swamps into lakes, a formal
garden, playground (baseball field), major fountain, and an exhibition or a
concert hall. Along with these plans the central park commission wanted the
park to serve as an educational and cultural epicenter of the city. This

allowed for the plan to include three museums and a zoo. These were the
plans to provide relief from the city. Before Central park got its name it was
called the Green Ward plan. The plan had sunken transverse roads, an
ingenious solution to separate park visitors from traffic crossing under the
park. In 1858 the first tree of five million was planted and a section of the
park was open to the public December first of that year. Although the park
was open to the public they should have said the wealthy because during
this time poor, middle class and working class folks could not afford to pay
for transportation. So until about the late 1860s and early 1870s the park
was primarily the playground of the wealthy.
During the 1890s Bird watchers attracted the attention of enthusiasts
that started the back to nature movement (I like to say the transcendentalist
movement was revived) of the early 20th century. This movement increased
the number of visitors to the park, allowing them to find relief from life. From
the opening of Central Park till the 1920s the playing fields consisted of only
baseball fields. This was because during the industrial revolution the
predominant game played was baseball and baseball was on the rise it was
seen as the American past time.
Finally in 1926 Heckscher playground was built despite protest from
conversationalist. Heckscher was the only playground equipped with a jungle
gyms and slides. The playground was mostly used by the children of the
middle and working class parents. By 1930s everyone at the park was of
different nationality. A cultural melting pot that represented New York and

America as a whole. By the 40s there were more than 20 playgrounds built
and five million trees and shrubs planted.
Through the 1930s 1960s federal funding was given to restore the
park from erosion and vandalism but during the depression funding declined
and the park fell to disarray. In previous years when the park was
rehabilitated there wasnt a program to maintain and upkeep the park so it
led to the erosion of landscapes, meadows, crumbling of structures,
breaking of benches, lights and playground equipment. It wasnt until in
1980 when the central park conservancy was formed by the people in the
community that people were determined to restore central park to its former
glory. Through Central Park Conservancy the Rehabilitation program took
affect funded mostly by donations from the community and through
volunteers. During this time free performances of Shakespeare was
introduced along with sun bathing and fine dinning at the tavern on the
green.
Central Park is now a beautiful thriving place full of life, laughter and
culture. People from all walks of life visit the park to enjoy the beauty of
nature, the constant entertainment and to enjoy all the different attractions.
Park is New York Citys back yard, it provides a beautiful contrast to the city
yet compliment the urban jungle. The park has a variety of museums that
people can visit such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1874), the
American Museum of Natural History (1877), and the Museum of the City.
Along with these attractions is the central park zoo that is large enough to

captivate you yet small enough that you can enjoy every exhibition. Within
the park you can find tennis courts, baseball fields, gardens, swimming
pools, carousels, over 20 playground, over 230 birds to be seen, sculptures
and monuments.
Central park to me is my place of relaxation, my place to let go of all of
lifes problems and just exist as one in nature. I consider myself a
transcendentalist born out of time. Transcendentalism is defined as a
philosophy which says that thought and spiritual things are more real than
ordinary human experience and material things (Merriam-Webster). To me
central park is a reminder of what the first people wanted out of life peace,
tranquility, being one with nature and in the process drawing near to God.
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can
walk undisturbed.
~Walt Whitman
My experience in nature is not just about seeing whats going on but
appreciating the trees and plants. When I sit in the park I revel in the beauty
around me, respect nature and all its glory. I take time to think about my life
and seek guidance in prayer. This is my quite place the place I can come and
find my inner peace, the place I go to feel closer to God. There is a quote by
Emerson that says The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to
face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original
relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of

insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the
history of theirs? (Emerson 508). This quote speaks of how in the past
people were truly one with nature and God and that we too should share in
that experience and not just live through their experiences. I believe this
truly and I live this way daily connecting to nature and God through my
gardening and walks through central park.
Central Park to me is a gift from past transcendentalist, an inheritance
that reminds us to come back to nature to be restored. Ralph Waldo Emerson
expresses this best in his quote from Nature to the body and mind which
have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and
restore their tone. I truly believe that getting away from the city and
running into the park, going back into nature can restore a person. Even if I
am tired when I enter the park it is as if nature greets me with energy
restoring me and recharging my life essence. The sun kisses my face,
caresses my skin, purging the smog, depression, sadness and stress from my
life. The wind blowing through the trees and grass encircle me filling my
lungs. The trees wave at me and I greet them in return thanking them for the
fresh breath of air I inhale.
I cannot stress enough that I feel like a transcendentalist born out of a
time. To me a transcendentalist is one who desires to be one with the world.
Understanding that everything you see, feel, hear, touch, and smell is
separate from you yet one. Everything in nature and in life coexists as one,
we live in a constant check and balance, and without one we cannot have

the other. I like to think Im much like the person in Dickinson poem I Taste A
Liquor Never Brewed when she says,
Inebriated of air am I-
and saints to windows runto see the little Tippler lean against the Sun! (Dickinson 214)
Honestly I am a drunk that is addicted to nature, intoxicated by the sun, air,
rain, and fragrance of the flowers and trees.
It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
~Henry David Thoreau
There is a tree I like to visit in Central Park not too far from where the
baseball fields are located, here is a tree that seems to be out of place
growing among all these common trees. This odd tree not bearing any leaves
yet living. This tree unlike any other yet uniquely beautiful. It was the fact
that it was so different that this tree stood out to me no called to me. As I
approached this tree I took notice of its twisted and split trunk, the height of
the tree and color of the bark. I looked at its branches as they shot up then
arched and came down these thin branches covered in thorns. By the base of
the tree more of these branch like thorn arose and wrapped itself around the
tree.
As I stood there observing this tree I couldnt help but ask where it
came from. The tree replied not important. I asked it how long it has been
living. And in turn it said longer than youve been alive. I asked it why it was

covered in thorns. The tree answered because the world is not always so kind
and anything different is taken for granted. People only stop to point out
differences and make fun no one see the true beauty that I behold. Only
when I flower do they come but only to take from me and to pull on my
vines. They do not care for my pain or the ones who I shelter, they only care
to point and shame and for that I must counter. I bruise their hands with my
thorns to show them that I have strength and can fight back. They no longer
come my way to borrow that which they do not ask
I remember standing there looking on my husband besides me asking
what I was going on about. I told him the tree was absolutely beautiful and
explained to him the process that took place in my mind. The tree
represented every person that feels, looks and seems different. The common
trees are that which we see as normal. The thorns are the emotional
protective barriers people who we deem as different put up to protect
themselves from the cruelty of the world. I cried that day I met that tree
because it taught me so much about life in that single moment than I would
get anywhere else. I went over and grabbed a thorny vine and told it youre
so beautiful and strong, good job staying alive and surviving the cruelness of
life.
Central park is such an important and valuable land mark to NYC that
every tourist and visitor should come to see. Not only because of its
historical value but because of the utter beauty of the park. Central park
allows visitors to know that there is a place to escape the chaos of the city.

Also Central park is full of nature and if people are willing to listen the
environment, nature can speak to them and teach them valuable life lessons
that cant be found anywhere else.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only
the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Central Park Timeline." - The Official Website of Central Park NYC. Central
Park Conservancy, 2014. Web. 12 May 2015.
Blackmar, Elizabeth, and Roy Rosenzweig. "Central Park History." General
CentralParkcom. Greensward Group, 2014. Web. 12 May 2015.
Blackmar, Elizabeth, and Roy Rosenweig. "CentralParkHistory.com - A
Complete

Online History of the World's Most Famous Public Park!"

CentralParkHistory.com - A Complete Online History of the World's Most

Famous Public Park! N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2015. The Park and the People: A
History of Central Park
Dickinson, Emily. "I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed." The Norton Anthology of
American Literature. By Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New
York: W.W. Norton, 2013.

1195. Print. Shorter

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Literature. By

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"History." - The Official Website of Central Park NYC. Central Park
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Web. 12 May 2015.

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Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York: W.W.

Norton, 2013. 1597

603. Print. Shorter.

Martin, Douglas. "A Village Dies, A Park Is Born." The New York Times. The
New York

Times,

30 Jan. 1997. Web. 12 May 2015.

Sowder, Adam. "The History and Growth of Central Park." About Education.
About.com, 2015. Web. 12 May 2015.
Thoreau, Henry David. "Walden or Life In The Woods." The Norton Anthology
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American Literature. By Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New

York: W.W. Norton, 2013.

858-933. Print. Shorter.

"Transcendentalism." Merriam-Webster. N.p.: n.p., 2014. An Encyclopedia

Britannica Merriam-Webster. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
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Waxman, Sarah. "The History of Central Park." History of Central Park, New
York. Mediabridge Infosystems, 1994. Web. 12 May 2015.

THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

IN CENTRAL PARK
Only we see and hear with our hearts can we hear the voice of nature
whispering in the wind.
~ Taisha Pagan