Touring Central Park's Sheeps Meadow

After attending 'The Castle and its Kingdom' tour in the upper 70's of Central Park, I walked down Central Park West to 67th Street where the former Tavern on the Green restaurant still stands as what is now a gift shop for the Conservancy and an outdoor dining patio with food trucks. I got some dumplings and a coffee to fuel up for my next tour, called 'Tavern and its Green.' I take these tours very seriously so I need plenty of food before hand so I don't get too distracted!

The tour is described with, Discover the sheepfold that became a world famous restaurant, a parade ground that became the Sheep Meadow, the Children's District, The Mall including its statues and American Elm Trees, and much more.

I was so taken with the fall colors in the trees surrounding Sheeps Meadow and outside the old Tavern on the Green. I enjoyed the walk through The Mall and 'Literary Walk'—named so because of the four statues of famous writers along the way, including one of Shakespeare!

This is by far the most populated part of the park, with people posing for pictures on Bethesda Terrace, recording film projects in the Naumberg Bandshell, skating in the roller derby area and playing volleyball on the sand courts. There are also plenty of kids frolicking in the grassy fields, running back and forth between their parents and the playgrounds, the carousel and the cotton candy vendors... It is a chaotic but comforting area. So familiar and recognizable, yet always new and exciting—a part of the park I've been coming to for years to find the perfect photo opp.

And from there we ended the tour in the exact spot where the ING New York City Marathon finish line lies.

Yellow tree above a hot dog vendor near Sheeps Meadow




The Mall in Central Park, located mid-park in the lower 70's


Beneath a canopy of American Elm trees on Literary Walk


View toward Midtown Manhattan from standing above Sheeps Meadow