
Central Park
Vast urban park with meadows, lakes, wooded paths, and a zoo, ringed on all sides by city towers.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Central Park in New York City traces the ground beneath its manicured lawns back to Seneca Village, a Black landowning community founded in 1825 by residents like Andrew Williams, at a time when owning property carried the right to vote. You'll hear how the community grew over three decades into churches, schools and homes, and what happened when the city decided it needed a park. The guide follows the lawsuits, the compensation disputes, and the language newspapers used against residents who fought to stay.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Prospect Park
Park on a Revolutionary War battlefield, with a sweeping meadow, wooded ravine, and wildlife zoo.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Sixteen-acre performing arts campus hosting the Metropolitan Opera, ballet, and symphony.
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Vast meadow park built over former ash dumps, crowned by the world's largest freestanding globe.
The Green-Wood Cemetery
Cemetery on a Revolutionary War hillside, with Gothic brownstone gates and sweeping city views.
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Waterfront park on reclaimed industrial piers with sweeping East River and Manhattan skyline views.
Washington Square Park
Public square anchored by a triumphal arch, once a potter's field for the city's forgotten dead.