Bryant Park

      Bryant Park is a 9.603 acre (39,000 m²) privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan.Although technically the main building of the New York Public Library is located within the park, effectively it forms the park's functional eastern boundary, making Sixth Avenue the park's primary entrance. Although part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Bryant Park is  managed by a private not-for-profit corporation, the Bryant Park Corporation. 

      Bryant Park is built entirely over an underground structure which houses the New York Public Library's archives. In the 1980s, the park was closed to the public and excavated.The new library facilities were built below ground level and the park was restored above it.

The Lake, Central Park

          The Central Park Lake, in conjunction with the Ramble, creates an essential part of the "Greensward" design plan created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux when designing the initial features of what would become Central Park. 

        What is now a stunning and picturesque 18-acre lake was once nothing more than a large, untamed swamp. After its excavation in 1857, the Lake was opened for its first winter of ice-skating in 1858. Until 1950, the Lake was used for ice-skating during the winter months and boating in the summer. After 1950, however, the skating rink was officially closed, allowing the Lake's former wildlife inhabitants to take up residence there once more. As such, the Lake is now an excellent location for bird watching, where one can spot swans, ducks, and even the occasional egret or heron.

          The second largest man-made body of water in the Park, the Lake provides wonderful opportunities for viewing its abundant flora and fauna from rowboats, which are available for rent during the spring and summer months at the Loeb Boathouse. Aside from taking a boat, other options for nature sightseeing include taking a Venetian-style gondola ride around the Lake, or simply walking along the shore.

         Like many other Park attractions, the Lake was also restored by the Central Park Conservancy. It was reopened to visitors in 2008. The Lake is a sight not to be missed if you're in the mood for a calming boat ride through bamboo patches, bridges, and natural splendor in the Park.

   

                                                                                 Source: www.centralpark.com/-Jesse M. Wheeler

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

        The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (sometimes abbreviated by locals as JKO) – originally and sometimes still known as the Central Park Reservoir – is a decommissioned reservoir in Central Park in the borough of Manhattan.

The Reservoir covers 106 acres (43 ha) and holds over 1,000,000,000 US gallons (3,800,000 m3) of water.Though no longer used to distribute New York City's water supply, it provides water for the Pooland the Harlem Meer. It is a popular place of  interest; there is a 1.58-mile (2.54 km)jogging track around it and it is also encircled by the park's bridle trail.

The Reservoir was built between 1858 and 1862, to the design for Central Park of  Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,who designed its two pumphouses of Manhattan schist with granite facings. It was never a collecting reservoir. It was used to receive water from the Croton Aqueduct and distribute it to Manhattan.

After 131 years of service, it was decommissioned in 1993, after it was deemed obsolete because of a new main under 79th Street that connected with the Third Water Tunnel and because of growing concerns that it could become contaminated.It was renamed in honor of  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994 to commemorate her contributions to the city, because she enjoyed jogging in the area,which lay beneath the windows of her Fifth Avenue apartment.

Battery Park

     Battery Park is a 10 hectare public park located at the Battery, the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City, facing New York Harbor. The Battery is named for artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years to protect the settlement behind them. At the north end of the park is Castle Clinton, the often re-purposed last remnant of the defensive works that inspired the name of the park.

     Pier A, formerly a fireboat station; and Hope Garden, a memorial to AIDS victims. At the other end is Battery Gardens restaurant, next to the United States Coast Guard Battery Building. Along the waterfront, Statue Cruises offers ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The park is also the site of the East Coast Memorial which commemorates U.S. servicemen who died in coastal waters of the western Atlantic Oceanduring World War II, and several other memorials.

Central Park

Central Park is a public park at the center of Manhattan in New York City. The park initially opened in 1857. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan. Construction began the same year, continued during the American Civil War, and was completed in 1873. Central Park is one of the world's largest urban public parks. Central Park is bordered on the north by West 110th Street, on the south by West 59th Street, on the west by Eighth Avenue. Along the park's borders, these streets are known as Central Park North, Central Park South, and Central Park West respectively. Only Fifth Avenue along the park's eastern border retains its name. It was opened on 770 acres (3.1 km2) of city-owned land and was expanded to 843 acres (3.41 km2; 1.317 sq mi). It is 2.5 miles (4 km) long between 59th Street (Central Park South) and 110th Street (Central Park North), and is 0.5 miles (0.8 km) wide between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. Central Park receives approximately thirty-five million visitors annually, is the most visited urban park in the United States.