Ask the Conservancy: Turtles, Permits and Gate Names

The names of the Park's original 18 gates meant to emphasize the cultural values that were important in mid-19th-Century New York.

You've got questions about Central Park? We've got answers.

In this month's installment, Conservancy staff field questions on winter wildlife, vendor permits and the story behind the names carved into the Park's stone gate entrances.

Q: What happens to the turtles in Turtle Pond during the winter? – Daria Isaveva, NYC

A: Central Park is home to both land species like eastern box and wood turtles, and water species like sliders, cooters, snapping and painted turtles. Because turtles are cold-blooded animals, their internal temperature relies on the heat of their surroundings. When air, water and ground temperatures drop, the turtles' body activity slows down. This includes heart rate, breathing and digestion. And when winter arrives with a significant drop in ambient temperature the turtles go into brumation (which is just another word for hibernation). The land turtles will find a space under leaves close to the soil to brumate, while the water turtles will sink down in the pond and find cover in the mud and plant matter at the bottom. A turtle's heart beats only once every few minutes and its digestion slows almost to a stop. 

If you're wondering about how they breathe under water, it's a special function of their tail. Yes, turtles can actually breath through their tails. They don't need much oxygen because of their slowed metabolism, and the specialized cells on the tale of the turtle take up enough oxygen from the water. Turtles can breathe this way for two to three months, just the length of time they need before the temperatures rise again. – Tina Nelson, the Conservancy’s Soil, Water & Ecology Laboratory Coordinator

Q: May I sell cupcakes in Central Park next summer? I have my food handler's license! – Elizabeth Simi W, NYC

A: While you're tempting our sweet tooth with talk of cupcakes, the Conservancy doesn't manage vendors in the Park; that's actually the area of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Learn more about how to get a permit to become a vendor here. When you apply, they'll be able to tell you more about the specifics of what you're allowed to sell, and in which exact locations. Good luck! – Dena Libner, Associate Director of Public Relations for the Central Park Conservancy

Q: What's the history behind the names of the gates? – Joe McClintock, asked via Twitter

Most visitors pass through the entrances to Central Park without realizing that the names engraved on them champion important cultural values of mid-19th-Century New York. Most of these breaks in the Park's simple stone perimeter wall bear the inscription of a calling (Scholars' Gate) or of a specific profession (Mariners' Gate).

Scholars' Gate, at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.

While they're rarely used today, these names were meant, in part, to provide Park visitors with clear and simple meeting spots. A numbering system like the one used for the City's streets was rejected by the Board of Commissioners of Central Park, who held that the Park's very purpose was to escape New York's grid. They suggested the gates instead be named after the workers who made New York City the great metropolis it had become.

Both skilled and unskilled professions are grouped into four main categories, represented at the entrance along 59th Street: Scholars (at Fifth Avenue), Artists (at Sixth Avenue), Artisans (at Seventh Avenue), and Merchants (at Broadway/Eighth Avenue). Nine of the other 18 gates honor occupations that were important in New York history: Pioneers, Farmers, Hunters, Miners, Woodsmen, Mariners, Engineers, Inventors and Warriors (soldiers). – Sara Cedar Miller, the Conservancy’s Historian and official Photographer of Central Park, and author of Central Park, An American Masterpiece.

Have a question about Central Park or the Central Park Conservancy? Follow us on  Twitter and Facebook to see when we're taking questions, or e-mail them to us at  with the subject line "Ask the Conservancy." Each month, we'll pick three and share the answers right here.