Burnett Fountain

This statuary fountain stands in the center of the Conservatory Garden's South Garden, a memorial tribute to Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of the children's classics The Secret Garden (1909) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (1906).

Friends of Burnett wanted to memorialize her after her death in 1924 with a storytelling area in Central Park. The Conservatory Garden, which reopened to the public in 1936, was chosen as the perfect site for the memorial. It is believed that the two figures, a reclining boy playing the flute and a young girl holding the bowl, represent Mary and Dickon, the main characters in The Secret Garden. The bowl is a functioning birdbath where small birds drink during three seasons of the year. The sculpture stands on the edge of a small concrete pool that features a variety of water lilies.