Pool

With its grassy banks, weeping willows and rushing waterfall, the Pool is one of the most charming spots in the Park.

Central Park’s designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, constructed the Pool by damming up a natural stream that was known as Montayne’s Rivulet. They sent the water along a northeastward course to form both the Loch and the Harlem Meer.

Today, the water that gushes out of a grotto on the Pool’s southern shoreline is in actuality New York City drinking water that comes from a pipe hidden by the rocks. Many species of birds, fish and amphibians can be seen at the Pool.

In 2003, the Central Park Conservancy completed a restoration of the Pool, protecting it as a healthy environment for wildlife and a picturesque landscape for Park visitors.

The water body was dredged of sediment. New aquatic plantings were added, and the Conservancy’s artisans crafted rustic benches and the Park’s most elegant wooden bridge that overlooks the Glen Span waterfall.