An Autumn Walk in Prospect Park: A Slideshow and Map

A social engagement took me to the heart of Brooklyn today, and afterward, I decided to take in the autumn vistas of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's masterpiece, Prospect Park. I walked from the southernmost section of the park near the lake and then up and around the eastern sections all the way to Grand Army Plaza, stopping at the Audubon Boathouse for a little break. The distance was a little over two miles. How glorious! Considering the diversity of trees in Prospect Park - White Oaks, Camperdown Elms, While Mulberries, Japanese Red Pines, the Bald Cypress, and so many others, the autumn foliage put on a great show. As with Central Park, Olmsted and Vaux designed the park as a series of vignettes and picturesque vistas. (See the discussion of The Landscape as Painting and the Landscape Photograph, with respect to Central Park). In some sense, the park, with all of its imaginative landscapes, was the 19th century Romantic's version of virtual reality.


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Images of Prospect Park by Walking Off the Big Apple, November 9, 2008. Official website of Prospect Park.