Free previewStop 2 of Central Park Walking Tour: The Pond to Belvedere Castle
The Gift That Stopped Waiting for Winter
Stop at the edge of the rink and look at the wide, flat oval, set low among the trees. Now lift your eyes past the treetops to the towers of Midtown standing behind it. Winter, with a city skyline for a backdrop.
You're in the southern part of Central Park, and this oval has a habit most winters don't: it shows up on time.
It wasn't always so. Natural ice keeps its own schedule. A warm week, a thin freeze, a sudden thaw, and the skating was off. A city that ran on timetables had to stand around watching the thermometer.
Then, in 1949, a woman named Kate Wollman made a gift. That gift paid for this rink. Picture the people who had spent years waiting on a cold snap, now being told the ice would no longer depend on one.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 2 of Central Park Walking Tour: The Pond to Belvedere Castle (2 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
