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Hope Springs Eternal: Newly Digitized Images of Spring in Central Park Throughout the Years

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Alexander Hamilton, 1999

After this period of change and uncertainty, it’s heartening to find things that can be counted on to stay the same year after year—including the irrepressible optimism of spring in Central Park. Featured here are some of the most recently digitized images from our archive, which contains visuals dating back to the Central Park Conservancy's founding in 1980. Many feature popular springtime destinations in the Park, and we’re struck by the similarities throughout the decades...spring in Central Park in the 1980s and 1990s looked a lot like spring in Central Park in 2021!

These digitized color slides from 30-plus years ago show us that relaxing and strolling among beautiful, blossoming trees and vibrant flowers never grows old, and the changing of the seasons turns out to be one of the most reassuring constants we have.

Visitors to Cherry Hill and Pilgrim Hill lay back and gaze at soft clouds of cherry blossoms, while in the Conservatory Garden, Park-goers rest, read, and pose before an array of tulips, lilacs, crabapple blossoms, and more. There are many other places to enjoy blooms in the Park, from Shakespeare Garden and the Dene Slope to the North Meadow Butterfly Gardens and the landscapes surrounding the Reservoir.

If these archival images inspired you to visit the Park and try out some seasonal photography of your own, we’d love to see your springtime snaps. Be sure to tag us @CentralParkNYC and use the hashtag #CentralParkBloomWatch on social media.

Two young women appear to be napping on a bench in the garden, surrounded by spring blossoms.

Conservatory Garden, 1985

A couple relaxing on the grass beside the Pilgrim statue, with the background filled with cherry blossoms

Alexander Hamilton, 1987

Branches white with cherry blossoms provide a canopy for several park-goers enjoying a spring day.

Cherry Hill, 1988

Two women and a dog relax on the Hill, overlooking the water

Cherry Hill, 1989

Five young women crouching and sitting on a path in the Garden

Conservatory Garden, 1990

A woman sits alone on a bench in the Garden, reading a book.

Conservatory Garden, 1991

A man dressed in black walks his bicycle in the Garden. The bicycle is tricked out with a banana seat, high chrome handlebars accentuated with streamers, mirrors and an old-fashioned horn.

Conservatory Garden, 1991

A couple on one bench eye a second couple on another, because a parakeet is perched on the woman's finger.

Conservatory Garden, 1992

The shore of the Lake, with Bow Bridge in the background and a tree laden with cherry blossoms in the foreground.

The Lake, 1995

A photographer gets a closer look at some deep purple blooms in the Garden

Conservatory Garden, 1995

Two men in suits stroll past a tree thick with cherry blossoms

Pilgrim Hill, 1995

Throughout the years, people have needed Central Park for rest and renewal, which it continues to give—each spring and with every change of season. The Park needs us too, and it takes a community to keep Central Park blossoming. Find out how you can get involved so we can look back on Central Park in another 30 years and reflect on all that it has provided us.

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