The Pool
Near the West 100th Street entrance to Central Park is a somewhat secluded landscape featuring a small water body known as the Pool.
This peaceful area is a popular spot for relaxing and picnicking. It also offers some of the Park’s best fall foliage viewing, with red maples, sweetgums, and willows along the shoreline displaying spectacular color. The Pool’s proximity to the Park’s northern woodlands and the presence of water also makes the area a great spot for viewing birds and other wildlife.
The Pool is also part of a sequence of landscapes connected by water. At the eastern edge of the Pool, the water flows under a rustic bridge and tumbles down a 20-foot cascade, becoming a meandering stream known as the Loch. This water body flows through the woodland landscape known as the Ravine to the east, eventually flowing into the Harlem Meer.
The creation of this series of water bodies was guided by the existing presence of water in this area, primarily a stream called Montayne’s Rivulet. This stream originated at what is now Columbus Avenue and West 95th Street, entering the Park near 100th Street. The Pool is still fed partially by this stream, but mostly by City water. A small grotto near the south edge of the Pool hides the 48-inch pipe that provides the source.
