The first time I walked through The Ramble in New York City’s Central Park five years ago, it was the dead of the summer, and the sun had dipped well below the towering block of buildings on the west side of Manhattan. Orange and purple colored twilight hues seeped through the canopy of trees that loomed over me. It was a borderline mystical experience. I quietly thanked the ghosts of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux for their 1857 Greensward design plan. They set aside the Ramble to be a woodland walk-through away from the city, as well as a natural landscape to appreciate the varied topography of Central Park.
There are various routes that you can take through the park to get there, as there is no proper and designated gate to enter it. On my last visit, I took the train in Union Square over to 8th Ave, then went uptown on the C train to 72nd St., where I exited across the street from The Dakota, the apartment building that stands as the former residence and murder site of John Lennon in 1980. All in all, I spent a little over an hour in the Ramble.
During the evening, the park’s entrance at 72nd street bustles with tourists and New Yorkers alike. One evening, once I made it to a west side staircase that led into that part of the Ramble, I took a picture of the map thinking that it would help me. However, as I began to walk up the pathway, passing the secluded wooden benches and cozy, secret pockets, I instantly remembered that I didn’t need a map. Approaching from any direction works, as you can wander aimlessly through its climbing and descending curvy network of pathways and stone bridges. The instinct of pedestrian exploration can be relied upon in such a place, when so much changes with every fifty-yard bend.
I wasn’t surprised with Wikipedia’s notion of The Ramble’s seedy reputation. There are at least fifty to a hundred places to sneak off in it and I wouldn’t advise walking there at night. The last hour or two before sunset is the best time to stroll through this deep, green forest in the heart of Manhattan.
