The Healing Waters of Bethesda
I had visited Central Park before, but seeing as I was in New York during my favorite season, I really wanted to see it wrapped up in autumn foliage. It was unfortunately much greener than I’d been hoping, but the park was nevertheless a lovely sight to behold. It helped to slow down for a bit after so many days of go go go, which is what inevitably happens when you don’t see your best friend for years and want to cram all the quality time you would have had if you lived near each other into the span of a couple of weeks.
Bow Bridge
At 27 meters (87 feet) in length, the Bow Bridge is the longest in the entire Central Park. It was designed by Calvert Vaux (also responsible for the Bethesda Terrace) and Jacob Wrey Mould, and built by Janes, Kirtland & Co., a Bronx-based foundry which was also responsible for constructing the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building. It was completed in 1862.
Bethesda Terrace
Back in 1858, when the Central Park commissioners were looking for designs to guide the endeavor of building a park in the heart of New York City, they selected the Greensward Plan, presented by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. It was inspired by landscaped cemeteries such as Mount Auburn in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Green-Wood in nearby Brooklyn, and it clearly separated the park from the adjacent city streets. This plan also included the Bethesda Terrace, though it had initially been known as The Water Terrace.
Its construction began during the American Civil War, and it was the only structure (alongside the Music Stand and the Casino restaurant, both of which have since been demolished) completed during that time.
Bethesda Fountain
The Bethesda Fountain sits at the center of the lower level of the Bethesda Terrace. Its crowning sculpture, Angel of the Waters, was designed by Emma Stebbins in 1868. She was the first woman to receive a public commission from New York City. The statue is inspired by a story from the Gospel of John, in which an angel blesses the Pool of Bethesda and gives it healing powers.
Gold Colored Fox 