Visual Guided Tours of New York City

You can see the Dairy from rink rock. It's just below 65th and is behind the Central Park Zoo.

Built in the 1880s, the Dairy is now an information center and gift shop where you can get maps of Central Park, among other things. When Central Park was conceived, the southern part was designated as a children's district, and the Dairy was a place where farmers brought their milk to be distributed.

Photo taken from the Checkers House, which is close tothe Dairy. The Checkers House is a sort of round building that always seems to be closed, but there are outdoor benches and game boards as well as a pergola (an architectural arbor, in this case, some rafters that surround the building forming a trellis with hanging vines). The vines provide a canopy.

Across the road from the Checkers House is the Carousel, which is about midway east-west across the park, which is to say, about 1/4 mile from the edges. This Carousel dates back to 1908. The first two carousels were destroyed by fire, and the second one (1873) was powered by horses. (No mention of the first one on my informative map provided by MasterCard International for the Park's 150th Anniversary. Had I not acquired the map, many places on this tour would have no names--or would have had my names, such as rink rock.)

We may encounter some more horses and buggies as they make a final turn in their loop back to Central Park South.