69. Central Park

Green isn't the first word that pops into people's head when they think of New York . Yet, in the middle of Manhattan Island is most visited park in the United States, with million visitors a year. Central Park, a National Landmark, takes up 843 acres of land. It a green space where people go to escape noise and crowds of urban life. Before it in 1857, it wasn't an empty space. People on that land. They were mostly poor free , Irish, and Italian immigrants. They were forced off land to construct the park.

One section of park is called Sheep Meadow. Now it's just grassy area where people can lay in the but actual sheep used to graze there from to 1934. The sheep from there were eventually to another park in the city. Many events place in Central Park, especially in the warm and summer months. There is an outdoor theater, Shakespeare's plays are performed. The plays are free, causes such high demand that people line up hours before performances to get inside. There are free music concerts. Every summer a stage is up. These Summer Stage concerts feature musicians from over the world. Both the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera also host free performances the park in the spring and summer. There also two small zoos inside the park. There a number of small lakes in the park. of the lakes rents out small mechanical sailboats. is also a puppet theater and a carousel kids.

The park is not dead in the . When it snows, families often go to sled to go ice-skating in an outdoor rink owned Donald Trump.