Great Lawn: From Reservoir to Recreation
At a Glance
- Location
Mid-Park, between 79th and 85th Streets.
- Landscape
55-acre landscape; the central oval is 12 acres.
- Access
The Great Lawn closes for winter. Red flags indicate temporary lawn closures.
- Sports
Six softball fields in the oval; organized games require permits.
- Tree walk
Approximately one mile and one hour; includes inclines and stairs.
- Coverage
- Explore coverage
- Details
- What to Know
TheNakedNYC coverage
TheNakedNYC’s Great Lawn coverage on YouTube, published October 10, 2026.
What to Know
Water before the lawn
The site of the Great Lawn once held a rectangular reservoir with fort-like retaining walls. It could store up to 180 million gallons of water.
The Croton Aqueduct, built between 1837 and 1842, brought water from the Croton River to New York. The receiving reservoir stood where the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond are today. Water flowed onward to a smaller distributing reservoir on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets.
A landscape built in the 1930s
The receiving reservoir was removed in the 1930s. After drainage and filling, the site became an oval lawn for sports, with playgrounds along its northern edge and a small pond to the south. The project was finished in 1937.
The Conservancy completed a two-year restoration of the Great Lawn in 1997. The work rebuilt infrastructure and restored the grass.
The lawn and its softball fields
The broader Great Lawn landscape covers 55 acres. Within it, the main oval occupies 12 acres and contains six softball fields. Organized games require permits.
Turtle Pond to the south
The two-acre Turtle Pond was created in 1937 as part of the Great Lawn project. It was known as Belvedere Lake until 1987.
Five turtle species live here year-round: red-eared sliders, snapping, painted, musk and box turtles. During winter, turtles settle into mud at the bottom of the pond.
The Great Lawn restoration in the 1990s also changed the pond’s shoreline. The Conservancy added water-loving plants and installed a wooden platform for viewing wildlife.
Pines northwest of the lawn
The Arthur Ross Pinetum is a four-acre arboretum northwest of the Great Lawn. Its collection contains 17 species of pine.
In 1971, Ross worked with the Parks Department to fund native white-pine plantings. Later additions included species from Macedonia, Japan and the Himalayas. Picnic tables and an all-ages playground with swings are also part of the Pinetum.
A self-guided tree walk
The Conservancy’s Great Lawn Tree Walk follows an approximately one-mile route and takes about an hour. Signs attached to trunks or placed nearby identify trees along the way. The route includes some inclines and stairs.
