English

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Learn about the natural and human-made ecosystems found in Prospect Park, and its connection to New York City's water supply through the layers of history, environmental stewardship, and human intervention that are hidden beneath the surface. Visit www.prospectpark.org/waterway-tour for more information. This tour is presented by the Prospect Park Alliance and More Art, it is made possible with funding from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. 

Image: Prospect Park. © 2013, Elizabeth Keegin Colley.

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Prospect Park: Waterways & Woodlands

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New York

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Public Water

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NAVIGATION: Here we are on the edge of Prospect Park in Grand Army Plaza. There are several entrances into the park from here-- you should be standing at the pedestrian entrance farthest to the left, situated between the stone pergola and the Stranahan Monument. When you find the entrance, wait a minute before going in so we can share a little background... 
——

Prospect Park is over 150 years old. The park opened to the public in 1867, just after the end of the Civil War. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who designed Central Park in Manhattan just a decade earlier, effectively pioneering the field of American landscape architecture. Grand Army Plaza transports us from the dense buildings, noise, and bustle of the city to the pastoral hills and meandering paths of the park. While nearly every tree, blade of grass, and flow of water was constructed, the park has become an important habitat for hundreds of species of plants and wildlife. The park’s design incorporates three central elements: meadows, woodlands and waterways. Water has always been a central element in the ecology of this area, even before Olmsted and Vaux. From the natural ponds, local springs, and streams that were here before the park, and critical to the land's first inhabitants—the Lenape people…to the wells that were built in Colonial times to tap into groundwater supplies—called aquifers—hundreds of feet beneath the surface of Brooklyn to supply water to the growing population… to the present day, where waterbodies in the park are fed by the New York City water supply, which comes to us from upstate New York, as far as 150 miles north of here, through a complex system of reservoirs and aqueducts. In this tour we’ll explore traces of our past, present, and future through the water system that exists throughout the park. There’s a lot that can be seen on the surface, but I’ll be drawing attention to the work that happens out of view to care for the park's watercourse and our eco-commons: the water, air, and all the resources shared by all living things on this planet that make it habitable.

——
NAVIGATION: Ok, let’s get moving. If you miss any directions, you can always refer back to the map or transcript in the app.... Walk into the park through the hexagon paved path between the stone pergola and the Stranahan Monument....listen as you walk… you’ll pass under a tunnel-like archway—the Endale Arch.
——

New York City’s growth has relied on access to clean, fresh water. Currently our water is sourced from three watersheds located as far as 150 miles north from here: the Catskill, Delaware, and Croton watersheds. A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. The upstate watersheds distribute 1.3 billion gallons of water daily to almost 9 million residents and visitors in NYC. 

Before New Yorkers went hunting upstate for a clean water supply, the city got its water from local sources. In the 1860s, when this park was built, Brooklyn’s water supply was drawn primarily from streams and wells about 20 miles east of here, in what is now Queens and Long Island. From there it was pumped into the Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens, about 5 miles to the east of here, and a portion of the water was then transferred to the Mount Prospect Reservoir, which could hold 20 million gallons of water, and was situated between the Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Museum, not far from where we stand today. So, if you were looking at a map zoomed out, you would see a diagonal line drawn east-to-west from Long Island, through to Ridgewood, then through Crown Heights into the easternmost part of Prospect Park near the library. The Mount Prospect Reservoir was deemed obsolete when Brooklyn was connected to the New York City Water supply around 1911, and then drained and demolished in 1938.

You’ll soon approach the historic Endale Arch, one of the first architectural elements constructed in Prospect Park more than 150 years ago, designed by Olmsted and Vaux to transport visitors and whisk us away from the rhythms of the city to the vast expanse of the Long Meadow. The arch and nearby area, including the path you are walking on, was recently restored by the Alliance after decades of disrepair. The restoration of the archway interior revealed that the arch was originally clad in alternating white pine and black walnut wood paneling—hidden for nearly a century --which was recreated by talented contemporary artisans…. 

——
NAVIGATION:  Pass through the arch, and as you emerge take the path on the left, down the left side of the meadow... Walk as you listen.
——

Why did New York City transition to an upstate water supply? Across the East River, Manhattanites of the 1830s drew their water from shallow wells and the "Collect Pond," a once natural and potable freshwater source located in present day Lower East Side. The pond was polluted by rubbish, sewage, and factory waste. Devastating outbreaks of cholera—primarily affecting immigrant and working-class residents of that neighborhood—were linked to this toxic water. Repeated outbreaks of water-borne illness were just one of the many reasons New York began its search for clean and abundant water upstate.

Olmsted, who lost his first child to cholera, envisioned public parks, including Prospect Park, in this context. In one of his most well-known essays he declared that parks provide the “…opportunity and inducement to escape at frequent intervals from the confined and vitiated air of the commercial quarter” and to “supply the lungs with air screened and purified by trees and recently acted upon by sunlight.” 

As you walk through the park today, look for glimpses of the sky through the openings in the canopy of trees overhead and take in this momentary escape from the rest of your day and the rhythms of the city.

++++
Image: View of site chosen for Prospect Park, from Mount Prospect looking westward. First Annual Report of the Commissioners of Prospect Park, 1861. Courtesy Prospect Park Archives.

 

465 Flatbush Avenue \|||// NAVIGATION: Here we are on the edge of Prospect Park in Grand Army Plaza. There are several entrances into the park from here-- you should be standing at the pedestrian entrance farthest to the left, situated between the stone pergola and the Stranahan Monument. When you find the entrance, wait a minute before going in so we can share a little background... 
——

Prospect Park is over 150 years old. The park opened to the public in 1867, just after the end of the Civil War. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who designed Central Park in Manhattan just a decade earlier, effectively pioneering the field of American landscape architecture. Grand Army Plaza transports us from the dense buildings, noise, and bustle of the city to the pastoral hills and meandering paths of the park. While nearly every tree, blade of grass, and flow of water was constructed, the park has become an important habitat for hundreds of species of plants and wildlife. The park’s design incorporates three central elements: meadows, woodlands and waterways. Water has always been a central element in the ecology of this area, even before Olmsted and Vaux. From the natural ponds, local springs, and streams that were here before the park, and critical to the land's first inhabitants—the Lenape people…to the wells that were built in Colonial times to tap into groundwater supplies—called aquifers—hundreds of feet beneath the surface of Brooklyn to supply water to the growing population… to the present day, where waterbodies in the park are fed by the New York City water supply, which comes to us from upstate New York, as far as 150 miles north of here, through a complex system of reservoirs and aqueducts. In this tour we’ll explore traces of our past, present, and future through the water system that exists throughout the park. There’s a lot that can be seen on the surface, but I’ll be drawing attention to the work that happens out of view to care for the park's watercourse and our eco-commons: the water, air, and all the resources shared by all living things on this planet that make it habitable.

——
NAVIGATION: Ok, let’s get moving. If you miss any directions, you can always refer back to the map or transcript in the app.... Walk into the park through the hexagon paved path between the stone pergola and the Stranahan Monument....listen as you walk… you’ll pass under a tunnel-like archway—the Endale Arch.
——

New York City’s growth has relied on access to clean, fresh water. Currently our water is sourced from three watersheds located as far as 150 miles north from here: the Catskill, Delaware, and Croton watersheds. A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. The upstate watersheds distribute 1.3 billion gallons of water daily to almost 9 million residents and visitors in NYC. 

Before New Yorkers went hunting upstate for a clean water supply, the city got its water from local sources. In the 1860s, when this park was built, Brooklyn’s water supply was drawn primarily from streams and wells about 20 miles east of here, in what is now Queens and Long Island. From there it was pumped into the Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens, about 5 miles to the east of here, and a portion of the water was then transferred to the Mount Prospect Reservoir, which could hold 20 million gallons of water, and was situated between the Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Museum, not far from where we stand today. So, if you were looking at a map zoomed out, you would see a diagonal line drawn east-to-west from Long Island, through to Ridgewood, then through Crown Heights into the easternmost part of Prospect Park near the library. The Mount Prospect Reservoir was deemed obsolete when Brooklyn was connected to the New York City Water supply around 1911, and then drained and demolished in 1938.

You’ll soon approach the historic Endale Arch, one of the first architectural elements constructed in Prospect Park more than 150 years ago, designed by Olmsted and Vaux to transport visitors and whisk us away from the rhythms of the city to the vast expanse of the Long Meadow. The arch and nearby area, including the path you are walking on, was recently restored by the Alliance after decades of disrepair. The restoration of the archway interior revealed that the arch was originally clad in alternating white pine and black walnut wood paneling—hidden for nearly a century --which was recreated by talented contemporary artisans…. 

——
NAVIGATION:  Pass through the arch, and as you emerge take the path on the left, down the left side of the meadow... Walk as you listen.
——

Why did New York City transition to an upstate water supply? Across the East River, Manhattanites of the 1830s drew their water from shallow wells and the "Collect Pond," a once natural and potable freshwater source located in present day Lower East Side. The pond was polluted by rubbish, sewage, and factory waste. Devastating outbreaks of cholera—primarily affecting immigrant and working-class residents of that neighborhood—were linked to this toxic water. Repeated outbreaks of water-borne illness were just one of the many reasons New York began its search for clean and abundant water upstate.

Olmsted, who lost his first child to cholera, envisioned public parks, including Prospect Park, in this context. In one of his most well-known essays he declared that parks provide the “…opportunity and inducement to escape at frequent intervals from the confined and vitiated air of the commercial quarter” and to “supply the lungs with air screened and purified by trees and recently acted upon by sunlight.” 

As you walk through the park today, look for glimpses of the sky through the openings in the canopy of trees overhead and take in this momentary escape from the rest of your day and the rhythms of the city.

++++
Image: View of site chosen for Prospect Park, from Mount Prospect looking westward. First Annual Report of the Commissioners of Prospect Park, 1861. Courtesy Prospect Park Archives.

 

1-View-of-site-chosen-for-Prospect-Park-1861..jpg

Grand Army Plaza and Endale Arch

Tour Item

Stop 1 - Grand Army Plaza_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION: Walk and listen as you continue straight, following the path with hexagonal pavers all the way down the left side of the meadow. Stay on the path so the rolling hills are always on your right. You’ll walk almost the full length of the meadow.

——

The Long Meadow is Brooklyn's ultimate gathering place. On a nice day, it is filled with thousands of community members enjoying picnics, relaxing with friends and family, and playing pick-up games. When rain or snow deters visitors, something else collects here: water. In fact, so much rainwater runs into the meadow that the Park’s designers built a vast network of pipes underneath the full length of the meadow, collecting and carrying the runoff to the Park’s watercourse. If you were to explore the meadow, you may come across a series of manholes connected to the system. Olmsted and Vaux were way ahead of their time, and now many cities  around the world are, in fact, building landscapes such as the Long Meadow to safely collect and drain stormwater.    

How does water collect on the Long Meadow? Gravity. Just as visitors come from different parts of the city to visit the park, watersheds are areas of land where water collects from other places to feed a waterbody, such as a reservoir. A large watershed can include smaller watersheds just as a large river is fed by smaller streams. 

...As you walk through the Long Meadow toward the watercourse, you are walking along a high ridge that cuts across Brooklyn’s topography, starting around the old Mount Prospect Reservoir (close to the start of the tour), flanking the west side of the Park, and continuing down to Greenwood Cemetery, just south of the park. In the openness of the meadow, notice your vantage point in relation to the landscape: you are in the Long Meadow but elevated higher up, as if you were walking along the rim of a tub. In the park, water collects in this meadow and then makes its way down the watercourse to Prospect Park Lake. We also see this throughout New York City and State. Water pools in potholes, at the bottom of hills, in meadows, and in valleys. 

In fact, all of New York City’s drinking water is brought to us by a gravity-fed system, through aqueducts. Aqueducts are large pipes that carry water underground, over bridges, and through canals. New York City’s aqueducts are fed by reservoirs holding rain and surface water that was collected in the upstate watersheds. The watersheds and their respective reservoirs are located at much higher elevations than the city. So when water enters the aqueducts, it moves with gravity as the pipes gradually slope down as they get closer to the city. New York City’s first aqueduct, completed in 1842, carried water from the Croton River in Westchester, 50 miles north. Since then, as New York City has grown, it has needed to expand its water supply. Now, the City gets its water from the three sources: Croton, Catskill, and Delaware watersheds, 50-150 miles north of here.

——
NAVIGATION: Continue walking down the paved path and observe the slight gradations in the path and the surrounding meadow. Think about how rain water might move and collect throughout these spaces…

+++
Image: Long Meadow site with drainage pipes being installed, circa 1866. Courtesy Prospect Park, Olmsted National Historic Site Archive.

18 East Drive \|||// NAVIGATION: Walk and listen as you continue straight, following the path with hexagonal pavers all the way down the left side of the meadow. Stay on the path so the rolling hills are always on your right. You’ll walk almost the full length of the meadow.

——

The Long Meadow is Brooklyn's ultimate gathering place. On a nice day, it is filled with thousands of community members enjoying picnics, relaxing with friends and family, and playing pick-up games. When rain or snow deters visitors, something else collects here: water. In fact, so much rainwater runs into the meadow that the Park’s designers built a vast network of pipes underneath the full length of the meadow, collecting and carrying the runoff to the Park’s watercourse. If you were to explore the meadow, you may come across a series of manholes connected to the system. Olmsted and Vaux were way ahead of their time, and now many cities  around the world are, in fact, building landscapes such as the Long Meadow to safely collect and drain stormwater.    

How does water collect on the Long Meadow? Gravity. Just as visitors come from different parts of the city to visit the park, watersheds are areas of land where water collects from other places to feed a waterbody, such as a reservoir. A large watershed can include smaller watersheds just as a large river is fed by smaller streams. 

...As you walk through the Long Meadow toward the watercourse, you are walking along a high ridge that cuts across Brooklyn’s topography, starting around the old Mount Prospect Reservoir (close to the start of the tour), flanking the west side of the Park, and continuing down to Greenwood Cemetery, just south of the park. In the openness of the meadow, notice your vantage point in relation to the landscape: you are in the Long Meadow but elevated higher up, as if you were walking along the rim of a tub. In the park, water collects in this meadow and then makes its way down the watercourse to Prospect Park Lake. We also see this throughout New York City and State. Water pools in potholes, at the bottom of hills, in meadows, and in valleys. 

In fact, all of New York City’s drinking water is brought to us by a gravity-fed system, through aqueducts. Aqueducts are large pipes that carry water underground, over bridges, and through canals. New York City’s aqueducts are fed by reservoirs holding rain and surface water that was collected in the upstate watersheds. The watersheds and their respective reservoirs are located at much higher elevations than the city. So when water enters the aqueducts, it moves with gravity as the pipes gradually slope down as they get closer to the city. New York City’s first aqueduct, completed in 1842, carried water from the Croton River in Westchester, 50 miles north. Since then, as New York City has grown, it has needed to expand its water supply. Now, the City gets its water from the three sources: Croton, Catskill, and Delaware watersheds, 50-150 miles north of here.

——
NAVIGATION: Continue walking down the paved path and observe the slight gradations in the path and the surrounding meadow. Think about how rain water might move and collect throughout these spaces…

+++
Image: Long Meadow site with drainage pipes being installed, circa 1866. Courtesy Prospect Park, Olmsted National Historic Site Archive.

2-Drainage-Install-in-Prospect-Park_Olmsted-National-Historic-Site-Archive.jpg

The Long Meadow

Stop 2 - Long Meadow_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION: Continue walking on the same path, you’ll see the Picnic House that stands high across the meadow.. The path will start to have a noticeable slope downwards before reaching a fork in the road. Take a right at the black chain link fence… 
——

You are now approaching the start of the watercourse. Peek through the openings in the trees on your left. You may start to hear the sound of flowing water as the path traces along the edge of a body of water. You’re passing the Upper and Lower Pools, the start of  the park’s watercourse. While a pond did exist in this area before the park was built, the pools, streams, falls and lake you see today in the park are entirely engineered and human made. At the time of the Park’s creation, this watercourse was fed from wells (one of which we’ll visit at the end of the walk), but in 1911 the Park was connected to the New York City drinking water supply.…so the water that you’re seeing here in the pools is in part the same water that comes out of our taps at home, and as we discussed earlier, New York City drinking  water comes from the reservoirs and watersheds as far as 150 miles north of here. 

One of the challenges of having water supplied by the New York City water system involves water treatment. New York City's drinking water is treated with orthophosphates: food-grade phosphoric acids, which are added to prevent lead in the City’s older pipes from leaching into our drinking water. 

However, what is good for our drinking water is not necessarily good for Prospect Park’s ecosystems.  

Phosphates can be naturally occurring and already present in a lot of waterways, but the natural balance is upset when there is an excess supply coming from external sources…in this case it’s from the city’s water treatment process, but in other landscapes excess nitrogen and phosphate come from fertilizer, erosion from river banks, deforestation, and sewage discharge. 

Blue-green algae, also called cyanobacteria, ‘bloom’ or grow in much higher numbers when this balance is disturbed, and can be harmful to people, pets and wildlife. Skin contact with cyanobacteria can cause rashes or eye irritation, and ingestion can result in more serious health effects. Blue-green algae develops through a combination of high heat, sunlight, shallow water, minimal turbulence, and an excess of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphate. In the warmer months, these blooms impact portions of the watercourse, including the Lake, one of the park's natural treasures.

To restore balance to these waterways and prevent blue-green algae blooms, Prospect Park Alliance is piloting the ecoWEIR system, a nature-based, green technology for water filtration that is hidden beneath the surface of the park. And we’re about to come across it now. 

——
NAVIGATION:  You’ll pass by Dog Beach on your left. A little further along in the path, you’ll come to a fork in the road. Stop there. 

+++
Image: Dog Beach and the Upper pool at the start of the watercourse. © Bianca Nelson.

95 Prospect Park West \|||// NAVIGATION: Continue walking on the same path, you’ll see the Picnic House that stands high across the meadow.. The path will start to have a noticeable slope downwards before reaching a fork in the road. Take a right at the black chain link fence… 
——

You are now approaching the start of the watercourse. Peek through the openings in the trees on your left. You may start to hear the sound of flowing water as the path traces along the edge of a body of water. You’re passing the Upper and Lower Pools, the start of  the park’s watercourse. While a pond did exist in this area before the park was built, the pools, streams, falls and lake you see today in the park are entirely engineered and human made. At the time of the Park’s creation, this watercourse was fed from wells (one of which we’ll visit at the end of the walk), but in 1911 the Park was connected to the New York City drinking water supply.…so the water that you’re seeing here in the pools is in part the same water that comes out of our taps at home, and as we discussed earlier, New York City drinking  water comes from the reservoirs and watersheds as far as 150 miles north of here. 

One of the challenges of having water supplied by the New York City water system involves water treatment. New York City's drinking water is treated with orthophosphates: food-grade phosphoric acids, which are added to prevent lead in the City’s older pipes from leaching into our drinking water. 

However, what is good for our drinking water is not necessarily good for Prospect Park’s ecosystems.  

Phosphates can be naturally occurring and already present in a lot of waterways, but the natural balance is upset when there is an excess supply coming from external sources…in this case it’s from the city’s water treatment process, but in other landscapes excess nitrogen and phosphate come from fertilizer, erosion from river banks, deforestation, and sewage discharge. 

Blue-green algae, also called cyanobacteria, ‘bloom’ or grow in much higher numbers when this balance is disturbed, and can be harmful to people, pets and wildlife. Skin contact with cyanobacteria can cause rashes or eye irritation, and ingestion can result in more serious health effects. Blue-green algae develops through a combination of high heat, sunlight, shallow water, minimal turbulence, and an excess of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphate. In the warmer months, these blooms impact portions of the watercourse, including the Lake, one of the park's natural treasures.

To restore balance to these waterways and prevent blue-green algae blooms, Prospect Park Alliance is piloting the ecoWEIR system, a nature-based, green technology for water filtration that is hidden beneath the surface of the park. And we’re about to come across it now. 

——
NAVIGATION:  You’ll pass by Dog Beach on your left. A little further along in the path, you’ll come to a fork in the road. Stop there. 

+++
Image: Dog Beach and the Upper pool at the start of the watercourse. © Bianca Nelson.

3-Dog-Beach_and-Pools_c-Bianca-Nelson.jpg

Approaching the watercourse

Stop 3 - Approachng the Watercourse_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION:  At the fork in the road, look for the signpost next to the black chainlink fence. Approach the fence and stay here for a moment...
——

It is very easy to walk right past the park's two ecoWEIR systems and miss them--this unassuming, fenced-in patch of natural grasses and wildflowers, and stretch of lawn across the way, are actually two experimental, nature-based water filtration systems designed and installed in collaboration with Waterway Ecologics, Brooklyn College and Prospect Park Alliance, and funded by New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. The ecoWEIRs work as underground, human-made marsh systems to absorb excess phosphates and nutrients that contribute to toxic blue-green algae blooms. The roots of these native grasses and plants, including Dense Blazing Star, Swamp Verbena and Mountain Mint, reach down about 1 foot below the soil surface into large, sealed 600-square-foot underground vaults that treat the water, before it is  released back into the watercourse. From the surface, the only traces of the system you can spot are the shiny steel access hatches close to the edge of the fence and in the lawn across the way. The magic happens underground.

Using gravity, water is directed from nearby Fallkill Falls, the start of the watercourse, into the ecoWEIRs. The water sits in the tanks—which are also filled with gravel, sand, and soil—where the plants and beneficial bacteria in the soil do their work. When the water is cleaned, it is released back into the watercourse in the Lower Pool, where Dog Beach is located. Each ecoWEIR system has a “smart-sensored” pipe and valve system located at its base that allow for the monitoring of the system's performance in real time.

The water is cleaned through a process called bio or phytoremediation, where the plants, roots, and associated microorganisms absorb or break down contaminants and excess nutrients. The term is an amalgam of the Greek “phyto,” meaning “plant,” and Latin “remedium” which translates to “restore balance.” Other methods for controlling algae blooms involve additive processes that treat contaminated ponds, lakes, and water bodies. Those processes involve using bales of straw to absorb excess nutrients or Clorox to kill bacteria, for example.Those techniques don’t really address the ‘root’ of the problem of extra phosphate being added to the water, and also can be harmful to the natural functioning of the aquatic systems. Clorox might be good for bleaching clothes but not necessarily for all of the ‘good bacteria’ that nature depends on. The ecoWEIR aims to stop pollutants from going into the water in the first place. Likewise, in the Croton, Catskill, and Delaware watersheds located up to 150 miles upstate, the City safeguards our water at the source by regulating and protecting watershed land and its reservoirs. This includes purchasing nearby land to preserve it, and regulating the agricultural industry and urban development to reduce pollutant and fertilizer runoff... Keeping the water protected and clean before it enters the system allows NYC to avoid building costly filtration plants.

For now, the ecoWEIR remains an experiment. At its current scale, the ecoWEIR project cannot impact the major algae blooms the park is experiencing in warmer months. With the data the project collaborators collect from these experimental sites, they will better understand if ecoWEIRs could be used effectively on a larger scale to treat all the water entering the watercourse and limit future algae blooms. The ecoWEIR could become a model for other parks in the city and beyond, with more benefits than just water filtration—by adding more green space and allowing for multipurpose use of land, the ecoWEIR, along with other green infrastructure and tree planting strategies, could be used in cities to reduce urban heat island effects. Heat Islands are urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas due to a lack of greenery and a high concentration of buildings, roads, and other infrastructure.

Plant-based approaches to water filtration and green infrastructure projects are being employed in more and more spaces such as home gardens, city streets, and public parks such as Prospect Park. Artists, such as myself, Mary Mattingly, also design, use, and call attention to these systems in our work. During the summer of 2021, I installed a sculpture at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park called “Watershed Core”, which was a 10ft tall geodesic sphere covered in native plants that filter water through a gravity-fed design, mimicking the features of a watershed, and similar to the workings of the ecoWEIR.

While the ecoWEIR is designed to blend into the landscape, I designed “Watershed Core” as a visible and transparent core sample of New York City’s drinking watershed to draw attention to how our city gets its water. Like so much of the work to care for this park and our water supply, we don’t see it in action, but it’s always working just below the surface.

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving, we’re going to take a left down the path, moving into the shady woodland. Follow the sound of water to Fallkill Falls.

+++
Image: An illustration of the ecoWEIR underground. Illustration by Chris Bonnell, Courtesy Prospect Park Alliance.

95 Prospect Park West \|||// NAVIGATION:  At the fork in the road, look for the signpost next to the black chainlink fence. Approach the fence and stay here for a moment...
——

It is very easy to walk right past the park's two ecoWEIR systems and miss them--this unassuming, fenced-in patch of natural grasses and wildflowers, and stretch of lawn across the way, are actually two experimental, nature-based water filtration systems designed and installed in collaboration with Waterway Ecologics, Brooklyn College and Prospect Park Alliance, and funded by New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. The ecoWEIRs work as underground, human-made marsh systems to absorb excess phosphates and nutrients that contribute to toxic blue-green algae blooms. The roots of these native grasses and plants, including Dense Blazing Star, Swamp Verbena and Mountain Mint, reach down about 1 foot below the soil surface into large, sealed 600-square-foot underground vaults that treat the water, before it is  released back into the watercourse. From the surface, the only traces of the system you can spot are the shiny steel access hatches close to the edge of the fence and in the lawn across the way. The magic happens underground.

Using gravity, water is directed from nearby Fallkill Falls, the start of the watercourse, into the ecoWEIRs. The water sits in the tanks—which are also filled with gravel, sand, and soil—where the plants and beneficial bacteria in the soil do their work. When the water is cleaned, it is released back into the watercourse in the Lower Pool, where Dog Beach is located. Each ecoWEIR system has a “smart-sensored” pipe and valve system located at its base that allow for the monitoring of the system's performance in real time.

The water is cleaned through a process called bio or phytoremediation, where the plants, roots, and associated microorganisms absorb or break down contaminants and excess nutrients. The term is an amalgam of the Greek “phyto,” meaning “plant,” and Latin “remedium” which translates to “restore balance.” Other methods for controlling algae blooms involve additive processes that treat contaminated ponds, lakes, and water bodies. Those processes involve using bales of straw to absorb excess nutrients or Clorox to kill bacteria, for example.Those techniques don’t really address the ‘root’ of the problem of extra phosphate being added to the water, and also can be harmful to the natural functioning of the aquatic systems. Clorox might be good for bleaching clothes but not necessarily for all of the ‘good bacteria’ that nature depends on. The ecoWEIR aims to stop pollutants from going into the water in the first place. Likewise, in the Croton, Catskill, and Delaware watersheds located up to 150 miles upstate, the City safeguards our water at the source by regulating and protecting watershed land and its reservoirs. This includes purchasing nearby land to preserve it, and regulating the agricultural industry and urban development to reduce pollutant and fertilizer runoff... Keeping the water protected and clean before it enters the system allows NYC to avoid building costly filtration plants.

For now, the ecoWEIR remains an experiment. At its current scale, the ecoWEIR project cannot impact the major algae blooms the park is experiencing in warmer months. With the data the project collaborators collect from these experimental sites, they will better understand if ecoWEIRs could be used effectively on a larger scale to treat all the water entering the watercourse and limit future algae blooms. The ecoWEIR could become a model for other parks in the city and beyond, with more benefits than just water filtration—by adding more green space and allowing for multipurpose use of land, the ecoWEIR, along with other green infrastructure and tree planting strategies, could be used in cities to reduce urban heat island effects. Heat Islands are urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas due to a lack of greenery and a high concentration of buildings, roads, and other infrastructure.

Plant-based approaches to water filtration and green infrastructure projects are being employed in more and more spaces such as home gardens, city streets, and public parks such as Prospect Park. Artists, such as myself, Mary Mattingly, also design, use, and call attention to these systems in our work. During the summer of 2021, I installed a sculpture at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park called “Watershed Core”, which was a 10ft tall geodesic sphere covered in native plants that filter water through a gravity-fed design, mimicking the features of a watershed, and similar to the workings of the ecoWEIR.

While the ecoWEIR is designed to blend into the landscape, I designed “Watershed Core” as a visible and transparent core sample of New York City’s drinking watershed to draw attention to how our city gets its water. Like so much of the work to care for this park and our water supply, we don’t see it in action, but it’s always working just below the surface.

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving, we’re going to take a left down the path, moving into the shady woodland. Follow the sound of water to Fallkill Falls.

+++
Image: An illustration of the ecoWEIR underground. Illustration by Chris Bonnell, Courtesy Prospect Park Alliance.

4_eco_weir_lawn_121919.jpg

ecoWEIR

Stop 4_ecoWEIR_mixdown_2.mp3

4_ecoWEIR-stop_draft.jpg

Enter the woodlands and notice how the temperature drops. The smell of damp soil and water fills the air. In a moment we’ll come across Fallkill Falls—the start of Prospect Park’s watercourse… 

——
NAVIGATION: Do you see the row of park benches lining the path? The falls are located opposite the benches….. Look into the woods and you’ll notice the waterfall emerging from a collection of rocks and boulders. Stop here for a few moments as you listen...
——

This is Fallkill Falls. Municipal tap water enters from a pipe hidden in the rocks above the falls. It functions as the park’s faucet, like one we might use at home, but far more scenic. The watercourse ends in Prospect Park Lake. When the water in the lake is too high, the inflow can be turned off at Fallkill Falls. The volume of water can be regulated in response to the weather or other conditions. For example, after Tropical Storm Ida hit NYC with devastating floods in September 2021, the park shut off the flow of water at the falls to prevent massive flooding and erosion in the lower parts of the watercourse. Soon the park will be replacing nearly century-old valves and sections of water main pipes that feed the watercourse. The project will also include installing a back-flow prevention valve to protect the New York City water supply from contaminated water flowing back into it.

Just as Fallkill Falls has a tap and valves that can be turned on-and-off, the ecoWEIR we just visited at the edge of the Long Meadow also features a tap function to control water. In water infrastructure, a “WEIR” is a barrier or gate constructed across a river or a creek that regulates water flow and allows water to be slowly released to users downstream.

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving again. Continue walking past the falls and veer left at the next turn.
——

The ecoWEIR is distinguished from similar water filtration systems because it can hold water underground until it is ready to be released into the watercourse through a gate or tap. A smart sensor controls the water flow. Other natural water filtration systems, grey water systems, and green infrastructure systems usually let the water that has been cleaned by phytoremediation soak back into the ground to replenish aquifers. 

——
NAVIGATION: We are heading into the Ravine now. Continue walking and take a hard right at the next turn. 

+++
Image: Fallkill Falls. © Frederick Charles.


52 West Drive \|||// Enter the woodlands and notice how the temperature drops. The smell of damp soil and water fills the air. In a moment we’ll come across Fallkill Falls—the start of Prospect Park’s watercourse… 

——
NAVIGATION: Do you see the row of park benches lining the path? The falls are located opposite the benches….. Look into the woods and you’ll notice the waterfall emerging from a collection of rocks and boulders. Stop here for a few moments as you listen...
——

This is Fallkill Falls. Municipal tap water enters from a pipe hidden in the rocks above the falls. It functions as the park’s faucet, like one we might use at home, but far more scenic. The watercourse ends in Prospect Park Lake. When the water in the lake is too high, the inflow can be turned off at Fallkill Falls. The volume of water can be regulated in response to the weather or other conditions. For example, after Tropical Storm Ida hit NYC with devastating floods in September 2021, the park shut off the flow of water at the falls to prevent massive flooding and erosion in the lower parts of the watercourse. Soon the park will be replacing nearly century-old valves and sections of water main pipes that feed the watercourse. The project will also include installing a back-flow prevention valve to protect the New York City water supply from contaminated water flowing back into it.

Just as Fallkill Falls has a tap and valves that can be turned on-and-off, the ecoWEIR we just visited at the edge of the Long Meadow also features a tap function to control water. In water infrastructure, a “WEIR” is a barrier or gate constructed across a river or a creek that regulates water flow and allows water to be slowly released to users downstream.

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving again. Continue walking past the falls and veer left at the next turn.
——

The ecoWEIR is distinguished from similar water filtration systems because it can hold water underground until it is ready to be released into the watercourse through a gate or tap. A smart sensor controls the water flow. Other natural water filtration systems, grey water systems, and green infrastructure systems usually let the water that has been cleaned by phytoremediation soak back into the ground to replenish aquifers. 

——
NAVIGATION: We are heading into the Ravine now. Continue walking and take a hard right at the next turn. 

+++
Image: Fallkill Falls. © Frederick Charles.


5-Fallkill-Falls_Frederick-Charles.jpg

Fallkill Falls

Stop 5 - fallkill falls_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION: You’ll start ambling downhill as the path cuts through the earth. Look for the break in the fence on your left and take a left there. Follow the sound of water.
——

You are walking through the Ravine. This area is often referred to as Brooklyn’s last forest, a region of the park designed by Olmsted and Vaux to evoke the experience of walking through the forests of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York. Boulders and native trees were sourced from nearby locations to be strategically and aesthetically placed throughout. Its oldest trees are about 150 years old, like the park.
   
The park’s designers, and the workers who built the park, cut a path in the forest floor, adding a stream to the landscape. This became the Ravine, a nexus, where the watercourse, forest, and meadows link up. It reminds us of the bonds within an ecosystem or watershed. The stream and forest are interconnected, the health of one always affecting the health of the other.
Rivers and ravines like the Hudson or Grand Canyon, are formed by the steady force of water, slowly but surely cutting a path through rock and soil. They don’t need shovels, bulldozers, or dynamite to take shape. In contrast, like the city around it, the park was shaped by people, but, unlike skyscrapers and highways, Prospect Park plays a central role in connecting us to plants, wildlife, and the beauty of nature beyond our built environment.

——
NAVIGATION: You’ll pass over Rock Bridge Arch that overlooks Ambergill falls on the left. Hike up the stairs on your right after the bridge.

+++
Image: Ambergill Falls. © 2013, Elizabeth Keegin Colley.

95 Prospect Park West \|||// NAVIGATION: You’ll start ambling downhill as the path cuts through the earth. Look for the break in the fence on your left and take a left there. Follow the sound of water.
——

You are walking through the Ravine. This area is often referred to as Brooklyn’s last forest, a region of the park designed by Olmsted and Vaux to evoke the experience of walking through the forests of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York. Boulders and native trees were sourced from nearby locations to be strategically and aesthetically placed throughout. Its oldest trees are about 150 years old, like the park.
   
The park’s designers, and the workers who built the park, cut a path in the forest floor, adding a stream to the landscape. This became the Ravine, a nexus, where the watercourse, forest, and meadows link up. It reminds us of the bonds within an ecosystem or watershed. The stream and forest are interconnected, the health of one always affecting the health of the other.
Rivers and ravines like the Hudson or Grand Canyon, are formed by the steady force of water, slowly but surely cutting a path through rock and soil. They don’t need shovels, bulldozers, or dynamite to take shape. In contrast, like the city around it, the park was shaped by people, but, unlike skyscrapers and highways, Prospect Park plays a central role in connecting us to plants, wildlife, and the beauty of nature beyond our built environment.

——
NAVIGATION: You’ll pass over Rock Bridge Arch that overlooks Ambergill falls on the left. Hike up the stairs on your right after the bridge.

+++
Image: Ambergill Falls. © 2013, Elizabeth Keegin Colley.

6-Ambergill-Falls-2013-Elizabeth-Keegin-Colley.jpg

The Ravine

Stop 6 - Ravine Mixdown 2.mp3

NAVIGATION: Continue walking up the stairs and veer right at the top. Walk as you listen...
——

The Prospect Park watercourse is engineered, cut from the ground. Unlike the slow process of erosion, this happened quickly. In 1866,  Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were hired to design and build the park. Just a year later, in 1867, the park officially opened. The construction of the park involved nearly 2,000 workers, the majority being Irish immigrants. Similarly, the city’s first public water system, the Old Croton Aqueduct, which opened in 1842, was also built by a primarily Irish-immigrant workforce. Though mostly relegated to manual labor jobs and given few opportunities to work in designing these feats of public infrastructure, the groundbreaking engineering of the Croton Reservoir and aqueduct, and the entirety of Prospect Park, was realized thanks to their work.

——
NAVIGATION: There are two turns at the top of the stairs. Keep veering right, and you’ll come across Boulder Bridge, lined with giant boulders. Walk across the bridge. The bridge spans over the Bridle path... from this vantage point you have great views of the surrounding woodlands. Keep your eye out for birds in the treetops. Take a right after the bridge and your journey takes you downhill. Continue walking as you listen.
——

In the 1980s much of the park was in disrepair due to the economic crisis of the previous decade. The forest floor had been cleared to address concerns about crime, leading to devastating erosion and the build up of silt in the watercourse.

Erosion can be very detrimental for the health of a waterbody. Plants, rocks, and dirt play an important role in the health of a forest, marsh, or shoreline. But repeated wind, rain, and use can cause plants to recede and die. Without plants and their networks of roots, there may be little to hold the ground in place. Erosion pulls mud and silt into the water, harming not only the shoreline, but the habitat for plants and animals in the water too.

Environmental stewards, like the people who work for Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks, have a number of approaches to combat these problems. They can remove silt, rebuild banks with rocks and plants that will make them more resilient, and set boundaries for the use of the damaged area.

In 1985, the group that would become the Prospect Park Alliance began seeking funding for the restoration of the Ravine. In 1987, the Alliance was officially founded and initiated a study of the environmental degradation in the park. In the following years, the Ravine restoration was a priority for the Alliance. The Ravine was rebuilt and plant life was revitalized to limit future erosion. Over the past 30 years, the Alliance has invested more than $15 million to restore the park's natural areas, which has encompassed the planting of more than 500,000 trees, plants and shrubs. Alliance staff include trained arborists, horticulturalists, a forest ecologist and natural resources technicians. The results of this investment can be seen in the transformation of these once-derelict areas into some of the Park’s most scenic destinations.

How can the public be a part of this woodland's survival? Stay on paths, do not go beyond fencelines, keep your pets on leash, and carry out what you bring into the park. Take part in the Alliance's nature education programs and learn more about how to explore the park's natural areas.

——
NAVIGATION: At the bottom of the hill you’ll hit a main road. Cross the road and continue to go straight, walking downhill. You’ll meet another bridge made from rustic tree trunks. This is Music Grove Bridge, which spans over Binnen water. 

+++
Image: Boulder Bridge, as seen from below. Courtesy Prospect Park Archives, Herbert Mitchell Collection. 

95 Prospect Park West \|||// NAVIGATION: Continue walking up the stairs and veer right at the top. Walk as you listen...
——

The Prospect Park watercourse is engineered, cut from the ground. Unlike the slow process of erosion, this happened quickly. In 1866,  Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were hired to design and build the park. Just a year later, in 1867, the park officially opened. The construction of the park involved nearly 2,000 workers, the majority being Irish immigrants. Similarly, the city’s first public water system, the Old Croton Aqueduct, which opened in 1842, was also built by a primarily Irish-immigrant workforce. Though mostly relegated to manual labor jobs and given few opportunities to work in designing these feats of public infrastructure, the groundbreaking engineering of the Croton Reservoir and aqueduct, and the entirety of Prospect Park, was realized thanks to their work.

——
NAVIGATION: There are two turns at the top of the stairs. Keep veering right, and you’ll come across Boulder Bridge, lined with giant boulders. Walk across the bridge. The bridge spans over the Bridle path... from this vantage point you have great views of the surrounding woodlands. Keep your eye out for birds in the treetops. Take a right after the bridge and your journey takes you downhill. Continue walking as you listen.
——

In the 1980s much of the park was in disrepair due to the economic crisis of the previous decade. The forest floor had been cleared to address concerns about crime, leading to devastating erosion and the build up of silt in the watercourse.

Erosion can be very detrimental for the health of a waterbody. Plants, rocks, and dirt play an important role in the health of a forest, marsh, or shoreline. But repeated wind, rain, and use can cause plants to recede and die. Without plants and their networks of roots, there may be little to hold the ground in place. Erosion pulls mud and silt into the water, harming not only the shoreline, but the habitat for plants and animals in the water too.

Environmental stewards, like the people who work for Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks, have a number of approaches to combat these problems. They can remove silt, rebuild banks with rocks and plants that will make them more resilient, and set boundaries for the use of the damaged area.

In 1985, the group that would become the Prospect Park Alliance began seeking funding for the restoration of the Ravine. In 1987, the Alliance was officially founded and initiated a study of the environmental degradation in the park. In the following years, the Ravine restoration was a priority for the Alliance. The Ravine was rebuilt and plant life was revitalized to limit future erosion. Over the past 30 years, the Alliance has invested more than $15 million to restore the park's natural areas, which has encompassed the planting of more than 500,000 trees, plants and shrubs. Alliance staff include trained arborists, horticulturalists, a forest ecologist and natural resources technicians. The results of this investment can be seen in the transformation of these once-derelict areas into some of the Park’s most scenic destinations.

How can the public be a part of this woodland's survival? Stay on paths, do not go beyond fencelines, keep your pets on leash, and carry out what you bring into the park. Take part in the Alliance's nature education programs and learn more about how to explore the park's natural areas.

——
NAVIGATION: At the bottom of the hill you’ll hit a main road. Cross the road and continue to go straight, walking downhill. You’ll meet another bridge made from rustic tree trunks. This is Music Grove Bridge, which spans over Binnen water. 

+++
Image: Boulder Bridge, as seen from below. Courtesy Prospect Park Archives, Herbert Mitchell Collection. 

7-Boulder-Bridge_Prospect-Park-Archives_Herbert-Mitchell-Collection.jpg

Boulder Bridge

Stop 7-Boulder Bridge.mp3

From the Upper and Lower Pools that border the Long Meadow, to the Ravine with its beautiful series of waterfalls, to the Lullwater at the Boathouse and beyond to the Lake, the sounds, sights, and microclimates of these water bodies draw us to different corners of the park. Though they seem so distinct, they are all, in fact, part of one watercourse that weaves through the park. 

——
NAVIGATION: You’re coming up on Music Grove Bridge. Here, you’ve met back up with the watercourse at Binnen Water. Stop on the bridge for a moment and look down at the water. 
——

Do you see a series of wooden stakes that line the edge of the water bank? Those were once used by park staff to quantify and identify the aquatic plants within the zones between the stakes. The practice has since stopped, but the stakes remain. What other traces of human intervention can you see in these landscapes?

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving again. Continue walking as you listen. Just after the bridge, keep your eye out for the white pagoda on your left, and turn left down the path after you pass it. 
——
In the past couple of years, Prospect Park Alliance has undertaken an extensive cleanup of the landscape that encompasses this waterway. At various locations, crews of staff and volunteers removed garbage, cleared downed trees and branches, and weeded out invasive species of plants that were clogging the waterway. 

Like the Ravine, the health of the park's watercourse is affected by the living environment. Eventually, anything left on the ground can make its way into the water. If a plastic cup is left by the side of the Prospect Park watercourse and it rains, that cup will likely be picked up as the rainwater travels down to the water and through the watercourse, washing up on the banks of the Lullwater or breaking down into tiny pieces as it lies in the lake. 

The same process occurs on a larger scale in a watershed where water from rivers, pools, and streams filter into one larger water body. Whatever happens in one part of the watershed affects the health of the ecosystem in other parts of the watershed. Ultimately, everything drains into one water body, which is subject to pollution or debris that the water might have picked up as it traveled down.

Soon you’ll pass over Binnen Bridge. Listen to the water running from the Binnen Water, down the falls to the Lullwater, connecting the forest with the meadows and lake that follow. The wooden bridge fits like a keystone in the walk, tying the watercourse to the forest. We no longer see or hear the city around us. What sounds accompany the rush of water? The park wraps around us, just as Prospect Park’s designers intended. We’ve been transported, removed from the city and brought to the heart of the park.

——
NAVIGATION: Continue walking downhill veering right, following signs for the Audubon Center. The pond at the Boathouse will come into view. 
——

This spot is a destination for many people in the summer months, and as fall nears, migrating birds stop here, resting at this peaceful refuge in the sprawling city. As autumn leaves fall, they enter the stream, settling at the bottoms of ponds and downstream, supplying a habitat for water-dwelling macro-invertebrates and microorganisms in the park. Throughout the year, rainwater and snowmelt collect and join the park's waterway, too. As in a watershed, in the park, everything is connected.

+++
Image: Binnen Bridge and Falls. Courtesy Prospect Park Alliance.

Center Drive \|||// From the Upper and Lower Pools that border the Long Meadow, to the Ravine with its beautiful series of waterfalls, to the Lullwater at the Boathouse and beyond to the Lake, the sounds, sights, and microclimates of these water bodies draw us to different corners of the park. Though they seem so distinct, they are all, in fact, part of one watercourse that weaves through the park. 

——
NAVIGATION: You’re coming up on Music Grove Bridge. Here, you’ve met back up with the watercourse at Binnen Water. Stop on the bridge for a moment and look down at the water. 
——

Do you see a series of wooden stakes that line the edge of the water bank? Those were once used by park staff to quantify and identify the aquatic plants within the zones between the stakes. The practice has since stopped, but the stakes remain. What other traces of human intervention can you see in these landscapes?

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving again. Continue walking as you listen. Just after the bridge, keep your eye out for the white pagoda on your left, and turn left down the path after you pass it. 
——
In the past couple of years, Prospect Park Alliance has undertaken an extensive cleanup of the landscape that encompasses this waterway. At various locations, crews of staff and volunteers removed garbage, cleared downed trees and branches, and weeded out invasive species of plants that were clogging the waterway. 

Like the Ravine, the health of the park's watercourse is affected by the living environment. Eventually, anything left on the ground can make its way into the water. If a plastic cup is left by the side of the Prospect Park watercourse and it rains, that cup will likely be picked up as the rainwater travels down to the water and through the watercourse, washing up on the banks of the Lullwater or breaking down into tiny pieces as it lies in the lake. 

The same process occurs on a larger scale in a watershed where water from rivers, pools, and streams filter into one larger water body. Whatever happens in one part of the watershed affects the health of the ecosystem in other parts of the watershed. Ultimately, everything drains into one water body, which is subject to pollution or debris that the water might have picked up as it traveled down.

Soon you’ll pass over Binnen Bridge. Listen to the water running from the Binnen Water, down the falls to the Lullwater, connecting the forest with the meadows and lake that follow. The wooden bridge fits like a keystone in the walk, tying the watercourse to the forest. We no longer see or hear the city around us. What sounds accompany the rush of water? The park wraps around us, just as Prospect Park’s designers intended. We’ve been transported, removed from the city and brought to the heart of the park.

——
NAVIGATION: Continue walking downhill veering right, following signs for the Audubon Center. The pond at the Boathouse will come into view. 
——

This spot is a destination for many people in the summer months, and as fall nears, migrating birds stop here, resting at this peaceful refuge in the sprawling city. As autumn leaves fall, they enter the stream, settling at the bottoms of ponds and downstream, supplying a habitat for water-dwelling macro-invertebrates and microorganisms in the park. Throughout the year, rainwater and snowmelt collect and join the park's waterway, too. As in a watershed, in the park, everything is connected.

+++
Image: Binnen Bridge and Falls. Courtesy Prospect Park Alliance.

8-Binnen-Bridge-and-Falls_courtesy-Prospect-Park-Alliance.jpg

Binnen Water

Stop 8 - Binnen water_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION: Continue to walk and listen...walk around the pond towards the boathouse and loop around the back of the building. 
——

Not only is this one of the most scenic spots to take in the watercourse, the Boathouse itself is a sight to see. Prospect Park’s Boathouse is a site for celebration and reflection. 

The Boathouse was completed in 1905. We appreciate it now for its beautiful Beaux Arts style architecture and scenic views, but it was not always shown the love it deserved. In the mid 20th century, use of the Boathouse dipped, leading to the proposal of plans to demolish the building in 1964. But community groups organized to protect and preserve the Boathouse. Their efforts were successful, and the Boathouse became one of the first buildings landmarked in all of New York City. 

Since 2001 it has been home to the Prospect Park Audubon Center, which offers nature education programs. Here, families can enjoy hands-on learning experiences through the Center’s exhibits, and also throughout the park thanks to a Pop-Up program that is led by teens from local high schools. The Audubon Center’s education programs enrich our understanding of the ecosystems within the park. While inspiring a broader understanding of the Park’s plants, animals, and history, the Audubon Center’s programs also teach concrete principles and practices of environmental stewardship, inviting visitors to participate in the process of caring for and protecting the park and its ecosystem, and encouraging intergenerational leadership.

——
NAVIGATION: Veer right after you pass by the Boathouse and stop as you come to the stone pier of a bridge. 
——

This is one of the park’s most scenic areas. The rolling hills and loosely spaced trees around the water’s edge seem to form windows, guiding us to picturesque views of the water, bridge, and boathouse.

+++
Image: Prospect Park Boathouse. © 2015, Martin Seck.

65 East Drive \|||// NAVIGATION: Continue to walk and listen...walk around the pond towards the boathouse and loop around the back of the building. 
——

Not only is this one of the most scenic spots to take in the watercourse, the Boathouse itself is a sight to see. Prospect Park’s Boathouse is a site for celebration and reflection. 

The Boathouse was completed in 1905. We appreciate it now for its beautiful Beaux Arts style architecture and scenic views, but it was not always shown the love it deserved. In the mid 20th century, use of the Boathouse dipped, leading to the proposal of plans to demolish the building in 1964. But community groups organized to protect and preserve the Boathouse. Their efforts were successful, and the Boathouse became one of the first buildings landmarked in all of New York City. 

Since 2001 it has been home to the Prospect Park Audubon Center, which offers nature education programs. Here, families can enjoy hands-on learning experiences through the Center’s exhibits, and also throughout the park thanks to a Pop-Up program that is led by teens from local high schools. The Audubon Center’s education programs enrich our understanding of the ecosystems within the park. While inspiring a broader understanding of the Park’s plants, animals, and history, the Audubon Center’s programs also teach concrete principles and practices of environmental stewardship, inviting visitors to participate in the process of caring for and protecting the park and its ecosystem, and encouraging intergenerational leadership.

——
NAVIGATION: Veer right after you pass by the Boathouse and stop as you come to the stone pier of a bridge. 
——

This is one of the park’s most scenic areas. The rolling hills and loosely spaced trees around the water’s edge seem to form windows, guiding us to picturesque views of the water, bridge, and boathouse.

+++
Image: Prospect Park Boathouse. © 2015, Martin Seck.

9-Prospect-Park-Boathouse_c.-Martin-Seck-2015.jpg

The Boat House

Stop 9- Boathouse_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION: Stop on the bridge for a minute and take in the views over the Lullwater and the boathouse. 
——

After the fast moving stream in the Binnen Falls, the watercourse widens and its current slows. Olmsted and Vaux named the waterway here the Lullwater, for the languid movement of the water, which lies between the Ravine and the Prospect Park Lake.

Opened in 1906, Lullwater Bridge is the Park’s longest water crossing. With its ironwork and stone foundation, Lullwater Bridge feels very solid, yet its curvature and design makes it one of the most whimsical sites in the park. It is monumental but welcoming. Arriving at the bridge, we reached a crescendo in the park, where the waterway and paths that weave through the park cross and curve. Many visitors journey into the park to find this spot.

Tall trees hang over the edge of the water. As you cross the bridge, pause to look up and notice how the trees are no longer so dense as in the Ravine. As the canopy thins, the sky opens up.

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving again. Continue listening as you walk... Cross the bridge and turn left. The forest reappears briefly before you are met with an open meadow again. This is Nethermead, the Park’s second, smaller meadow. 
——

Prospect Park’s designers, Olmsted and Vaux, engineered this extensive watercourse with distinct sections that flow into one another, pulled by gravity, from Fallkill Falls where it pools and flows through the rocky streams of the forested Ravine, eventually emptying into the Prospect Park Lake. They built on this area’s original topography, retaining a connection to the landscapes that stood here before the park. 

——
NAVIGATION: Continue walking straight, staying on the paved path. The continuation of Lullwater will be on your left. Notice how much quieter it is here compared to the rest of the watercourse.
——

In pre-colonial times, salt marshes, springs, freshwater swamps, and kettle ponds could be found in this area, nearby Gowanus, throughout Brooklyn, and in Manhattan. For generations, the Lenape, Mahican, and Shinnecock people of New York drew their drinking water from local springs and water features. Prospect Park, like all of New York City, is part of Lenapehoking, the ancestral territory of the Lenape people. For thousands of years, native people lived here, developing sustainable land management practices such as annual spring burn offs that return nutrients to the soil. This process of regeneration and renewal created park-like landscapes and open fields, providing a habitat for animals like birds, deer, and rabbits.
   
The Lenape were forced out, and often violently displaced, in the process of European colonization and the settlement of Brooklyn. The subsequent exploitation of people and land led to the ongoing degradation of these complex ecological commons: our water, air, and land.

We can learn something from the original inhabitants of this land by practicing moderation, reciprocity, restraint, and gratitude while understanding where we stand in the past and present histories of the land and its resources.

As you continue walking, reflect on the layers of history that exist around you, in the park and the city. 

+++
Image: Lullwater Bridge. © Laura Pennace.

101 East Drive \|||// NAVIGATION: Stop on the bridge for a minute and take in the views over the Lullwater and the boathouse. 
——

After the fast moving stream in the Binnen Falls, the watercourse widens and its current slows. Olmsted and Vaux named the waterway here the Lullwater, for the languid movement of the water, which lies between the Ravine and the Prospect Park Lake.

Opened in 1906, Lullwater Bridge is the Park’s longest water crossing. With its ironwork and stone foundation, Lullwater Bridge feels very solid, yet its curvature and design makes it one of the most whimsical sites in the park. It is monumental but welcoming. Arriving at the bridge, we reached a crescendo in the park, where the waterway and paths that weave through the park cross and curve. Many visitors journey into the park to find this spot.

Tall trees hang over the edge of the water. As you cross the bridge, pause to look up and notice how the trees are no longer so dense as in the Ravine. As the canopy thins, the sky opens up.

——
NAVIGATION: Let’s get moving again. Continue listening as you walk... Cross the bridge and turn left. The forest reappears briefly before you are met with an open meadow again. This is Nethermead, the Park’s second, smaller meadow. 
——

Prospect Park’s designers, Olmsted and Vaux, engineered this extensive watercourse with distinct sections that flow into one another, pulled by gravity, from Fallkill Falls where it pools and flows through the rocky streams of the forested Ravine, eventually emptying into the Prospect Park Lake. They built on this area’s original topography, retaining a connection to the landscapes that stood here before the park. 

——
NAVIGATION: Continue walking straight, staying on the paved path. The continuation of Lullwater will be on your left. Notice how much quieter it is here compared to the rest of the watercourse.
——

In pre-colonial times, salt marshes, springs, freshwater swamps, and kettle ponds could be found in this area, nearby Gowanus, throughout Brooklyn, and in Manhattan. For generations, the Lenape, Mahican, and Shinnecock people of New York drew their drinking water from local springs and water features. Prospect Park, like all of New York City, is part of Lenapehoking, the ancestral territory of the Lenape people. For thousands of years, native people lived here, developing sustainable land management practices such as annual spring burn offs that return nutrients to the soil. This process of regeneration and renewal created park-like landscapes and open fields, providing a habitat for animals like birds, deer, and rabbits.
   
The Lenape were forced out, and often violently displaced, in the process of European colonization and the settlement of Brooklyn. The subsequent exploitation of people and land led to the ongoing degradation of these complex ecological commons: our water, air, and land.

We can learn something from the original inhabitants of this land by practicing moderation, reciprocity, restraint, and gratitude while understanding where we stand in the past and present histories of the land and its resources.

As you continue walking, reflect on the layers of history that exist around you, in the park and the city. 

+++
Image: Lullwater Bridge. © Laura Pennace.

10_Lullwater-Bridge_RS3122_c-Laura-Pennace.jpg

Lullwater 

Stop 10 - Lullwater_mixdown2.mp3

You’re about to walk under Terrace Bridge. Here, the water moves from the Lullwater into Brooklyn’s only lake, spanning 60 acres. Reaching its destination, the water may evaporate or filter down to the aquifers underground. The lake’s water evaporates rapidly, and in the early years of the park the water was very low by the end of the summer. It is calculated that during the summer over 500,000 gallons of water evaporate from the lake every day. That translates to over 5 million 12 oz bottles of water. To slow water leakage and maintain the lake year round, the park added a clay-silt lining to its floor. 

——
NAVIGATION: After the bridge, walk up the steep path on your right. 
——

Over the years the lake has undergone various changes and uses. Baier Music Island sat in the northeast portion of the lake. Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned it as a site for musical performances, intending the music to carry and meld into the park’s background hum. Under the direction of City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, a portion of the lake was filled in and paved over around 1960, replacing Baier Music Island with an ice skating rink. While recreation in the Park was much improved by the new ice skating rink, the natural green landscape envisioned by Olmsted and Vaux was covered in grey concrete. In the early 2000s a new project was underway: Lakeside, the restoration of Prospect Park Lake, the largest undertaking in the Park since its creation. Prospect Park Alliance restored a section of the waterfront, bringing back the shoreline and an array of native plantings, as well as creating the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, which provides year-round recreation, including roller and ice skating. Baier Music Island was rebuilt along with several islands that offer refuge to local and migrating birds. 

——
NAVIGATION: At the top of the path, veer left when you reach the main drive. You’ll be walking towards a beautifully framed view of the lake.
——

Like all the water features of the park, this too was human-made. But the tall grasses that surround the lake and the animals that populate its shoreline and waters remind us of the landscape before the park with its small ponds and marshes.

Access to water for play and recreation is important for all New Yorkers, within the city and beyond it. Access to clean, safe spaces to enjoy the outdoors is equally important. This is true year round, but particularly relevant in the summer when kids are out of school and the city is hit with its hottest days. North of New York City, the communities that live in and around the Croton, Catskill and Delaware watersheds that supply our water, deal with restricted use of the water features that they are tasked with protecting. The stewardship of these watershed communities allows for limited treatment and filtration of the city’s public water. It is protected from pollution and contamination, but upstate residents have faced limited access to the reservoirs both for drinking water and recreational use. Thanks to the advocacy of upstate communities, some of the reservoirs can now be used for some outdoor activities, such as boating or fishing. When we move through the park and drink our water, we can recognize the work that goes into maintaining these resources.

——
NAVIGATION: Come to a stop at the lake. Is there a breeze blowing off the water? Take in the shoreline with its coves and outlets. 

+++
Image: Prospect Park Lake. © 2014, Martin Seck.

 \|||// You’re about to walk under Terrace Bridge. Here, the water moves from the Lullwater into Brooklyn’s only lake, spanning 60 acres. Reaching its destination, the water may evaporate or filter down to the aquifers underground. The lake’s water evaporates rapidly, and in the early years of the park the water was very low by the end of the summer. It is calculated that during the summer over 500,000 gallons of water evaporate from the lake every day. That translates to over 5 million 12 oz bottles of water. To slow water leakage and maintain the lake year round, the park added a clay-silt lining to its floor. 

——
NAVIGATION: After the bridge, walk up the steep path on your right. 
——

Over the years the lake has undergone various changes and uses. Baier Music Island sat in the northeast portion of the lake. Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned it as a site for musical performances, intending the music to carry and meld into the park’s background hum. Under the direction of City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, a portion of the lake was filled in and paved over around 1960, replacing Baier Music Island with an ice skating rink. While recreation in the Park was much improved by the new ice skating rink, the natural green landscape envisioned by Olmsted and Vaux was covered in grey concrete. In the early 2000s a new project was underway: Lakeside, the restoration of Prospect Park Lake, the largest undertaking in the Park since its creation. Prospect Park Alliance restored a section of the waterfront, bringing back the shoreline and an array of native plantings, as well as creating the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, which provides year-round recreation, including roller and ice skating. Baier Music Island was rebuilt along with several islands that offer refuge to local and migrating birds. 

——
NAVIGATION: At the top of the path, veer left when you reach the main drive. You’ll be walking towards a beautifully framed view of the lake.
——

Like all the water features of the park, this too was human-made. But the tall grasses that surround the lake and the animals that populate its shoreline and waters remind us of the landscape before the park with its small ponds and marshes.

Access to water for play and recreation is important for all New Yorkers, within the city and beyond it. Access to clean, safe spaces to enjoy the outdoors is equally important. This is true year round, but particularly relevant in the summer when kids are out of school and the city is hit with its hottest days. North of New York City, the communities that live in and around the Croton, Catskill and Delaware watersheds that supply our water, deal with restricted use of the water features that they are tasked with protecting. The stewardship of these watershed communities allows for limited treatment and filtration of the city’s public water. It is protected from pollution and contamination, but upstate residents have faced limited access to the reservoirs both for drinking water and recreational use. Thanks to the advocacy of upstate communities, some of the reservoirs can now be used for some outdoor activities, such as boating or fishing. When we move through the park and drink our water, we can recognize the work that goes into maintaining these resources.

——
NAVIGATION: Come to a stop at the lake. Is there a breeze blowing off the water? Take in the shoreline with its coves and outlets. 

+++
Image: Prospect Park Lake. © 2014, Martin Seck.

11_Prospect-Park-Lake-c-Martin-Seck-2014.jpg

Approaching the Lake

Stop 11 - Lake_mixdown.mp3

NAVIGATION: The Wellhouse is opposite the lake, at the foot of Lookout Hill, which towers on a steep slope behind it. Approach The Well House..
——

Originally, Prospect Park’s water was supplied by a well that was located right here. In its time, the 70-foot well was an engineering marvel, believed to be the world’s largest well when it was constructed. The well drew water from local aquifers. An aquifer is a body of porous rock or sediment located underground that is saturated with groundwater. Two local aquifers were tapped into: the upper glacial aquifer, about 120 feet deep, and the Magothy aquifer, located approximately 385 feet below the surface. The well pumped out roughly 850,000 gallons of water each day from a coal-fired steam engine, which pumped the well water to the top of Lookout Hill. From there, the water was pulled down through the gravity-fed watercourse. The well was so productive it provided water to places outside the park, too, contributing to Brooklyn’s water supply.

The outline of the original well, which featured a glass dome for visitors to observe its advanced engineering in operation, can be found outside the Wellhouse. Look down in the grass and you’ll find a short brick wall. It connects to the original round wall of the well, now filled in with sand, soil, and concrete below the grass. 

After the consolidation of Greater New York in 1898, Brooklyn became a borough of New York City and gained access to the city’s municipal water supply. In the following decades, much of Brooklyn’s independent water infrastructure was dismantled as use of the city’s municipal water was widely adopted. This shift was mirrored in the park. Prospect Park stopped sourcing their water from the well and connected the park’s waterways with municipal water. By the early 20th century the well was obsolete, no longer needed for the park or the surrounding area.

Though part of the well is filled in and now part of the landscape, the Wellhouse, built to house the coal-fired water pump, remains. The Wellhouse is one of the park’s oldest structures, built in 1869, just a few years after the park opened. In recent years, the Wellhouse has taken on new life as an eco-friendly comfort station. 

In response to the needs of present day park visitors, Prospect Park Alliance planned to install bathrooms in this section of the park, but this proved difficult because there is no connection to the sewage system. The Wellhouse was in disrepair and needed a renovation, so the Alliance found a creative solution to their problem: renovate the Wellhouse as a comfort station. Instead of creating a costly connection to city sewage infrastructure, the Alliance installed new, more sustainable composting toilets, which require far less water than traditional toilets.

The basement no longer houses the engine that powered the water pump. Now it’s home to composting toilets, the first in a New York City park. The bathrooms are accessed upstairs, and toilets are flushed with a biodegradable foam. They empty into a composting bin below decomposers, and the waste is gradually converted to compost. 

Beyond the eco-friendly toilets, the faucets and floor drains recycle their waste water for watering plants while conserving water. This kind of waste water is called graywater and the graywater garden is a more sustainable model for wastewater management in the park, saving 250,000 gallons of water each year from entering the sewer system.

Here is where we end our tour. We have touched on just a fraction of the many histories, ecosystems, and layers of this park and our city. As you leave the park and go about your day, be mindful of the invisible ecosystems—both human and natural—that surround you in all things. Think about what ecosystems you are a part of, and how you might impact them throughout your day.

+++
Image: The Wellhouse, circa 1869. Courtesy Prospect Park Archives.

200 Well House Drive \|||// NAVIGATION: The Wellhouse is opposite the lake, at the foot of Lookout Hill, which towers on a steep slope behind it. Approach The Well House..
——

Originally, Prospect Park’s water was supplied by a well that was located right here. In its time, the 70-foot well was an engineering marvel, believed to be the world’s largest well when it was constructed. The well drew water from local aquifers. An aquifer is a body of porous rock or sediment located underground that is saturated with groundwater. Two local aquifers were tapped into: the upper glacial aquifer, about 120 feet deep, and the Magothy aquifer, located approximately 385 feet below the surface. The well pumped out roughly 850,000 gallons of water each day from a coal-fired steam engine, which pumped the well water to the top of Lookout Hill. From there, the water was pulled down through the gravity-fed watercourse. The well was so productive it provided water to places outside the park, too, contributing to Brooklyn’s water supply.

The outline of the original well, which featured a glass dome for visitors to observe its advanced engineering in operation, can be found outside the Wellhouse. Look down in the grass and you’ll find a short brick wall. It connects to the original round wall of the well, now filled in with sand, soil, and concrete below the grass. 

After the consolidation of Greater New York in 1898, Brooklyn became a borough of New York City and gained access to the city’s municipal water supply. In the following decades, much of Brooklyn’s independent water infrastructure was dismantled as use of the city’s municipal water was widely adopted. This shift was mirrored in the park. Prospect Park stopped sourcing their water from the well and connected the park’s waterways with municipal water. By the early 20th century the well was obsolete, no longer needed for the park or the surrounding area.

Though part of the well is filled in and now part of the landscape, the Wellhouse, built to house the coal-fired water pump, remains. The Wellhouse is one of the park’s oldest structures, built in 1869, just a few years after the park opened. In recent years, the Wellhouse has taken on new life as an eco-friendly comfort station. 

In response to the needs of present day park visitors, Prospect Park Alliance planned to install bathrooms in this section of the park, but this proved difficult because there is no connection to the sewage system. The Wellhouse was in disrepair and needed a renovation, so the Alliance found a creative solution to their problem: renovate the Wellhouse as a comfort station. Instead of creating a costly connection to city sewage infrastructure, the Alliance installed new, more sustainable composting toilets, which require far less water than traditional toilets.

The basement no longer houses the engine that powered the water pump. Now it’s home to composting toilets, the first in a New York City park. The bathrooms are accessed upstairs, and toilets are flushed with a biodegradable foam. They empty into a composting bin below decomposers, and the waste is gradually converted to compost. 

Beyond the eco-friendly toilets, the faucets and floor drains recycle their waste water for watering plants while conserving water. This kind of waste water is called graywater and the graywater garden is a more sustainable model for wastewater management in the park, saving 250,000 gallons of water each year from entering the sewer system.

Here is where we end our tour. We have touched on just a fraction of the many histories, ecosystems, and layers of this park and our city. As you leave the park and go about your day, be mindful of the invisible ecosystems—both human and natural—that surround you in all things. Think about what ecosystems you are a part of, and how you might impact them throughout your day.

+++
Image: The Wellhouse, circa 1869. Courtesy Prospect Park Archives.

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