Vale of Cashmere (New York City, New York)

USA / New York / New York City, New York
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“Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere/ With its roses the brightest the earth ever gave.”

Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Prospect Park with Calvert Vaux, hated the name, but it had become popular by the 1890s and it stuck, according to Neil deMause’s “Complete Illustrated Guidebook to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.”

The secluded vale, in the park’s northeastern end just south of Grand Army Plaza, was originally part of the Children’s Playground and the site of the park’s first carousel. But the area was not popular, and was described in an 1893 park report as “an arid waste” before being remodeled. The vale is now decorated with simple fountains surrounded by a sunken garden of lush growth. MICHAEL POLLAK, New York Times
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Coordinates:   40°40'7"N   73°58'5"W

Comments

  • cause that is what hundreds of us that went there almost daily in the 70's actually called it " the Swamp"
  • The southern end of the Vale is now a "natural" children's playground with a giant sandbox area, stepping logs, shaped tree chairs and bridges.
This article was last modified 16 years ago