 Park Slope is nestled within the downward slope from Prospect Park to the Gowanus Canal. The 526-acre Prospect Park stands as one of the true jewels of New York City, designed by the same
men responsible for Manhattan's Central Park.
Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, many consider it their greatest achievement.
The park contains several unique features including the Quaker Cemetary that contains the grave of actor Montgomery Clift; a carousel created from
two Coney Island corousels designed by Charles Carmel dating from the 1910's, one of only 12 Carmel carousels remaining; the Prospect Park Wildlife Conservation Center with daily sea lion feedings and a petting zoo.
Grand Army Plaza, the northern entrance to Prospect Park, is of special interest to Civil War aficionados. At its center, facing the entrance to the park, is the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch, a colossal granite arch designed by John H. Duncan, architect of Grant's Tomb.
General W. T. Sherman laid the monument's cornerstone in 1889. Completed in 1892, the Arch is 80 feet high and 80 feet wide. It has an aperture 50 feet high and a span of 35 feet.
 Designed in the style of a Roman triumphal arch, it has at its top the Victory Quadriga -- a rider and chariot with two heralds. Its sides are sculpted with groups of soldiers and sailors. Its inner faces are graced with Presidents Lincoln and Grant on horseback in high relief (the work of W. R. O'Donovan and Thomas Eakins).
The Plaza is dotted with statuettes. There's a figure of Major General Gouverneur Kemble Warren, who stopped a Confederate charge at Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Hidden among the trees is a statuette of General Henry Slocum. Pictured on horseback with sabre raised, Slocum was also credited with a maneuver that saved the Union Army at Gettysburg. He went on to become a prominent New Yorker.
For Revolutionary War aficionados, Prospect Park and Park Slope are of historical significance. On August 27, 1776, American soldiers took the field against a superior British force at Battle Pass, located within the boundaries of the park.
The Old Stone House, located on 4th Avenue, was always thought to be the burial ground for the Maryland regiment, credited with saving George Washington's army as they retreated. In a heated battle to hold the British, 250 men of the Maryland Regiment launched a counter attack on the British
holding the Cortelyou House, cutting the line of retreat to Brooklyn Heights through the Gowanus Salt Marsh. In six attacks on the house, all but 10 of the men were killed. Recent discoveries have led historians and archaelogists to now believe their grave is within Prospect Park. |
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