Boulder Bridge, date unknown. Built in the late 1800s to replace a previous wooden bridge, Boulder Bridge uses as its only material local glacial boulders left behind after the Wisconsin Ice Sheet retreated. The bridge straddles the park's bridle path.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, unknown date.

This Italianate mansion, located just inside the entrance at Prospect Park West and 5th Street, was built for Edwin C. Litchfield between 1855 and 1857. A prominent Brooklyn real estate developer and landowner in present-day Park Slope, Litchfield was responsible for the expansion of the Gowanus Canal from a tidal creek into a shipping channel

John Howard Payne Memorial Bust, ca. 1968. Here once stood a statue of John Howard Payne, an American actor and playwright of the mid-19th century. The statue was installed here in 1873 and remained until 1974, when it was relocated to the Home Sweet Home Museum in East Hampton, New York. The Home Sweet Home was Payne's childhood house, now a museum dedicated to the playwright. The name of the museum comes from a popular song written for one of his plays. Payne was born in 1791. He wrote his first play as a teenager, and attended Union College for a time. He left school to begin earning a living. He had his first staring role at the age of 18 and the play was a major success. Payne performed in London, Paris, and New York. Later in life, he became an advocate for Native American rights and served as the American Consul in Tunisia.

Girls celebrate May Day in Prospect Park's Long Meadow, May 1, 1919.

Prospect Park's Long Meadow stretches nearly a mile along the west side of the park. The area is decidedly flat, meant in design to serve as a buffer between the neighborhood west of the park and the park's wilderness-like interior. Olmsted sought to enact a pastoral quality in this portion of the park. Serving fully to meet this need was a resident flock of sheep. They provided entertainment for children, cropped, and fertilized the meadow's lawn, all while invoking the image of a serene and rustic landscape.

Nethermead Arch in Prospect Park, ca. 1890. The Nethermead Arch, also known as Three Arch Bridge, is located at the exact center of Prospect Park. Conceived by park architect Calvert Vaux and completed by 1871, it was designed to give way to five different circulation routes, making it distinct from every other bridge and underpass in the park. It is also the only bridge in Prospect Park that covers a park path, bridle path, and waterway. The name Nethermead Arch derives from two Old English words: nether, which means below below, and mead, which refers to meadow.

“The corner of Prospect Park West and 9th Street at the entrance to Prospect Park. Two women with a baby carriage are visible to the right and a mailbox and an apartment builidng \[sic] are visible to the left. Ca. 1915." The building at left is no. 138 Prospect Park West. Streetcar tracks turning left at 9th street are part of the Smith Street Line, between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Ninth Avenue Depot at Prospect Park Southwest.

Long Meadow, ca. 1900.

The Tennis House, Prospect Park, unknown date. Built by Helmle, Huberty and Hudswell — the same architects who constructed the Prospect Park Boathouse — the Tennis House was constructed in 1910 to provide lawn-sport players with lockers and shelter. While it still stands today on Long Meadow’s west side, it no longer serves the same purpose, having been converted for Park Landscape management.

Lafayette Memorial, unknown date. Marshal Joseph Joeffre of the French War Commission unveils the memorial to the Marquis de Lafayette; May 10, 1917. Daniel Chester French's bronze sculpture, a gift of Henry Harteau, depicts Lafayette, his groom James Armistead Lafayette, and his horse. The memorial's carved dedication omits James Armistead Lafayette, an African American born into slavery in Virginia who later served the Continental Army as a spy during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Lafayette, a staunch abolitionist, interceded to secure Armistead's freedom. In a gesture of appreciation, Armistead adopted the surname Lafayette as a free man.

Ambergill Falls, Prospect Park, unknown date.

The Dairy in Prospect Park, unknown date. Designed in 1869 by Calvert Vaux and completed by 1870, this stone cottage, known as the Dairy, once stood just north of Boulder Bridge in Prospect Park’s Midwood. It became a main attraction to 19th century picnickers as it offered park-goers a reliable alternative to the vile milk that was then being produced by Brooklyn’s diseased cows. In the summer of 1871, over 11,000 quarts of milk were produced at the Dairy alone. Cold beef, ham and tongue sandwiches and pickled oysters were also sold inside the cottage. The Dairy's interior included "retiring rooms" for people to relax and recharge next to a fireplace. The Dairy was razed in 1935 to make way for the zoo. Since then, picnickers in the park have shifted across the lawn to Long Meadow.

The Ford Bridge, ca 1907. The Ford Bridge was a wooden crossing in the southeast corner of Prospect Lake that connected the lake's cove to a rustic shelter. Acting as an extension of the park’s bridle path, it made it easy for horses to dip their hooves in the water. By 1916, the bridge and its cove were demolished. The shelter and bridge area is now a public barbecue area.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, ca. 1913.

Family Picnic A family enjoys a picnic, in the shade, on the grass.

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, ca. 1913. Long Meadow was originally called "The Green" when Olmsted and Vaux first developed Prospect Park. The nearly one-mile long stretch of open green space was Prospect Park's main site for lawn tennis and croquet.

Litchfield Villa, unknown date. This stucco mansion, located just inside the entrance at Prospect Park West and 5th Street, was built for Edwin C. Litchfield between 1855 and 1857. A prominent Brooklyn real estate developer and landowner in present-day Park Slope, Litchfield was responsible for the expansion of the Gowanus Canal from a tidal creek into a shipping channel. In 1855, Litchfield hired acclaimed architect Alexander Jackson Davis to construct an Italianate estate for his family. In addition to the hilltop mansion, Davis also built a coach house, greenhouse, and chicken house (none of which remain today). When completed in 1857, the structure was named Grace Hill, after Edwin's wife Grace Hill Hubbard Litchfield. In 1869, the Litchfields reluctantly ceded their home and its grounds to the City of Brooklyn, but were granted permission to lease the property until 1883. Those 50 acres of Litchfield land now constitute over five percent of the park's present acreage. In 1882, Litchfield's Brooklyn Improvement Company — the firm that oversaw the Gowanus Canal project — moved into the former NY & LI Coignet Stone Company building at Third Avenue and 3rd Street (adjacent to the present-day Whole Foods). In 1883, a year after Grace Litchfield's death, Edwin Litchfield moved abroad and his villa was passed on to the City Park Commissioners. The Litchfield Villa, as it is now known, is now the Brooklyn borough headquarters of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and also the home of the Prospect Park Alliance.

Music Pagoda Bridge, unknown date. The Music Pagoda, built in 1997, is one of the earliest surviving structures in Prospect Park that was not constructed under the direction of park architects Olmsted and Vaux. The wooden covering was damaged by fire in 1967, but a new structure shortly after was erected to closely match the original design. The Music Pagoda was the premiere location for music in the Park until the Prospect Park Bandshell was built on the west side in the 1939 and later renovated in 1983. Since the '70s, the Music Pagoda has gone largely without use, although it does hold occasional, small musical performances.

Upper and Lower Pool, Prospect Park, unknown date. The Upper and Lower Pools are historic waterways in Prospect Park which serve as conduits for the stream that eventually (and much human engineering intervention) empties into the Prospect Park Lake. The pools here are marshy, and feature a variety of water plants. The area is a popular resting spot for migratory birds. Despite the prevalence of fowl (real as well as man-made and giant on a pleasure craft), the shore of the Upper Pool is better well-known for four-legged visitors. A small sandy portion of the shore has long been Dog Beach, where dogs are allowed to swim in the waters.

Litchfield Villa ARCHITECT: A.J. Davis DATE: 1856 STYLE: Italianate This romantic mansion commanding a small hill in Prospect Park is one of the finest “Italian Villa” style houses in the country. Unique in plan, the two irregular shaped towers and a tall slender turret are all attached to the main building and combine to form a picturesque architectural composition. One of the unusual features of this mansion is to be found in tops of the columns of the colonnade in which the Classical decorations are replaced by our native plants, corn and wheat.