While most of this series has focused on some of New York's interior spaces as we've been stuck in our apartments, we thought for this one we'd try something different. So we've turned our gaze to some of the best places for New Yorkers to escape to: the parks of New York! Specifically, how three of New York's most iconic parks connect.

Arbor Water, a glacial pond formerly located near the entrance of The Green-Wood Cemetery, ca. 1870. Arbor water was one of several glacial ponds on the land that would become Green-Wood. It was filled in in 1911 to make space for Green-Wood's Historic Chapel, designed by architects Warren & Wetmore and completed in 1912. As seen in this photo, rowboats were once available for cemetery visitors to take out on the water.

Founded in 1838 and now a National Historic Landmark, Green-Wood was one of the first rural cemeteries in America. By the early 1860s, it had earned an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the prestigious place to be buried, attracting 500,000 visitors a year, second only to Niagara Falls as the nation’s greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked there to enjoy family outings, carriage rides, and sculpture viewing in the finest of first generation American landscapes. Green-Wood’s popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City’s Central and Prospect Parks. This tour takes you through some of the monuments of Green-Wood and its famous denizens.

The trail that emerged from a densely wooded area and led through a Canarsie settlement was known as Mechawanienk which meant “ancient pathway.” It ultimately defined one of the main thoroughfares in the town of Flatbush and became known as The King’s Highway.