Formerly known as Garden of the Heart, this four-acre oasis was renamed in 1916, to mark the 300th anniversary of The Bard’s death.
Central Park’s Shakespeare Garden is full of plants and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays, as well as those found in his private garden in Stratford-upon-Avon, themselves all mentioned in classical medical texts or medieval herbal manuals.
The Central Park Garden also used to feature a mulberry tree, rumoured to have been grafted from one planted by Shakespeare himself in 1602. Sadly a summer storm in 2006 huffed, puffed and blew the mulberry tree down and it had to be removed.
In keeping with similar Shakespeare Gardens around the world, Central Park’s site is dotted with bronze plaques featuring quotations from the playwright’s famous works, and wooden benches to encourage visitors to rest and soak up the atmosphere.
Not far from the Garden in Central Park is the open-air Delacorte Theatre, which seats 1,800 people and has showcased the free New York Shakespeare Festival since 1962.
