The Sheep Meadow

"The Sheep Meadow" - acrylic on canvas - 16" x 20"

The Sheep Meadow was created in an area of Central Park originally intended for Military Displays. After the area was created , Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, the designers of Central Park, decided that a flock of sheep would enhance the "romantic English quality" of the park. 200 sheep were introduced in 1864 and were housed in a a fanciful Victorian building or "Sheepfold" created by Jacob Wrey Mould. The animals served a practical purpose as well: they trimmed the grass and fertilized the lawn. A sheep crossing was built across Central Drive in 1870, and twice a day a shepherd drove the animals from their home (later becoming "The Tavern on the Green") to the meadow and back again.

Sheep grazed the meadows until 1934, when the city's park commission moved them to the Catskills. There was fear for the safety of the sheep, in that there were concerns that many out-of-work men and women who had moved into a "Hoovertown" in Central Park would turn the sheep into lunch or dinner.

In recent times, the Sheep Meadow has held many upscale events of unprecedented scale. In the '60s, Vietnam Protests were held there along with hippie "love ins". Barbra Streisand performed in front of 136,000 people in 1967. Disney premiered the animated film Pocahontas there in 2008. And annually, New Yorkers gather in the "Meadow" for the July 4th Fireworks.