Central Park
Watercourses

Central Park is home to numerous bodies of water. The northernmost lake, Harlem Meer, is near the northeastern corner of the park and covers nearly 11 acres (4.5 ha). Located in a wooded area of oak, cypress, and beech trees, it was named after Harlem, one of Manhattan's first suburban communities, and was built after the completion of the southern portion of the park. Harlem Meer allows catch and release fishing. It is fed by two interconnected water features: the Pool, a pond within the North Woods fed by drinking water, and the Loch, a small stream with three cascades that winds through the North Woods. These are all adapted from a single watercourse called Montayne's Rivulet, originally fed from a natural spring but later replenished by the city's water system. Lasker Rink is above the mouth of the Loch where it drains into the Harlem Meer.

South of Harlem Meer and the Pool is Central Park's largest lake, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, known as the Central Park Reservoir before 1994. It was constructed between 1858 and 1862. Covering an area of 106 acres (43 ha) between 86th and 96th streets, the reservoir reaches a depth of more than 40 feet (12 m) in places and contains about 1 billion U.S. gallons (3.8 billion liters) of water. The Onassis Reservoir was created as a new, landscaped storage reservoir to the north of the Croton Aqueduct 's rectangular receiving reservoir. Because of the Onassis Reservoir's shape, East Drive was built as a straight path, with little clearance between the reservoir to the west and Fifth Avenue to the east. It was decommissioned in 1993 and renamed after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis the following year, after her death.

The Turtle Pond is at the southern edge of the Great Lawn. The pond was originally part of the Croton receiving reservoir. The receiving reservoir was drained starting in 1930, and the dry reservoir bed was temporarily used as a homeless encampment when filling stopped during the Great Depression. The Great Lawn was completed in 1937 on the site of the reservoir. Until 1987, it was known as Belvedere Lake, after the castle at its southwestern corner.

The Lake, south of the 79th Street transverse, covers nearly 18 acres (7.3 ha). Originally, it was part of the Sawkill Creek, which flowed near the American Museum of Natural History. The Lake was among the first features to be completed, opening to skaters in December 1858. It was intended to accommodate boats in the summer and ice skaters in winter. The Loeb Boathouse, on the eastern shore of the Lake, rents out rowboats, kayaks, and gondolas, and houses a restaurant. The Lake is spanned by Bow Bridge at its center, and its northern inlet, Bank Rock Bay, is spanned by the Bank Rock or Oak Bridge. Ladies' Pond, spanned by two bridges on the western end of the Lake, was infilled in the 1930s.

Directly east of the Lake is Conservatory Water, on the site of an unbuilt formal garden. The shore of Conservatory Water contains the Kerbs Memorial Boathouse, where patrons can rent and navigate model boats.

In the park's southeast corner is the Pond, with an area of 3.5 acres (1.4 ha). The Pond was adapted from part of the former DeVoor's Mill Stream, which used to flow into the East River at the modern-day neighborhood of Turtle Bay. The western section of the Pond was converted into Wollman Rink in 1950.
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