Sheep Meadow View
A 15-acre quiet zone lawn where New Yorkers have been coming to spread out since 1864.
Open: Daily from 11:00 AM, conditions permitting. Closed during the winter season. Location: MAP | West side, 66th to 69th Streets
Once known as the Commons, Sheep Meadow is a 15-acre open lawn on the west side of the park. Over the decades it has drawn hundreds of thousands of people at a time for concerts, protests, and gatherings that shaped the city. Today it's one of Central Park's eight designated quiet zones, which means no music without headphones and no dogs, and on a crowded weekend that makes a real difference.
It's open daily from May through mid-October, weather permitting, and it draws a consistent mix of sunbathers, picnickers, kite fliers, and people who just want to spread out a blanket with no particular agenda.
Things to Do
The meadow works well as a destination on its own or as an anchor for a longer afternoon. Frisbee and kite flying are both common on the lawn, and the surrounding paths connect directly to the Mall, the Lake, and the Ramble if you want to keep moving.
Yoga classes run here regularly throughout the summer, which makes Sheep Meadow a natural starting point if you want to build a morning around the park. If you're eating outside, you have two good options: Le Pain Quotidien sits just north of the meadow at the old Mineral Springs site, with a 100-seat terrace and a takeout window, and it's open daily from 7:30 AM to dusk. Or if you'd rather bring your own spread, browse picnic options and have everything set up when you arrive.
Quiet Zone Rules
Sheep Meadow is one of eight designated quiet zones in Central Park. Music is not permitted unless you're using headphones, and dogs are not allowed on the lawn.
History
Sheep Meadow was originally designed as a parade ground when Central Park was planned in the 1850s, but Olmsted and Vaux opposed military use of the space. In 1864, 200 Southdown sheep were brought in to graze on the land instead, housed in a Victorian-style sheepfold that now stands as Tavern on the Green. The sheep were moved out in 1934 when Parks Commissioner Robert Moses converted the sheepfold into a restaurant.
Over the following decades, Sheep Meadow became one of the city's most significant gathering places. The 1960s and '70s brought Vietnam War protests, love-ins and be-ins, and crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands, including a large gathering to watch the 1969 moon landing. The heavy use took a serious toll on the lawn, and in July 1979 James Taylor held a free benefit concert here, drawing 250,000 people, to help raise funds for its restoration. The meadow was restored by the Central Park Conservancy and reopened in September 1980.