Prospect Park

In many ways, Prospect Park is Brooklyn's best kept secret. The park is another creation of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. They considered it a better work than their first collaboration, Central Park. The park is another example of an artificial landscape design. The park design took advantage of the natural topography of the Harbor Hill moraine (the terminal moraine of the Stage 2 - Wisconsin glacier). However, most of the original lay of the land has been altered to match the plans of the park designers. The park was completed after the Civil War. Olmstead and Vaux's plan was to reduce the amount of traffic and building within the park (which was their primary criticism of their other park). In this manner, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Grand Army Plaza Library are located beyond the park boundary.