Sheep Meadow

Sheep Meadow is a fifteen-acre expanse of lawn defined by its history as a literal pasture. Between eighteen sixty-four and nineteen thirty-four, this field hosted a flock of up to two hundred Southdown and Dorset sheep. Architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux brought the animals here to reinforce the park’s pastoral, English-countryside aesthetic and to help keep the grass trimmed. A Victorian-style sheepfold was constructed nearby to house the flock, and twice each day, a shepherd would stop traffic on the West Drive to move the sheep back and forth between the meadow and their barn.