A closer look
If you thought Central Park was just a beautiful, untouched slice of nature preserved by forward-thinking city planners, prepare for disappointment. It is a 100% artificially manicured facade. In the 1850s, designers displaced thousands of residents, imported millions of cubic yards of topsoil, and used more gunpowder to blast out the stubborn bedrock than was fired at the Battle of Gettysburg. The 'natural' oasis in the middle of Manhattan is quite literally a heavily explosive real estate vanity project.
