The Mall & Literary Walk, Central Park – The Park’s Grand Elm-Lined Promenade
Almost everything in Central Park curves. Paths wander, lawns roll, and the whole landscape was designed to feel wild and natural. The Mall is the one deliberate exception — a single, perfectly straight, quarter-mile promenade lined with towering elms. Walk or roll down it and you understand instantly why it has been the park’s social heart for more than a century.
🌳 A cathedral of American elms
The Mall is famous for its four rows of American elms, their branches arching overhead to form a long, green, cathedral-like canopy. It is one of the largest and last remaining stands of mature American elms in North America — a rare survivor of a species largely wiped out elsewhere by disease. In summer the tunnel of leaves is deep green; in autumn it turns to gold; in winter the bare branches lace together against the sky.
📖 Literary Walk and its statues
The southern end of The Mall is known as Literary Walk, lined with bronze statues of celebrated writers — among them William Shakespeare, Scotland’s Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, and the American poet Fitz-Greene Halleck. Strolling past them beneath the elms is like walking through an open-air hall of fame set in a forest.
🚶 Designed to see and be seen
When the park’s designers laid out The Mall, they intended it as a grand promenade — a place where New Yorkers of every background could stroll, gather and mingle. That spirit lives on today in the buskers, street performers and roller skaters who fill it on any warm afternoon. It leads north straight to the top of Bethesda Terrace, one of the great reveals in the whole park.
🚲 The easiest way to see The Mall
The Mall runs mid-park between roughly 66th and 72nd Streets. On a pedicab you glide right down the promenade beneath the elms, hear the stories of the statues as you pass, and continue straight on to Bethesda Terrace and the Lake — no long walk required.
✔ Roll down The Mall on the 1-hour Central Park pedicab tour from $30
✔ See all tour lengths on the Central Park pedicab tour page
✔ Ready to go? Book your ride here
📸 Best time to visit
🌅 Early morning — the promenade is quiet and the light filters beautifully through the elms
🍂 Autumn — the canopy turns gold overhead
🎷 Weekend afternoons — performers and musicians bring the walk to life
🗺️ What’s nearby
The Mall flows straight into the park’s most famous stretch, so it pairs perfectly with:
⛲ Bethesda Terrace & Fountain — right at the northern end of The Mall
🌉 Bow Bridge — just beyond the terrace, across the Lake
🏰 Belvedere Castle — the park’s great lookout, a short ride north
❓ Frequently asked questions
Where is The Mall in Central Park?
Mid-park, running roughly from 66th to 72nd Street, ending at the top of Bethesda Terrace.
What is Literary Walk?
The southern section of The Mall, lined with statues of famous writers such as Shakespeare, Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
Why are the elms on The Mall special?
They form one of the largest surviving stands of American elms in North America, creating a rare, cathedral-like canopy.
What is the easiest way to see it?
A private pedicab tour takes you down the promenade and on to the surrounding landmarks. Rides start at $30.
Grand, green and unmistakably elegant, The Mall is the closest Central Park comes to a red carpet — and gliding down it by pedicab, beneath the elms and past the poets, is the perfect way to experience it. Book a Central Park pedicab tour from $30.