VIDEO TOUR: Explore Central Park's Shakespeare Garden on Its 100th Anniversary

Long before Joseph Papp started offering free performances of Shakespeare plays in New York's Central Park, the city dedicated a cultivated landscape of its urban oasis to the famed English poet and playwright.

Located near the rear of the Delacorte Theater, Central Park's Shakespeare Garden was dedicated in 1916, commemorating the 300th anniversary of The Bard's passing.

Designed to resemble the playwright's native English countryside, the garden features flowers and plants mentioned in Shakespeare's poems and plays, such as columbine, primrose, wormwood, quince, lark's heel, rue, eglantine, flax and cowslip. Small plaques feature quotes from Shakespearean works that reference the flowers.

Parks Department entomologist Dr. Edmond Bronk Southwick began work on the garden in 1913. He and the Shakespeare Society maintained it until 1929, after which it went through periods of neglect. The new Central Park Conservancy began a complete restoration in 1987, replanting and expanding the garden, repaving paths, installing rustic wooden benches and fences and adding bronze plaques with Shakespeare quotes.

It's a perfect sport for a theatre lover to spend some relaxing time on a spring or summer afternoon, as seen in the video tour presented by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Visit centralparknyc.org.

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