Bethesda Fountain is one of the most well-known and most-photographed locations in Central Park. 

The statue in the center of Bethesda Fountain is called Angel of the Waters, and was created by a female sculptor named Emma Stebbins in the late 1860s.  Ms. Stebbins was the first woman to be hired for a public art commission in the United States.   

It is also the only statue to be included in the original design plans for Central Park.    

Angel of the Waters celebrates the opening of the Croton Aqueduct in 1842, which brought a reliable source of clean drinking water to New York City for the first time. The name Bethesda refers to a pool of water in Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament. 

The fountain has also been on screen on numerous occasions, including  Enchanted, Home Alone 2; Lost In New York, and the wedding scene in Gossip Girl. In the climactic scene Elf, Santa’s Sleigh actually bangs into Angel of the Waters.   

Come book a Central Park tour with us and see it for yourself.  There is not end of the list of things to see and do.