Skating on the Ladies' Skating-Pond in the Central Park, New York

A chief factor in the rise of skating’s national popularity was the opening to skaters of Central Park’s lake, which was reportedly first used by some three hundred people on a December Sunday in 1858. The number ballooned to a staggering ten thousand by the following Sunday. The view depicted here was described in Harper’s Weekly: “The Ladies’ Pond is reserved for the fair sex, and no gentlemen are allowed to skate on it unless they are accompanied by ladies. It is kept in good order, and policemen on skates effectually repress all tendencies to rowdyism. . . . The scene . . . usually draws a large concourse of visitors.” The strong reportorial nature of this image reflects Homer’s aim to satisfy the intense public curiosity about Central Park.