Brooklyn · Kings County
Prospect Park Ravine
NYC Parks
- Location
- Center of Prospect Park, accessible from Nethermead or Midwood
- Size
- Part of Prospect Park (526 acres) acres
- Hours
- Prospect Park hours
- Type
- NYC Parks
The Ravine is the wildest and most naturalistic landscape in Prospect Park, a deeply wooded gorge with cascading waterfalls, a tumbling stream, and dense forest that Olmsted and Vaux designed to evoke the Adirondack wilderness in the heart of Brooklyn.
The Ravine contains the Midwood, Brooklyn's only old-growth forest, a remnant of the native woodland that once covered the borough and now recognized as part of the national Old-Growth Forest Network.
The Ambergill Falls, a cascading waterfall within the Ravine, is one of the most surprising natural features in any New York City park. Visitors who discover the falls for the first time often cannot believe they are in Brooklyn rather than upstate New York.
The Prospect Park Alliance has invested heavily in restoring the Ravine, removing invasive species, replanting native trees and understory plants, and improving the stream flow to support aquatic life. The restoration has returned the Ravine to something approaching Olmsted's original vision.
The Ravine is the secret heart of Prospect Park, a landscape so wild and convincing that visitors standing beside the waterfall, surrounded by mature forest, can briefly forget that millions of people live just beyond the trees.