Central Park’s Lamp Posts Hold A Century-Old Code For Lost Travellers
Grab your detective hat folks, because we’re off to solve a mystery in New York City. There’s a secret code hidden in New York’s famous Central Park, and it’s (literally) lit the path for lost travellers for a century.
New York’s grand Central Park is enchanting and expansive, meaning that it’s perfect for a stroll but disastrous if you prefer to know where you are at all times. As such, each of the 1600 lampposts dotting the paths are imprinted with a navigational code. There was no Google Maps in the early 1900s, after all.
The navigational code is made up of four numbers that indicate the nearest street and the direction it’s in. The first two numbers are the street name, and the second two will say whether it’s east (even numbers) or west (odd numbers). For example, 8205 means that the nearest street is 82nd and you can reach it if you head west. Cool, huh?
So, next time you get swept up in the park’s magic and you don’t know which way to go, let the lampposts light the way.
Oh, New York, New York. Full of surprises and delights.
(Lead image: Shinya Suzuki/Flickr CC)
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