Ice-skating has been popular in New York City since at least the seventeenth century, when the Dutch laced up on the frozen ponds of New Amsterdam. And the father of modern figure skating, Jackson Haines, was a native New Yorker, born in 1840. There are plenty of ice rinks in the five boroughs, but only the seventeen-thousand-square-foot Rink at Bryant Park (pictured) is free. Whether you rent skates there or bring your own blades, masks are required, as are timed-entry tickets (available via bryantpark.org).
Ice-Skating Returns to Bryant Park
There are plenty of ice rinks in the five boroughs, but only the seventeen-thousand-square-foot Rink at Bryant Park is free.
Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel for The New Yorker
