Tales from The Social Club: Chillin' with Cheery Cherry Blossoms in Colorful Central Park
- Shane Holmes
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Meeting Location Start: Lenwich, 302 Columbus Ave., New York, NY 10023
Meeting Location End: East Side of Central Park at East 72nd St. and 5th Ave.
Website Link(s): lenwich.com, and centralparknyc.org/cherry-blossoms
For this event, we got to see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom in Central Park. I was looking forward to seeing the trees as it was my first experience doing so. People are drawn to observe the cherry blossom trees each spring because of the pure beauty of the flowers in full bloom and the awe inspiring experience of being in nature. Before meeting, we grabbed a bite to eat at Lenwich, an eatery known for their sandwiches.
The interior of Lenwich also consisted of a low number of people the day we visited.
This was one of the warmest days of the year so far as the air conditioner was running inside the restaurant. The place was cold so I politely asked them to turn the AC down which they did. While waiting for Juliette, our group leader, to arrive, I had a conversation with another member and it turned out we both attended the same anti-Trump protest march on Saturday, April 5 (although we did not attend together).
Two The Social Club (TSC) members are shown in the picture below.
After that, we all ordered food. I had a smoked ham and turkey sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of seltzer. We then discussed where we would go in Central Park to see the cherry blossoms. We chose a route where we knew the trees would be in full bloom because Juliette saw them on her way to the meeting. We referenced a website with information on cherry blossom locations and decided to go to Cherry Hill and Pilgrim Hill. The site had information on whether the cherry blossoms were in bloom or not. However, we found this information inaccurate as both Cherry Hill and Pilgrim hill were in bloom in spite of the website stating they were in post-bloom.
Our first stop was Cherry Hill (adjacent to The Lake which is not shown in this image).
Below is a view of cherry blossom trees with The Lake in the background.
Below is a picture of myself and some other TSC members near The Lake and Bethesda Terrace.
We then proceeded to go to Pilgrim Hill. I am shown in the picture below.
After Pilgrim Hill, all the group members and Juliette proceeded to go home. I decided to go further into Central Park on my own. I took a picture of a few cherry blossom trees shown below.
Seeing the cherry blossom trees was a cheerful experience because I enjoyed seeing the vibrant colors of the flowers in full bloom. I can understand why people look forward to seeing this natural display each spring. I encourage you to check out the display next year. The trees blossom in the spring and the timing is dependent on the location, the weather, and the type of tree. For NYC, peak bloom generally occurs sometime in April or May although the exact timing is difficult to predict. You can find more information about the blossom timing by checking out the following New York Times article titled "How to Find New York City’s Cherry Blossoms."
