This section of Central Park, near the Dakota Apartments on Central Park West, where Lennon was living when he was killed, was dedicated as a memorial to singer, songwriter, and activist a few years after he died. Today, the site is popular with Beatles fans and is often filled with visitors paying tribute to the artist and buskers singing his songs.
The park was designed by Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, the landscape architect Bruce Kelly, and Central Park Conservancy, and is named for Lennon’s song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The center of the park is marked by a mosaic of the word “Imagine,” the name of Lennon’s best-selling solo single, which meditates on the possibilities of global peace. The plant life and rocks in the garden were donated by 120 countries that recognize the garden as a place of peace.