Sunbathers enjoy the first warm afternoon of spring on the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. The largest open meadow in the park before the Great Lawn was created in 1930, Sheep Meadow was also the most expensive—and disruptive—feature to be created when the park was built. Poor villagers were ejected and the rocky land was arduously leveled. For seventy years, it was home to a picturesque flock of sheep (people were mostly kept on the paths). The sheep were kicked out in 1934, and from then, through the 1970s, it was anything goes on the meadow—including memorable peace rallies and be-ins—until the park commissioners came to their senses and restored a measure of control to the fragile patch of green.