Central Park was a work in progress when Winslow Homer produced this richly detailed scene in 1860. But that didn't stop New York's fashionable set from coming out to the park in stylish carriages to see and be seen in a daily ritual known as the "carriage parade."

Every afternoon between 4-5 p.m., the east side carriage drive from 59th Street to the Mall came alive, explained Lloyd Morris in Incredible New York. "In the continuous procession of equipages you saw everyone who counted: the aristocracy, the new smart set, the parvenus, the celebrities, the deplorably notorious."

Perhaps Homer isn't capturing just the carriage parade but the various ways Gotham's wealthy and their horses used new park. Take the woman in the foreground, for example. Thanks to the carriage drive, riding was now socially acceptable for ladies, according to Morris.

"The fashionable hour for equestriennes was before breakfast," he wrote. "You could see them elegantly togged out in silk hat draped with a flying veil, tight buttoned bodice and flowing skirts....A lady riding alone was invariably attended by a liveried groom or a riding master."

Men in positions of power indulged in the trotting fad, riding expensive fast horses to Harlem Lane and back to the park. "When General Grant visited the city at the end of the Civil War, one of his first requests was to be taken out to Harlem Lane," stated Morris. "He shared New York's passion for trotters, and agreed that 'the road' of a late afternoon was one of the most thrilling sights in the country."

[Lithograph: up for auction at Invaluable]