The Burnett Memorial Fountain, dedicated to the author
Frances Hodgson Burnett, was placed in the Conservatory Garden
when it reopened in 1936, a donation by the ad-hoc
Children's Garden Building Committee. It was designed and
created by Bessie Potter Vonnoh between 1926 and 1936.
When Frances Hodgson Burnett died in 1924, some of her friends
wanted to honor her memory, by creating a storytelling area in
Central Park. They chose the Conservatory Garden as the site for
the memorial, and it is believed that the two figures, a
reclining boy playing the flute and the young girl holding the bowl
represent Mary and Dickon, the main characters from The Secret Garden.
The precise location of the memorial is in the Conservatory Garden,
south garden, 104th Street and Fifth Avenue.