QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, January 27, 2022 Page 28
PARKS IN QUEENS
2022
Plenty of choice space for your
Queens is blessed with dozens of parks large and small, for everything from taking a leisurely stroll to seeking out wildlife to playing organized sports. Here are brief rundowns on some of the biggest and best, as described by the City of New York and, in the case of Jamaica Bay, the National Park Service. ALLEY POND PARK 69-70 230 St., Oakland Gardens Alley Pond Park has all the amenities you’d expect from a neighborhood park — playgrounds, barbecue areas and courts and fields galore! It also offers glimpses into New York’s geologic past, its Colonial history and its current conservation efforts with numerous unique natural features, like its freshwater and saltwater wetlands, tidal flats, meadows and forests, which create a diverse ecosystem and support abundant bird life. It is home to New York City’s first public high ropes adventure course (the largest in the Northeast), part of the Urban Park Rangers’ larger Alley Pond Park Adventure program. A low-cost outdoor education and adventure program, Alley Pond Park Adventure teaches participants how to canoe, use a compass, fish and enjoy a natural setting without leaving the city.
ASTORIA PARK 24-02 19 St., Long Island City
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Widely known for its beautiful pool, the oldest and largest in the city, Astoria Park offers more than aquatic pleasures. Outdoor tennis courts, a track, a bandstand, multiple trails, basketball courts and playgrounds lure visitors from the five boroughs and beyond. And the views! Sitting on the edge of the East River and resting between the Triborough Bridge and Hell Gate Bridge, the park offers shoreline sights and sounds that make the benches along its perimeter popular spots year-round. The 56-acre park has been
expanded. Phase one rehabilitated the playground in the park’s southern section, the park fields and the drainage system. Phase two restored the comfort station and installed new play equipment, swings, drinking fountains and game tables. Phase three focused on restoration of the park’s northeast section and included repaving all the roads and walkways, rerouting pedestrian entrances, installing new benches and planting trees, shrubs and groundcover. The inviting setting of Astoria Park remains rich in history and symbolic of an ever-changing New York City.
BAISLEY POND PARK North Conduit and 116th avenues between 150th Street, Sutphin Boulevard and Baisley Boulevard South, Jamaica Baisley Pond Park is a great place to play tennis, handball, basketball and cricket, with spaces to run, bike and rollerblade. It offers playgrounds for your child’s enjoyment, peaceful, shady alcoves for picnicking and an urban natural habitat for your own study of plant and animal life. There’s a good chance you can find your niche at Baisley Park.
BOWNE PARK 155-01 32 Ave., Flushing Bowne Park offers recreation for all age groups. It boasts a bocce court surrounded by benches and tables, modern playground equipment, slides, swings, a spray shower and basketball courts.
Forest Park in Woodhaven and Glendale.
The parkhouse, crowned by a weather vane, includes a community room that doubles as a nursery. Beautiful bench-lined walkways provide space for relaxing. The park features a pond that is home to families of turtles. A cement turtle, set atop the rolling hills overlooking the pond, stands guard above his more lively counterparts as they navigate the waters below. Two weeping willows, measuring nearly 50 feet in height, stand adjacent to the pond. In addition, American elms and oaks shade the park during the summer months with their wide canopies. The John Bowne homestead, located at 37-01 Bowne St., lies south of the park and remains the oldest private residence in the borough.
BROOKVILLE PARK 232-236 Edgewood Ave., Rosedale Brookville Park offers playgrounds with spray showers, barbecuing areas, baseball fields, bicycling, bocce courts, handball courts and tennis courts.
CROCHERON PARK 214 Place, Cross Island Parkway 35th Avenue, Bayside Crocheron Park has picnic grounds, winding walks, an enlarged lake for wintertime skating and thousands of trees. Some of the species found in the park are northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), American elm (Ulmus americana), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), red oak (Quercus rubra), Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergiana), London planetree (Platanus x acerifolia) and weeping willow (Salix alba ‘Tristis’). There are also a dozen tennis courts, a baseball diamond and a field house. Visitors can also take in the views of Little Neck Bay from either of the hexagonal gazebos that stand on the bluff. The park undertook a major renovation of Golden Park in 1973, when the goldfish pond was restored and a tennis house, tennis courts, playground and six baseball fields were built. Together, Golden Park and Crocheron Park provide the neighborhood with a large area for recreation.
Little Bay Park, with a view of the Throgs Neck Bridge. CUNNINGHAM PARK 196-10 Union Tpke.,Fresh Meadows The rolling terrain of Cunningham Park was carved out by glaciers nearly 20,000 years ago. Today it provides a tree-lined path for walkers, joggers and bicycle riders, tennis courts, playgrounds, stables, bridle paths, playing fields, picnic groves and parking lots. Cunningham Park is a treasured neighborhood resource that features diverse recreational facilities and an extensive calendar of special events. Annual events include appearances by the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.
ELMHURST PARK Grand and 57th avenues between 74th and 80th streets, Elmhurst Elmhurst Park features lush lawns, jogging paths, seating, sculpture, modern comfort stations, safety lighting and more than 620 trees. The playground, designed for tots and young children, is energy-themed, in keeping with the site’s history. At the playground children can pedal a stationary bike to provide a light effect on a nearby column. The new Vietnam Veterans Memorial opened late last year.
FLUSHING MEADOWS CORONA PARK Grand Central Parkway, Whitestone Expressway between 111th Street and College Point Boulevard, Park Drive East The site of two 20th-century World’s Fairs attended by millions of people, Flushing Meadows Corona Park continues to draw and delight countless visitors. As the largest park in Queens, it offers plenty of
space for whatever your recreational desires may be — baseball, soccer, tennis or cricket. And much more is available, including a stunning recreation complex, a zoo, an art museum, a botanical garden, a science museum and a baseball stadium. Explore one of the park’s six playgrounds, take a stroll along the Flushing Bay Promenade, rent a paddleboat to go out on Meadow Lake or launch your model airplane. Flushing Meadows Corona Park has room for all your active pursuits!
FOREST PARK 83-98 Forest Pkwy., Glendale Forest Park is one of the natural treasures of New York City. Within Forest Park is the Overlook, the administration building for Queens Parks, and Oak Ridge, the former golf course clubhouse and current administration building for Forest Park. Forest Park also offers a wide array of recreational facilities, such as the George Seuffert Sr. Bandshell, the carousel, the bridle path, tennis courts, playgrounds and Victory Field. Annual events include the Halloween Walk, the Victorian Christmas, Nature Trails Day, orienteering and battle re-enactments, which draw the participation of the surrounding neighborhoods of Kew Gardens, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Forest Hills and Glendale. Forest Park is the third-largest park in Queens and contains the largest continuous oak forest in Queens and a 110-acre golf course.
FORT TOTTEN PARK 422 Weaver Ave, Bayside A pristine stretch surrounding a preserved Civil War fortress, Fort
