Forest Park in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, is one of the largest urban, municipal parks in the United States, covering of land overlooking the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

. Forest Park features a zoo, aquatic gardens, and outdoor amphitheater, in addition to design elements like winding wooded trails, and surprising, expansive views. The site of America's first public, municipal

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

, currently, during the holiday months Forest Park hosts a popular high-tech lighting display, known as ''Bright Nights''. Contrary to popular belief, the park was not designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

History

In 1884, Springfielder Orick H. Greenleaf offered for the establishment of a park to be named Forest Park. Shortly after, approximately were donated by wealthy philanthropist Everett Hosmer Barney. Barney made his fortune as a Civil War arms producer and later as a businessman, inventing clamp-on ice skates and

rollerskates Roller skates, are shoes or bindings that fit onto shoes that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad ska ...

In 1890 Barney built an elaborate, turreted -story Victorian mansion on a hill at the west end of his estate, which featured a spectacular view of the

and Metro Center Springfield. The mansion's elaborate carriage house still stands, today serving as a restaurant and banquet hall in Forest Park. To create the parcel of land on which Forest Park was built, Greenleaf and Barney convinced several of their wealthy friends and neighbors to donate much of the remaining land that would ultimately make-up the 735-acre Forest Park. They both became members of the Board of Park Commissioners, which also listed John Olmsted (resigned on March 1, 1886). At the time, much of this land was located in the neighboring suburb of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, (which had separated from Springfield nearly a century before the construction of Forest Park.) Ultimately, Longmeadow ceded complete control of Forest Park to the City of Springfield. In October 2017, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced that the state would assume the $3 million costs to repair a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

at the main entrance of the park.

Interstate 91

The Barney Mansion was used for Forest Park events until the mid-1950s, when about of the park, including of the former Barney estate, were taken to construct the Springfield/Longmeadow sections of Interstate 91. Barney's house stood atop the hill at the northwest corner of the park, and the highway construction may have threatened its foundations; anticipating that, it was razed. Ultimately, the construction of I-91 severed the Forest Park's connection to the

. The Barney Mansion's stained glass windows were moved to a house in Palmer, Massachusetts where the demolition contractor lived at the time. The mausoleum of Barney's son and a carriage house still survive from the estate, along with many remnants of an extensive arboretum and water gardens planted by Barney around 1900. The developer of the

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

neighborhoo

continued this theme by planting many specimen trees, especially around Magnolia Terrace. This historic neighborhood with many fine examples of Victorian houses abuts the park on the north, while a small enclave of Springfield's stately brick colonial homes and the town of Longmeadow, Massachusetts borders the park to the south.

Attractions

Among the Forest Park's notable year-round attractions are the Forest Park Zoo, which features large cats, monkeys, birds, and a number of other "exotic and indigenous animals"; several playgrounds; Porter Lake; an ice hockey and ice-skating rink, Cyr Arena; several baseball diamonds and a grandstand; a rose garden; a bocce court; a lawn bowling court; basketball and tennis courts; an aquatic garden (in the Asian style); numerous promenades; a

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

court; several wooded groves; picnic areas; America's first public swimming pool (1899); ponds with various waterfowl; an exhibit of ancient dinosaur tracks, and an eternal flame that burns 24 hours a day honoring President John F. Kennedy. The ruggedly contoured valley of Pecousic Brook occupies more than half of the south side of the Forest Park. This area has been left largely Naturalist in style, although it features many walking trails and a few elegant bridges. This network of trails includes the Meadowbrook Ravine Trail, accessible near Barney Pond, and is a wide, well-traveled path with outlets to the Forest Park neighborhood of Springfield. For a map of the trails, visi
ForestParkMap
The park is also home to many species of birds and wildlife. The statue at the Route 5 entrance to Forest Park was created by

Peter Wolf Toth Peter Wolf Toth (born December 1947) is a Hungarian-born American sculptor, who immigrated to the United States and settled in Akron, Ohio. He later studied art at the University of Akron. He created a series of sculptures called ''Trail of t ...

and is part of the ''Trail of the Whispering Giants''. The statue represents Omiskanoagwiak. A statue of a golden retriever, ''Stone Dog II'', currently stands between the park's largest playground and the zoo. The statue is a near replica of an older statue (known by Springfield natives and park patrons as ''

Stone Dog ''Stone Dog II'' is a granite statue of a golden retriever posed standing guard in front of the Zoo at Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts. This 2013 statue, crafted by Getty Granite in Connecticut, replaced the original ''Stone Dog'' wh ...

''), which went missing from the park in 1987. The original ''Stone Dog'' dates back to the late 19th century. Since 1970, the Environmental Center for Our Schools (or ECOS, as it is commonly called) takes all Springfield public school students in grades four through seven on a two-day environmental learning outing in Forest Park. The headquarters of this organization is located in Forest Park.Environmental Center for Our Schools: Introduction to ECOS for Parents
Emfoley.com (2008-09-02). Retrieved on 2013-08-02.

Camp STAR

During Summer, Camp STAR/Angelina is an inclusive camp for children of all abilities, ages 3 to 22 years old. Some of the special needs populations the camp has worked with include: developmental delays, ADD/ADHD, emotional problems, learning disabilities, and visual and hearing impairments. Camp STAR/Angelina is a 6-week summer program. The camp is located on the outskirts of Forest Park off Trafton Road and activities include swimming, sports, games, crafts, field trips and an end of camp variety show.

Bright Nights

''Bright Nights at Forest Park'' is a national attraction during the Christmas and Chanukah seasons. Bright Nights is a lighting spectacle that features time and color coordinated lighting exhibits. Trees and sculptures are decorated to look like various scenes and characters, including many from the works of Springfield native Dr. Seuss. Many scenes are animated; others are simply decorative. One of the spectacles' most elaborate exhibits is a replica of Everett Barney's mansion. Viewers in automobiles queue up to drive for approximately 2 miles along a meandering path through the park to see the displays. Each year Bright Nights changes and becomes more elaborate

References

External links

City of Springfield Park DepartmentForest Park ZooBright NightsThe Carriage House at the Barney EstateForest Park Civic Association
{{SpringfieldMA Parks in Springfield, Massachusetts Urban public parks Forest parks in the United States 1884 establishments in Massachusetts Landscape design history of the United States Urban forests in the United States