Turtle Park (also Turtle Playground) is a

sculpture park A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by a ...

located at the southern edge of

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 Fore ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

at the intersection of Oakland Avenue and Tamm Avenue. The park contains seven concrete turtles and one snake. The turtles were designed and sculpted by

Bob Cassilly Robert James Cassilly Jr. (November 9, 1949 – September 26, 2011) was an American sculptor, entrepreneur, and creative director based in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1997, Cassilly founded the idiosyncratic City Museum, which draws over 700 ...

and the park opened in August 1996. Turtle Park can be seen from

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 70, I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and U.S. Route 61, US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern ter ...

and the

Saint Louis Zoo The Saint Louis Zoo, officially known as the Saint Louis Zoological Park, is a zoo in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. It is recognized as a leading zoo in animal management, research, conservation, and education. The zoo is accredited by th ...

to the north.

Design

The park contains seven turtle species that are native to

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Google books
excerpt. as well as a

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

of eggs. The three large turtles are a

snapping turtle The Chelydridae is a family of turtles that has seven extinct and two extant genera. The extant genera are the snapping turtles, ''Chelydra'' and ''Macrochelys''. Both are endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The extinct genera are '' Acherontemys' ...

, a Mississippi map turtle and a

red-eared slider The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (''Trachemys scripta elegans'') is a subspecies of the pond slider (''Trachemys scripta''), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the Family (biology), family Emydidae. Native to the southern United States ...

and named after Sunny Glassberg's children: Dick, Tom, and Sally. The four smaller turtles are a

stinkpot turtle ''Sternotherus odoratus'' is a species of small turtle in the family Kinosternidae. The species is native to southeastern Canada and much of the Eastern United States. It is also known commonly as the common musk turtle, eastern musk turtle, or ...

and three

box turtle Box turtle is the common name for several species of Testudines, turtle. It may refer to those of the Genus (biology), genus ''Cuora'' or ''Pyxidea mouhotii, Pyxidea'', which are the Asian people, Asian box turtles, or more commonly to species of ...

s, named after Glassberg's grandchildren: David, Adam, Emily, and Antonio. The snapping turtle is 40-foot long and used 120,000 pounds of concrete. A concrete snake lines the park; its head is attached to and appears to be biting the Tamm Avenue Overpass at the west end of the park. The design allows kids to climb on the turtle's shells and into their open mouths.

History

St. Louis philanthropist Sunny Glassberg developed the idea and donated the funds for Turtle Park. She hired Bob Cassilly to design the park and the St. Louis Parks Department and Forest Park Forever helped locate the land for the park, a strip of Forest Park that had been cut off by Interstate 64. Glassberg wanted the park to be a fun place for children: "I wanted to give children a place where they could be happy, where they could feel inspired. Because I feel that that sort of thing is contagious." The Park opened in August 1996. The reconstruction of Interstate 64 in 2009 necessitated the removal of the snake's head. Cassilly's team removed the head and the new bridge was designed in such a way that the head could be placed back on the overpass. Turtle Park was voted the "Best Picnic Spot" in St. Louis in 2011 by the ''

Riverfront Times The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') was a free progressive weekly newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, that consisted of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to blogs and photo galleries on its websit ...

''. In 2015, MySun Charitable Foundation sponsored renovations to Turtle Park, including new turf, resurfacing the access path, and the installation of a water fountain.

References

{{reflist, 30em Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in Missouri Culture of St. Louis Parks in St. Louis Forest Park (St. Louis) 1996 establishments in Missouri Parks established in the 1990s 1990s in St. Louis

Design

History

See also

References