The Parks and their attractions

When you think of parks and main attractions in NYC, you think of Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History, the Central Park Zoo, the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the Delacourt Clock located between the Zoo and the Children's Zoo at 65th Street:


But most of the tourists who converge to Manhattan forget about the other 4 boroughs, and I have a few museums and attractions all in or near parks from each borough that are must sees.

Lets start off in Brooklyn. All in the Prospect Park area there is the Brooklyn Children's Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, the Prospect Park Zoo, and the Brooklyn Public Library. The park itself is wonderful, a playground on the west side, fun for the kids!! At the main entrance to the park is this arch:


Up in Queens, there are a few to see, too. The New York Hall of Science is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, along with the Queens Botanical Gardens, Queens Museum of Art, and the Queens Zoo.

If anyone has seen Men in Black they will recognize this. This is the Unisphere an in the background the Observation Tower of the New York State Pavillion from the World's Fair.


On to the Bronx, and the biggest park there is the Van Cortlandt Park. What it lacks in attractions around it, it makes up for in the park itself. There are hiking trails, tennis courts, four playgrounds, and the country's oldest golf course. This is one of the entrances:



Still in the Bronx, there is the Bronx Park, home to the Bronx Zoo, and the Bronx Botanical Gardens.

I have saved Staten Island for last, not because it is the worst, but it is a different kind of animal. There is more car traffic there and a lot less in the way of pedestrians, so things are a little more spread out. In St. George, across from the ferry terminal is the courthouse and Borough Hall. Behind that is the St. George Public Library and the St. George Theatre. Also in the area is The Staten Island Museum, and the Richmond County Bank Ballpark, which is home for the Staten Island Yankees. In order to get to Staten Island , you would need to take the ferry from Manhattan:


All in all, New York City is not just Manhattan, and I think it is time that the tour books take some of the focus off and start putting in more of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

2 comments:

  1. Cool pictures! I wanted to go to the Unisphere when I was there a couple of years ago, but ran out of time!
    Love the blog! Hope to go back to NYC someday.

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  2. My sister lives pretty close to the Unisphere-- but they're hoping to move back to Brooklyn sometime this year or the next.

    And I love the Botanical Gardens!

    Great blog!

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