Albert Park was laid out in the 1880s and is famous for its stunning views of Auckland and the harbor. The park stands on the site of the former Albert Barracks, which was built in the 1840s and is among Auckland’s early European military forts, which itseld was buolt on the site of Te Horotiu pa. A statue of Queen Victoria was erected in the park following her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The park is also home to a Boer War memorial.
Battelle Riverfront Park is a 4.1-acre park near Columbus City Hall in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The park was established in 1983. It is named after Gordon Battelle and was funded by the Battelle Memorial Institute.
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Battery Park is a 25-acre public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The area has been known as The Battery since the 17th century. The area was so-named because of artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city’s early years to protect the settlement.
Battlefield Park commemorates the Oct. 9, 1779, Battle of Savannah during the Revolutionary War. On that day, an allied force of more than 5,000 French and American troops attacked the 2,500 British soldiers defending the city. It was the second bloodiest battle of the American Revolution, and roughly 800 troops were killed or wounded during the fight. The attack failed, and allied forces retreated from Savannah on Oct. 18, 1779; the city remained under British control until 1782. The city of Savannah purchased the land in 2003, and the park built on the site includes a modern recreation of a redoubt.
Boston Common, often called the Common, is a central public park in Boston. It dates to 1634 and is the oldest city park in the country and declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987. Throughout history, the park has served as a meeting place for protests dating back to at least the early 18th century,
The 9.6-acre Bryant Park is unique in that it is part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation but privately managed. Located adjacent to the New York City Public Library, the history of the park dates to 1686, when Thomas Dongan, New York’s colonial governor, designated the area a public space. George Washington’s troops crossed the area while retreating from the Battle of Long Island in 1776, and in 1823, the site was designated a potter’s field (bodies were moved to Wards Island in 1840). The first park at this site, Reservoir Square, opened in 1847. The park was renamed in honor of New York Evening Post editor and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant in 1884.
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The 21-acre park, today a centerpiece of downtown Atlanta’s tourist district, was built as a central green space and remains a popular place for outdoor events. The park, which helped positively transform downtown Atlanta, is surrounded by some of the city’s biggest tourist destinations, including the Georgia Aquarium and CNN Center.
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Located about two miles from Downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Centennial Park is perhaps best known for its Parthenon replica. The 132-acre park originally opened in 1903 where the Tennessee Centennial Exposition was held in 1897. The Parthenon replica was built for the Nashville pavilion of the Centennial Exposition, but since it was largely out of plaster and as a temporary exhibit building, the structure was rebuilt in the 1920s. Prior to Centennial Park, the area was a fairgrounds after the Civil War and the home of a race track known as West Side Park from 1884 to 1895.
Central Park might be the most famous urban park in the world. City officials established the park in 1857 on 778 acres of city-owned land. The park was expanded to its current size of 843 acres in 1873. More than 40 million people visit the park every year. The U.S. Department of the Interior designated the park a National Historic Landmark in 1962.
To take advantage of its best asset, the city built a mile-long walkway along the Cumberland River. The walkway provides visitors with nice views of the traffic traversing the river and offers a nice respite from the city’s usually congested streets. The river is also the backdrop for many events, including an annual music festival and also the home to the Christmas on the Cumberland celebration.
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Dealey Plaza is today synonymous with the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. However, the history of the plaza dates to 1935 when it was dedicated. Named for longtime Dallas Morning News publisher George Bannerman Dealey, the plaza was completed in 1940. Construction of the 15-acre plaza was made possible after the Trinity River was rerouted to prevent flooding in the area. Home to some of the first settlements, Dealey Plaza is sometimes known as the “birthplace of Dallas.”
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Flushing Meadows–Corona Park is the largest park in Queens and the fourth-largest public park in New York City. The 897-acre park was created for the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, and it later hosted the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. The park is perhaps best know for the New York State Pavilion and the Unisphere, the giant spherical stainless steel representation of the Earth.
Nicola Salvi in 1732 won a competition to design a new fountain in the Trevi district of Rome. Giuseppe Pannini completed the fountain in 1762. Legend says anyone who tosses a coin into the fountain’s waters will return to Rome. The fountain, featured in countless movies, was built on the site of an earlier fountain.
Confederate troops in November 1861 built defenses overlooking the Cumberland and Red rivers. Following a major battle at Fort Donelson in nearby Dover, Confederate troops abandoned Clarksville; Union troops later found the abandoned fort and reworked it for their needs. In 2011, the city opened a $2 million interpretive center to tell the story of Fort Defiance. In addition to a movie in the center, visitors can see remarkable well preserved earthworks at the site and take in a newly installed Confederate money exhibit.
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Fort Lowell Park is home to the extant remains of the former Fort Lowell military post. The United States Army established the Post of Tucson in May 1862; they abandoned it in July 1864 but re-established it a year later. In August 1866, the Army named the installation renamed Camp Lowell in honor of Gen. Charles Russell Lowell. In March 1873, the Army moved the post to its current location, then located on the outskirts of Tucson, and renamed it Fort Lowell in April 1879. The Amry used this location from 1873 until 1891. The park is home to several of the post’s fortmer adobe structures and a museum.
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Fort Nashborough is a recreation of a stockade established in early 1779 in the French Lick area of the Cumberland River valley. The stockade was a forerunner to a settlement that would become Nashville, Tennessee. The square-shaped log stockade covered 2 acres and contained 20 log cabins. The reconstructed fortification, which stands near the original location, is maintained by Nashville Parks and Recreation.
The 60-acre Founders Park sits on the site where the original “founders” of Rapid City camped in 1876. Most of the land, which serves as a trailhead for paths along Rapid Creek, was acquired following the 1972 Flood.
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The four-acre Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park is located and named in honor of the Four Freedoms President Franklin D. Roosevelt highlighted in his Jan. 6, 1941, State of the Union address. The park is located next to the historic Smallpox Hospital in New York City at the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island. Architect Louis Kahn designed the park. The park was designed in the early 1970s and completed in 2012.
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Freedom Plaza, located adjacent to the N.J. Transit Metuchen train station, is dedicated to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. Its walls list the names of the more than 700 New Jersey residents, including 13 from Edison and Metuchen, who died in the terrorist attacks.
The 10-acre Hemenway Park features standard park fare: playground equipment, tennis and basketball courts and gazebos for parties. But, the real attraction here is the Bighorn sheep that descend from the nearby mountains to water, graze and rest. Located in Hemenway Valley on Ville Drive, the park also offers fantastic views of Lake Mead and is the perfect pull off between Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam.
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The 445-acre Hermann Park is one of the most visited public areas in all of Houston. The park sits in the middle of Texas Medical Center, Rice University and the Museum District. The park is named for George H. Hermann, who gave the land to the city in 1914.
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The Key West Memorial Sculpture Garden, located in Mallory Square, features bronze busts of locals who had had a significant impact on Key West, including Henry Flagler, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. It originally featured 39 bronze busts but has space to increase to 72 busts. The city of Key West established the garden and the criteria for inclusion in the memorial, which opened in 1997. “The Wreckers” monument stands at the Key West Memorial Sculpture Garden’s center.
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Mallory Square is a plaza situated on the waterfront in Key West’s historic Old Town just west of the northern end of Duval Street, facing the Gulf of Mexico. It hosts the nightly “Sunset Celebration,” considered one of the city’s main tourist attractions. Every night, hundreds of tourists flock to the square — or one of the adjacent watering holes — to watch the sunset. The celebration includes arts and crafts exhibitors, street performers, and food carts. Adjacent to Mallory Square is the city’s cruise ship port, which opened in 1984. However, cruise ships must depart before the nightly sunset celebration.
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McFerson Commons is a 2.2-acre park in Columbus’ Arena District. McFerson Commons was previously named Arena Park. The park’s centerpiece is the Union Station arch. Daniel Burnham & Co. designed Union Station. The arch was salvaged before the demolition of the station in the 1970s.
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One Tree Hill is a 597-foot-tall volcanic peak in Auckland, which provides stunning views of the area around the city. The area is an important landmark for the native Māori. Sir John Logan Campbell, a native of Scotland known as “the father of Auckland,” is buried on the summit of One Tree Hill. Presuming the Māori would die out, Campbell gave money for a memorial to the Māori atop One Tree Hill. The Māori name of One Tree Hill is Maungakiekie, which means “mountain of the kiekie vine.”
Piazza del Campidoglio is an Italian square at its finest. Designed by Michelangelo, the original Renaissance man, the Piazza is a great place for the weary traveler to take a respite and lose oneself in the moment.
Piazza Navona was built on the former site of the first-century Stadium of Domitian, also know as Circus Agonalis (competition arena), following the form of the open space of the stadium. It was converted to a public square in the 15th century, and Pope Innocent X, who reigned from 1644 until 1655, is credited with transforming it into an example of Baroque Roman architecture and, largely because his family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, faced the piazza.
Though it’s somewhat of a hike from the touristy parts of Florence, Piazzale Michelangelo is well worth the steps. Despite its name, Michelangelo did not design the piazza. Florentine architect Giuseppe Poggi did in 1869; it is merely named in honor of Michelangelo and features a replica of David, the man who is ever-present throughout Florence. The park offers stunning views of the city and the Arno river.
The 189-acre Piedmont Park hosted the Piedmont Exposition of 1887 and the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895. Much like Central Park is to New York City, Piedmont Park is a centerpiece greenspace for the city of Atlanta.
Created in 1994, Pioneer Plaza is the largest public open space in the Dallas central business district. The park is home to the Cattle Drive Through Dallas sculpture. The giant bronze sculpture commemorates (as its name suggests) a cattle drive through the city.
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The Plaza of Champions in Kirkland, Washington, was created in 1988 to honor and recognize groups and individuals in the Kirkland area who have reached the pinnacle of achievement in their chosen field and contributed in a significant way to the city of Kirkland.
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Pukeahu National War Memorial Park honors New Zealanders who served overseas and commemorates the more than 30,000 New Zealanders who died during a conflict. It was created in 2015 to enhance the National War Memorial. “Pukeahu is a special place for New Zealanders and visitors to reflect on this country’s experience of conflict and our role in peacekeeping and how this has helped shape our national identity,” Deputy Chief Executive Delivery, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage Tamsin Evans said in a December 2018 news release.
Rangitoto Island is a 3.4-mile-wide volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland that reaches s height of 850 feet. The 5,710-acre island is the youngest and largest of the roughly 50 volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field. It last erupted approximately 600 years ago. Rangitoto is named for the Māori word for ‘Bloody Sky. Its name is derived from the full phrase Ngā Rangi-i-totongia-a Tama-te-kapua , which means The days of the bleeding of Tama-te-kapua. Today, the island is a popular destination for visitors to Auckland, and ferries depart regularly from the city.
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway opened in October 2008 atop the Big Dig, the country’s most expensive highway project, in the heart of Boston. The 17-acre Greenway, named after Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, features plazas and a tree-lined promenade. The matriarch of the Kennedy Family was born in the neighboring North End neighborhood. Her son, former Sen. Ted Kennedy, a liberal from Massachusetts, was instrumental in establishing the Greenway.
The popular Ross’s Landing sits below the Tennessee Aquarium along the south shore of the Tennessee River. The park is home to a river pier, a marina and a natural amphitheater. The green space is home to several festivals and outdoor concerts. The landing, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the last site of the Cherokee’s 61-year occupation of Chattanooga. It is named for John Ross, who served as the Cherokee Nation’s principal chief and is considered to be the embarkation point of the Cherokee removal on the Trail of Tears.
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Shannon Falls Provincial Park is a 210-acre provincial park that includes a series of cliffs. The park’s centerpiece is Shannon Falls, the third highest waterfall in British Columbia. The falls are named for William Shannon who first settled the property in 1889 and located about 36 miles from Vancouver along the Sea to Sky Highway.
Shoupade Park preserves a rare but essential remnant of the Civil War’s River Line. Confederate Brigadier Gen. Francis Shoup in 1864 built a series of earthen forts shaped like arrowheads large enough to hold 80 soldiers. The fortification, known as “Shoupades,” allowed them to fire shots to the right, left and straight ahead as the enemy approached. Confederate troops wanted the shoupades to stop Union troops from crossing the Chattahoochee River and entering Atlanta. Modern development wiped out most of the Shoupades over the years. However, through an agreement with a developer, the city of Smyrna helped preserve one of the works. A shoupade model is on display at the Smyrna Museum.
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The Silver Comet Trail repurposed a former rail line into a popular multi-purpose path. The route dates to the 1890s when a rail line connecting Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala. Seaboard Air Line Railroad operated the line and its successor, CSX, abandoned it in 1987. The trail is named for the Silver Comet passenger train, which ran from May 18, 1947, until 1969. The trail starts in Smyrna, Ga., and passes through Paulding and Polk counties and connects with the Chief Ladiga Trail at the Georgia-Alabama border.
Taylor-Brawner Park sits on what was once the Brawner Hospital complex. Following a 2005 Parks Bond, the city of Smyrna removed dilapidated buildings and developed a 10-acre park, which today includes a gazebo, two picnic pavilions, walking trail, amphitheater, playground, and open space. The park is also home to a pair of historic buildings: Brawner Hall and the Taylor-Brawner House.
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The High Line opened in 2009. The now-popular park was built atop a former elevated New York Central Railroad spur known as the West Side Line. The High Line today features nearly 1.5 miles of elevated trails and provides roughly 5 million people annually a unique view of New York City. The path runs Gansevoort Street, located three blocks south of 14th Street in the Meatpacking District, through Chelsea to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street near the Javits Convention Center.