One of the best places in the city to walk, wander, and contemplate your own mortality. I go here weekly. The historic grandness of it all makes me feel connected to generations past. This place is the site of many a family photo shoot. Don’t miss the “haunted house” mausoleum (staff will know where to point you). Update as of 5/30/20: Due to COVID-19, it’s currently only open to the public on Sundays. Hours are also reduced. Check their website.
An urban refuge located across the street from the Clifton/Ludlow central business business district of the Clifton neighborhood. I agree with other reviewers that I wouldn’t hang out here after dusk, but I also think the park has cleaned up its act a bit in recent years. The city holds kids’ summer camps here, and you’ll see plenty of families and children during the day. There are wooded hiking trails that are easy and fun for kids, a fishing “lake” (more like a big pond), green space for picnics, a bandstand, swings—and don’t miss the giant stone slide worn smooth by decades of bottoms—adding a bit of dangerous fun to your child’s urban playground outing.
An urban oasis smack in the middle of the Gaslight District of the Clifton neighborhood that is sadly not open to the public. It is fenced and locked and only available by appointment by contacting the city. Nevertheless, it has been a refuge; a lovely place to gaze into wistfully as one walks past it, as it is lined on two sides with urban sidewalks. (Other sides of the preserve back up to private homes.) The preserve is a short walk from restaurants, bars, Graeter’s ice cream, a boutique movie theater and Burnet Woods (which is open to the public) on Ludlow Ave.