South Park

In Olmsted's 1894 plan, South Park was intended to be an expansive meadow reminiscent of an "English deer park", circumnavigated by a ring road and peppered by a pair of small ponds that would complement but not overwhelm the peaceful, pastoral views. However, meddling from city officials resulted in that plan being tweaked, and what was built instead rather resembles '''Delaware Park''' in miniature: a large lake in the middle, a small Meadow that's presently the site of the 9-hole '''South Park Golf Course''', and an ornamental garden, greenhouse and arboretum that eventually grew into the '''Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens''', the park's marquee attraction (see below). Like Cazenovia, time has been much kinder to South Park than to most other Olmsted parks around the city, remaining true to its original design save for the intrusion of the golf course in 1915 and the construction of a turnaround loop for public buses in the 1940s. Among the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy's plans is the revitalization of '''South Park Lake''', which has unfortunately served almost as an afterthought to the park's other features; when work is done, word is it may once again be deep enough for boating.