Forest Park
Forest Park is a 500+ acre park located in Queens.
Forest Park is one of the natural treasures of New York City. The Wisconsin glacier molded this land 20,000 years ago and left the Harbor Hill Moraine, a series of small hills known as “knob and kettle” terrain, within Forest Park. The land was inhabited by the Rockaway, Lenape, and Delaware Native Americans until the Dutch West India Company settled the area in 1635. They established towns, though it was not until 1834 that they were chartered as the independent City of Brooklyn.
The eastern portion of the park is traversed by several marked hiking trails. The Orange Trail (2.4 miles) loops around the entire eastern section of the Park. The Blue Trail (1.7 miles) loops through the Eastern section of the park with several bird watching spots. The Yellow Trail is in the Northeast section of the Park. The Western section of the Park has the PFC Laurence Strack Memorial Pond (Red Trail) that circles the pond which is home to numerous water fowl. The Park is bisected by Forest Park Drive which is closed to vehicle traffic and provides access to all the trailheads. Forest Park is part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway.
By car, the park can be reached by taking the Jackie Robinson Parkway to the Forest Park Drive exit. Several city buses have stops in the area.