10,000 years ago, just after the end of the last ice age. Plus, the
Mother Carter Garden, which is surrounded by an ornamental
fence and has seating with views of the pond, memorializes Laura
“Mother” Carter (1914-1999), a beloved community leader.
Address: 118-21 Lakeview Blvd., South Jamaica.
Cunningham Park is about 360 acres in total, but it features a
240-acre wildlife preserve consisting of real forest habitat, vernal
pools, and kettle ponds. The area has countless sports fields,
tree-lined jogging paths, play areas, and barbecue pits. Named
after W. Arthur Cunningham, a World War I veteran who was
elected city comptroller in 1933, the park hosts annual events,
including performances by the New York Philharmonic and the
Metropolitan Opera.
Inside scoop: The park has a 6.5-mile mountain bike trail with a
dirt jump park and pump track.
Address: Near the convergence of the Horace Harding
Expressway and Grand Central Parkway, bounded by Long
Island Expressway, Francis Lewis Boulevard, 210th Street, Hollis
Court Boulevard, Hollis Hills Terrace, Avon Road, 193rd Street,
Union Turnpike, 199th Street, and Peck Avenue, Fresh Meadows.
Forest Park is a windy and hilly 538 acres with natural hiking
and horse-riding paths through what is called “knob and kettle”
terrain, thanks in large part to a glacier that passed through
about 20,000 years ago. Despite a few years of lumbering and
a chestnut blight in 1912, the park is filled with healthy, tall,
natural growth, 150-year-old trees (hickories, black cherries,
dogwoods) that create canopies. Visitors can explore an
abandoned railroad station, a 110-acre, nine-hole golf course, and
two carousels. In the summertime, free concerts are offered at the
George Seuffert Bandshell.
Inside scoop: In 1911, an independent Queens branch of the
Parks Department, the Overlook, was established. Built in a
Spanish-Mission style, this building houses administrative
offices. Henry Miller, who wrote Tropic of Cancer (1934), was
stationed at the Overlook in the 1920s, when he worked as a
grave digger.
Address: Bounded by Myrtle Avenue, Union Turnpike, Park Lane
South, Brooklyn-Queens County Line and Park Lane.
Floyd Bennett Field, which straddles the Brooklyn-Queens
border, is a former airfield that is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. Hangar A and Hangar B are often open to
the public and display historic aircraft and other exhibits. Some
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