-
 Home Page
 Washington Park
- · History
- · Photos
- · Maps
|
|
For about 300 years, parts of what is now
Washington Park have been used by the residents
of Albany for recreational and other public
purposes. Originally granted to the city
by the Crown in colonial times, the Park
area has been used as a parade ground, a
cemetery, a public square, and a welfare
farm. Shortly after the Civil War, work began
on what is today's park - a manicured combination
of gardens and lawn landscaped in the finest
Victorian tradition. With some 100 species
of trees from exotic lands throughout the
world, the Park resembles a botanical garden.
Patterned after designs originally drawn
up by Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer
of New York City's Central Park and Montreal's
beautiful Mont Royal Park, Washington Park
now totals 84 acres embroidered with carefully
groomed flower beds, quiet foot and bicycle
paths, tennis courts and towering monuments.
Its lake, stocked in the summer, is a popular
fishing spot for youngsters and attracts
ice skaters in the winter. The Lakehouse,
a striking structure with a band shell -
is center stage for many cultural, civic,
and recreational activities, including the
Washington Park Concert Series and Park Playhouse
in the summertime. For years the Park has
hosted the Tulip Festival which tributes
Albany's Dutch past, along with many other
public festivals. |
