Enjoying the last days of summer in the Bronx
August 15, 2011
Dear Friend,
As we reach the summer days of August, we often begin to think about what activities we want to squeeze in before autumn. We take a pause from work and politics and news, and just focus on recreation and family. If you are like me, when you have a few spare moments in these days, you think of the recreation activities in the surrounding neighborhood. Over the past several years, I have helped to obtain funding for a variety of parks in our community. I wanted to share with you some of them and hope that you will take advantage of these beautiful spots and enjoy what they have to offer.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of your summer.
Best wishes,
Congressman José E. Serrano
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/barrettopointpark
Barretto Point Park
Tiffany Street in Hunts Point
Directions: Google Maps
This little park in the Bronx is bursting with activity. Located on the beautiful East River waterfront, fishers can sit on its piers and cast a line, and boaters take out canoes and kayaks for a turn around the river. Other attractions include a volleyball net, basketball court, and a playground.
But for those looking for a more relaxing time, the park, with its beautiful background of sky, grass, and water, makes a perfect place to spend the day reading or picnicking.
Featured Activity
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/concreteplantpark
Concrete Plant Park
Bounded by Westchester Avenue, Bruckner Boulevard, the Amtrak railroad, and the Bronx River
Directions: Google Maps
Site of a concrete plant from the late 1940s through 1987, the land that is now Concrete Plant Park was acquired by Parks in 2000. In close partnership with community organizations and public agencies, the Parks Department and the Bronx River Alliance began the revitalization of this formerly abandoned site through re-establishing salt marshes on the riverbank once strewn with trash and tires, as well as reintroducing the public to the site through organizing community festivals and leading hundreds of residents out on the Bronx river to canoe and kayak.
The waterfront park, completed in September 2009, contains facilities supporting and linking existing and planned multi–use pedestrian greenways with other off–road, on-road bicycle/pedestrian routes. Construction of a new canoe/kayak launch provides an access point to the Bronx River Corridor along the park's shoreline. The park was also enhanced through the creation of a waterfront promenade, a reading circle, and inviting park entrances at both Westchester Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard.
Facilities
- Kayak/Canoe Launch Sites
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X344/
Mill Pond Park
Major Deegan Exwy Bet E. 149 St and E. 153 St
Directions: Google Maps
Created as part of the Yankee Stadium Redevelopment Project, this decayed industrial waterfront was transformed into a lush new ten-acre park featuring picnic & grass areas, overlooks with waterfront views, sixteen Deco Turf tennis courts, and an esplanade to unite the site. Other amenities include an outdoor classroom, two water channels, children’s spray showers, and a sand play area. Landscaped plantings line the ADA-accessible pathways throughout the park.
Facilities
- Barbecuing Areas
- Tennis Courts
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/orchardbeach
Orchard Beach
Directions: Google Maps
The Bronx's only beach is an engineering marvel. Covering a mile and 115 acres, it was originally conceived as the "Riviera of New York," and its promise is carried out in its promenade lined with shops, playgrounds, picnic areas, and more than two dozen sports courts. On hot days this beach draws tens of thousands of families, swimmers, athletes, and loungers. On cooler days, its shores make a perfect setting for peaceful strolls, and its basketball and volleyball courts and its playgrounds continue to welcome all of its neighbors.
Facilities
- Beach
- Handball Courts
- Playgrounds
- Tennis Courts
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X028/
Joyce Kilmer Park
Grand Concourse to Walton Av Bet E 161 St and E 164 St
Directions: Google Maps
This park, bounded by the Grand Concourse, Walton Avenue, 164th and 161st Streets, is named after Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918), poet, journalist, and soldier. Kilmer was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and attended Rutgers from 1904 to 1906, graduating from Columbia College in 1908. He began his writing career in New York in 1909, contributing freelance articles and poems to a number of publications before he joined the staff of the New York Times. He is most famous for his poem, "Trees," written in 1913, which has been learned by millions of schoolchildren. While stationed in France during World War I, Kilmer wrote for Stars and Stripes, the Army weekly. On July 30, 1918, he was killed in action on the Western Front.
The park was formerly called Concourse Plaza from 1902 until the Board of Aldermen renamed it for Kilmer in 1926, two years after it was acquired by Parks. It was completely redesigned in 1936, at which time its two monuments, the Louis J. Heintz statue and the Lorelei fountain, were placed in their present locations. The Heintz statue by Pierre Fietu was dedicated in 1909 in honor of the Bronx’s first commissioner of street improvements who pioneered the construction of the Grand Concourse.
The Lorelei fountain celebrates the German poet, Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), author of an ode to Die Lorelei -- a siren from German mythology who lured sailors to their deaths on the Rhine. The fountain was created by German sculptor Ernest Herter for the poet's home city, Dusseldorf. However, political groups opposed to Heine's Jewish origins and political views blocked its installation there. The fountain was finally erected in the Bronx in 1899, thanks to a subscription led by Americans of German ancestry. After years of deterioration caused by weathering and vandalism, the Lorelei fountain and the surrounding landscape were restored in 1999.
Trees
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Park descriptions adapted from NYC Parks Website.