On Hoarded Ordinaries, Lorianne DiSabato writes about a landscape architect named Frederick Law Olmsted. Lorianne found out about him in a PBS documentary. I had never heard of Olmsted, but certainly should have. Anyway, thank you, Lorianne; if you didn’t post this blog, I wouldn’t have had the following memories stirred up.
I was born and brought up in Brooklyn NY.
One of the landmarks that put Brooklyn on the map.
My parents took me to Prospect Park many times when I was a young child, and before my sister was born. Prospect Park was one of Olmsted’s earlier creations after designing Central Park in Manhattan.
One of my old stomping grounds as a young girl.
I spent many happy hours in Prospect Park as a young girl with my parents, walking along the paths, enjoying the grassy areas. I remember my father loved taking photographs (please see “Memories of a Time Past: Part 1“), and he took many when we were in the park. I remember one picture he took of me holding up a fish, attached to a fishing line. I didn’t catch it. I think he “borrowed” it from someone who actually did the “catching,” so that he could take a photo (I searched all my old family photo albums, but couldn’t find it, but did a great organizing of my photo albums in the meantime!). There was at least one lake in the park, and, in memory, it seemed to be a large one. My memory doesn’t recall if there were others.
Unfortunately, as the years passed, the park fell into disrepair, and it became a destination that was not very welcoming. In time, the city saw fit to “resurrect” it, and, with the re-gentrification of the Park Slope and surrounding areas, it again beckoned to the “city” folks to come and experience the beauty of Olmsted’s design.
Many years later, I strolled along the same hexagon-shaped concrete tiled paths with my own young children, that I had walked on when I was a child!
Here is an excellent example of the hexagon-shaped tile as I remember it.
[images from bingdotcom]
So glad you are continuing to share your memories.
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Thanks, reality. It’s an ongoing thing – this memories business. I had some inspiration for this one, as noted at the beginning! 🙂
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I remember going there – great place to fly kites and skate!
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I know I had photos of Grandma Florence, Dad, you and your brother in the stroller. I can’t find those either. 😦
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We were in Prospect Park again recently for a concert. They’re really doing a fantastic job maintaining the park.
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I’m so glad you told me, Guapo. The ole saying, “You can take me out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take Brooklyn out of me.” It’s nice to know the city is maintaining the park. And concerts? That’s great.
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