What truly separates this park from other city parks is the amount of old-growth forest, with many trees older than 200 years. Unlike Boston Common or Central Park, Forest Park has a thriving forest ecosystem inhabited by wild animals normally found in rural woodlands, including about 300 deer. In fact, the deer population has grown so large that control measures such as contraceptive feed and a seasonal hunt are being considered (though park superintendent Pat Sullivan says the latter is improbable). Nature, it seems, has a way of controlling the deer: Coyotes also roam the park.
Forest Park sports public courts for players -- and a whole lot more
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Among the most enthralling sights in the park are the beautiful flowerbeds and grass gardens. Three women, all grandmothers, are the caretakers of this vast landscape. Margaret Brace, who has been overseeing the park's horticulture for 17 years, says she is especially proud of the Rose Garden. Created in 1890, it was recently restored to its original condition, including a gazebo in the center, a popular site for wedding photos.
Aside from the natural beauty of Forest Park, other features both historic and architectural await visitors. At the Sumner Avenue entrance is a Romanesque Trolley Pavilion. Fully restored, the pavilion was once a central transit point of the city's trolley system.
Farther inside the park, a walkway that passes a greenhouse and several natural gardens leads to the Kennedy Memorial, where an eternal flame burns as a tribute to the late president.
Near the memorial is one of the more unusual features in the park. Enclosed by a cast-iron fence are slabs of shale, with faint imprints of dinosaur tracks thought to be 150 million years old. They were found in the Connecticut Valley and taken from the quarries of W. M. Murray & Son in Holyoke.
You see smaller footprints around a feature donated on behalf of Michael Carlson, who died last year. Carlson was a common sight in the park as he walked with his two boxers and two Chihuahuas. A plaque on a water fountain for dogs and their owners reads "A Dog's Best Friend."
As the park brochure says, "If greater Springfield is your home, Forest Park is your backyard."
Ken Smith is a freelance writer in Springfield.
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