NYC Arts: The Complete Guide to Art and Culture

Prospect Park is a 585-acre urban oasis and boasts a stunning array of natural features, including Brooklyn’s only forest, a 60-acre lake, shaded hillsides, beautiful waterfalls and rolling meadows. The Prospect Park Alliance, in partnership with the City of New York and the community, restores, develops and operates the park for the enjoyment of all New Yorkers.

The Park is home to a vintage, hand-carved 1912 carousel and the nation’s first urban Audubon Center, housed inside a 1905 boathouse considered to be a masterpiece of the Beaux Arts style. Visitors can tour the park’s watercourse by pedal boat or the park’s whisper-quiet turn-of-the-century style electric boat Independence. From a vantage point out on the water or along the well-marked nature trails, visitors can spy on as many as 250 species of birds, including many rare and unusual ones.

Prospect Park is also the site of over 300 years of history, including Lefferts Historic House, an 18th century Dutch Farmhouse and the site of the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Brooklyn. Prospect Park’s seven dynamic and award-winning playgrounds are a big draw for children of all ages. Other activities include skating at the Kate Wollman Ice Skating Center and team sports at the legendary Parade Ground with state of the art fields for baseball, soccer, and football, as well as a tennis center with 11 courts. The Park also has designated trails for horseback riding.

Eating options include the 40 Love Café at the Prospect Park Tennis Center and the Songbird Café at the landmark Beaux Arts-style Boathouse. Volunteers to help with many projects year-round may call (718) 965-8960.

• Disability Access: Partially accessible (i.e., Lefferts Homestead and certain areas of the park). Consult the park's interactive map for details: www.prospectpark.org/visit/interactive_map
• Gift Shops: At Kate's Corner in the Skating Center: T-shirts, mugs, cards
• On-Site Food: At Kate's Corner
• On-Site Parking: Parking is available around the park's perimeter. Please be aware of any parking restrictions and street cleaning signs. Wollman Rink: Free public parking, Litchfield Villa: Public parking area in the back half of the lot in marked spaces only Picnic House: Limited parking is available for Picnic House events only with a permit.