Baisley Pond Park

Edit links
Coordinates: 40°40′40″N 73°47′5″W / 40.67778°N 73.78472°W / 40.67778; -73.78472
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Baisley Pond Park
View across Baisley Pond
Map
TypePublic park
LocationQueens, New York City, NY, United States
Coordinates40°40′40″N 73°47′5″W / 40.67778°N 73.78472°W / 40.67778; -73.78472
Area109.61 acres (44.36 ha)
Created1919
Operated byNYC Parks
StatusOpen all year

Baisley Pond Park is a public park located in the southeastern part of

Rochdale, and St. Albans. It covers 109.61 acres (44.36 ha), including the 30-acre (12 ha) Baisley Pond in the center of the park. It is maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.[1]

Description

The park is a popular place for sports and other forms of outdoor recreation. Facilities include barbecuing areas, baseball fields, basketball courts, bicycle paths, cricket fields, fitness equipment, a football field, handball courts, five children's playgrounds, a running track, a soccer field, spray showers, and tennis courts. Several parts of the park have free

American mastodon, an extinct elephant-like animal, recalling a time in the 1850s when workers dredging the pond found the bones of an individual mastodon that lived in the area almost 10,000 years ago, just after the end of the last ice age. The Mother Carter Garden, which is surrounded by an ornamental fence and has seating with views of the pond, memorializes Laura “Mother” Carter (1914-1999), a beloved community leader.[1] Several events take place in the park, most notably the annual Southern Queens Gospel Festival, the eighth of which took place in July 2013.[2][3]

New York Road Runners hosts a weekly 3.10-mile Open Run. [4]

Pond

The pond is a natural waterway located in the center of the park's three discontinuous tracts. The northern part of the pond was fed by Beaver Brook and Jamaica Creek, which in turn were respectively derived from Beaver Pond and One-Mile Pond. The park's northernmost tract dips slightly, a remnant of the two streams that converged there. Additionally, Riders Creek entered the pond from the eastern side.[5] To the south, the pond enters Cornell Creek, which flows into Jamaica Bay. The construction of John F. Kennedy International Airport and the JFK Expressway made the creek subterranean, depressed underground and diverted southeast.[6] A bridge and a boathouse were both proposed for the pond, but never built.[5]

The pond itself hosts diverse fauna and flora. It is known for its lily pads which shelter

grebes, mixing with more common species like mallard and Canada goose
.

History

Baisley Pond Park with the pond in background
A row of stone frog statues graces the southeastern shore of Baisley Pond.
Baisley Pond hosts a large and diverse population of waterfowl in winter.

Baisley Pond is located in the Jamaica Bay watershed of western Long Island, where the intersection of 130th Avenue and 150th Street would be.[8] It was formed in the 18th century, when local farmers dammed three streams to power a grain mill. It was named for David Baisley, a farmer who owned the mill in the early 19th century.[1][9]

In 1852, the burgeoning

City of New York, the pond was connected to New York's larger and more reliable upstate water system, and the old Brooklyn system, including Baisley Pond, was no longer used as a water source.[1]

New York City transferred the northern section of the park, including the pond, to the Parks Department in 1914 and opened it to the public in 1919.[1][11]: 291, 299, 307 [12] At this time the surrounding area was still rural. However, it developed rapidly in the 1920s with the building of new houses and streets. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Parks Department under Robert Moses built additional recreational facilities with the help of the Works Progress Administration, including a boat landing, playgrounds, tennis courts, and baseball fields. The "Southern Extension" of the park, located south of Rockaway Boulevard, remained undeveloped and neglected until 1984, when new sports facilities were built.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Baisley Pond Park". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  2. ^ "The Daily Plant: This Weekend in Parks". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  3. ^ McElroy, Steven (July 22, 2010). "'Yes I Can' Have a Gospel Fest in Queens". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  4. ^ Staff, NYRR (August 2, 2023). "Baisley Pond Parksite=NYRR". Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Kadinsky, Sergey (March 14, 2018). "Baisley Pond, Queens". Hidden Waters blog. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  6. ISBN 978-1-58157-566-8
    .
  7. ^ "Baisley Pond Park". New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  8. ^ "Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan 2012 Update" (PDF). New York City Department of Environmental Protection. p. 48. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  9. ^ Costella, Ann Marie (January 7, 2014). "Farmer Baisley's pond: now a beautiful park". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Wilford, Sarah (September 7, 1935). "Mammoth Fossil Found in Baisley Park: Huge Tooth Caused Sensation in Science" (PDF). Long Island Daily Press. Fultonhistory.com. p. 6. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  11. ^ "1914 New York City Department of Public Parks Annual Report: Part 3" (PDF). nyc.gov. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. 1911. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  12. ^ "Droesch Cites St. Albans Sales: Points Out New Park Facilities Promsied" (PDF). Long Island Daily Press. Fultonhistory.com. July 25, 1931. p. 10. Retrieved January 28, 2019.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baisley_Pond_Park&oldid=1190841506"