Eisenhower Park
In light of my newfound love of long walks, I am now looking for interesting places to explore.
Which led me to Eisenhower Park.
If Jones Beach is the jewel of Long Island's state parks, Eisenhower Park is the jewel of Nassau County's park system. It's a huge park, larger than NYC's Central Park, with a golf course, ball fields, picnic areas, tennis courts, playgrounds, an aquatics center...huge park, designed for all sorts of recreation.
I remember when the place used to be called Salisbury Park. It was renamed in memory of President Eisenhower in 1969. But what I did not know until recently was that the park was originally part of the Salisbury Country Club, quite famous back in the 1920's, but that the land became county property when the club couldn't pay taxes during the Great Depression.
We drive through the park frequently to avoid traffic, but the last time I used any of the park's facilities ...it had to have been in 1981. We went to a concert at the Lakeside Theater. Or rather, it was our intent to see a concert that night. The concert was cancelled....it was the night Harry Chapin died.
So my first foray into the park took me past playgrounds and tennis courts. Nothing terribly exciting, I suppose. But the second time I walked in the park, I decided to explore the area by the lake. I knew I'd see the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater. But what I found at the lake was so much more.
Here's the theater:
While walking towards the lake, I saw a sign that said "war memorial", and I just had to follow. Turns out that the area surrounding the war memorial is a place for the county to memorialize almost any good cause.
This one is close to my heart:
The veterans' memorial:
Of special interest to me, the Jewish veterans' memorial
The memorial:
To be continued....
Which led me to Eisenhower Park.
If Jones Beach is the jewel of Long Island's state parks, Eisenhower Park is the jewel of Nassau County's park system. It's a huge park, larger than NYC's Central Park, with a golf course, ball fields, picnic areas, tennis courts, playgrounds, an aquatics center...huge park, designed for all sorts of recreation.
I remember when the place used to be called Salisbury Park. It was renamed in memory of President Eisenhower in 1969. But what I did not know until recently was that the park was originally part of the Salisbury Country Club, quite famous back in the 1920's, but that the land became county property when the club couldn't pay taxes during the Great Depression.
We drive through the park frequently to avoid traffic, but the last time I used any of the park's facilities ...it had to have been in 1981. We went to a concert at the Lakeside Theater. Or rather, it was our intent to see a concert that night. The concert was cancelled....it was the night Harry Chapin died.
So my first foray into the park took me past playgrounds and tennis courts. Nothing terribly exciting, I suppose. But the second time I walked in the park, I decided to explore the area by the lake. I knew I'd see the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater. But what I found at the lake was so much more.
Here's the theater:
While walking towards the lake, I saw a sign that said "war memorial", and I just had to follow. Turns out that the area surrounding the war memorial is a place for the county to memorialize almost any good cause.
This one is close to my heart:
The veterans' memorial:
Of special interest to me, the Jewish veterans' memorial
The memorial:
To be continued....
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