The Basics:
- Public transportation: Subway — E or F train to Union Turnpike and transfer to the eastbound Q46 bus to 195th Street. Long Island Railroad — to Jamaica station and transfer to the Q44 bus towards Flushing. At Union Turnpike, transfer to the eastbound Q46 bus to 195th Street.
- Car: Grand Central Parkway to Francis Lewis Boulevard northbound, exit 20. Francis Lewis Boulevard and make a left at the first light onto Union Turnpike. Turn left into the parking lot across from 196th Place.
The Details:
Cunningham Park’s 358 acres may have taken city officials 16 years to assemble (1928-44) but it was worth the wait. The land’s first settlers, the Mantinecocks of 7,000 years ago, prized the area for fishing, hunting and farming; today we can revel in the bucolic 243 acres reserved as the Cunningham Park Preserve, one of the Parks Department’s Forever Wild sites.
Cunningham Park, S. Romar
Of those 243 acres, approximately 60 are a pristine woodland called the Southern Forest with mature Red and Black Oaks, Tuliptrees, Hickories and an understory of Flowering Dogwoods, wildflowers and at least 18 different ferns. Its counterpart, the Northern Forest, remained farmland for a longer period of time before restoration efforts began, thus the tuliptree and dogwood forest is younger.
Besides forested areas, the landscape speaks to its glacial past with kettle ponds, knobs and vernal pools home to such creatures like Spring Peepers, a native frog that fills the springtime air with their song.
Cunningham Park, S. Romar
Enjoy the picnic area off Union Turnpike for a pre- or post-hike snack. As an extra bonus, Cunningham Park connects to the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, a former roadway preserved as a trail and links up with other nature hot spots like Alley Pond Park.
References:
- New York City Department of Parks and Recreation accessed on 1/15/2009 at http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/cunninghampark/, http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/cunninghampark/highlights/11314.
- New York City Trees: A Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area by Edward Sibley Barnard, published 2002 by Columbia University Press.
- Wild New York: A Guide to the Wildlife, Wild Places, and Natural Phenomena of New York City by Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson, published 1997 by Three Rivers Press.
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