125-acre Stanbery Park features one of the city’s most extensive hiking trail systems amid streams and acres of woodlands. It also offers a civic green and walkway, play areas, and one of Cincinnati’s premier sledding hills. Stanbery is ideal for picnics, band concerts and community gatherings.
A small sitting park in the center of an urban square (which itself features eclectic shops and eateries), the centerpiece of Hyde Park Square is Kilgour Fountain, originally installed in 1900 as a gift to the city. The fountain was completely restored in 2003.
Reserve the French House for a private party and you and your guests can feel you’ve stepped back decades in time. The focal point of 275-acre French Park. French House was built in the early 1900’s and then remodeled several times. The two-story brick house offers many adjacent rooms and outdoor terraces, surrounded by gardens and meadows in the center of French Park for private functions.
Trail MapFrench Park itself has miles of hiking trails, creeks, meadows and wooded hillsides, a shelter and a distant view of Cincinnati. The park is in Amberley Village.
his 66-acre park was named for Daniel Drake, who founded Cincinnati’s first medical college and who also happened to be a nature enthusiast. The park has a handsome shelter, which offers a beautiful view from its overlook, as well as playgrounds and a walking path. It’s tucked into the Kennedy Heights neighborhood.
With its 113 acres of forest, California Woods Nature Preserve offers something for all nature lovers. The park features 53 species of trees, more than 200 species of herbaceous plants, and Lick Run Creek, home to kingfishers, snapping turtles, small fish, myriad invertebrates and the occasional visit from grebes, mallards, wood ducks and beavers.
Trail MapCalifornia Woods Nature Center offers year-round educational programs, and California Woods also contains miles of hiking trails. It is adjacent to the Magrish Preserve, a designated Important Birding Area.
Providing picnic facilities, nature trails, and children’s play areas, Ault Park adds to its attractions with a splendid pavilion and lookout point and beautiful gardens. Ault is one of Southwest Ohio’s premiere parks and hosts events such as the Concours d’ Elegance Car Show, as well as summer dances and a community July 4th celebration. Its beautiful backdrop and pavilion make it popular for weddings and private parties.
Trail MapAt around 224 acres, Ault Park also is one of the best parks in the city in which to observe the ancient geology of Cincinnati.
The Frederick H. Alms Memorial Park on Mt. Tusculum offers a magnificent view of the Ohio River at a point originally called “Bald Hill” because local Native Americans cleared the trees to have an unobstructed view of early settlers of “Columbia.”
Trail MapThis hilltop 94-acre park was given to the Park Board in 1916 as a memorial to Frederick H. Alms by his wife. The land was once owned by Nicholas Longworth, who produced his Catawba wine there before the Civil War. From its heights, one can see the juncture of the Little Miami River with the gigantic bend of the Ohio, the hills of Kentucky, Lunken Airport, and panoramic valleys.
The Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park, completed in 2003 along the Ohio River just east of downtown, is a sumptuous and award-winning display of sculpture and flora representing five continents and also featuring a riverside bike trail and walking paths.
Named for CIncinati’s first African-American mayor, it serves as a lasting tribute to world unity and global understanding. The grand design of the park drew its inspiration in part from a child’s friendship bracelet. Two intertwining walkways guide park visitors through gardens of the continents in a perpetual celebration of international peace and friendship.
Just accross from Music Hall and created in 1855, historic Washington Park was once a popular site for art and business expositions, and was considered a parks showcase of the Midwest. Originally the site of a cemetery, the park features large old trees, a historic gazebo-bandstand, sculptures, a playground and walkways.