Matheson Hammock Park

August in Miami. It is hot, it is humid, it is truly tropical. Where can you escape the heat but still enjoy the outdoors? The best answer might lie along the eastern edge of Miami, in Matheson Hammock Park. Here, the sea breeze cools you with its gentle yet constant presence, and the mugginess melts away.

Matheson Hammock Park is huge, one of the biggest and best in Miami-Dade County. It has that great, only in the tropics feel to it, pushing right into Biscayne Bay. Standing at the edge of the park, one is graced with some of the best views of downtown Miami in the distance.

Since it sits right on the water, the park is a great launching space for people participating in water sports like kite surfing.

Probably one of the most popular features of the park is the man made lagoon and surrounding beach area. Different from any other beach in Miami, this is a unique feature that makes Matheson Hammock one of the coolest parks around.

Retreating inland, the area takes on a different feel, becoming more like a tropical nature park. There are some great trees and funky structures that are perfect for parties or picnics.

The park also has a marina, and a beach side restaurant called Red Fish Grill. After I got home, I was surprised to learn that the park actually extends further inland, west of Old Cutler Road. Here, it turns into a nature hike through a natural hammock habitat that used to cover the whole area before it was developed. My hope is to return to this part of the park, take pictures, and use that for another update. For now, enjoy the rest of the pictures and if you ever need a cool beach to check out, try Matheson Hammock Park.

David T. Kennedy Park

David T. Kennedy Park is in the Miami neighborhood of Coconut Grove, the city's oldest neighborhood and certainly one of its most vibrant. The park sits on the eastern edge of the city, just before Miami gives way to the water. Public access to waterfront land is a big thing that is missing from Miami, but as long as places like Kennedy Park exist we should take full advantage of them.  Though at times the water might be hidden behind trees entirely, you can never truly forget it is there. In a way it is comforting, knowing that at some point the land must stop, Miami's rapid development must stop, we can all stop to sit and look out at the ocean.

When I first came to Kennedy Park, it was to play soccer, and we picked one of the many open space areas to set up matches. At times there were even nets to play with, although they were absent on this visit. There is also a sandpit and nets set up for beach volleyball.

Other features of the park include a playground for young kids, a bike path that surrounds the whole park, and a dock that leads you to the other side of the park, bordered by the water and mangroves. Mangroves surround the park, and the area is dotted with a mixture of different kinds of trees, from pines to palms. The most interesting trees to me were those seen below, all bending at the same way towards the water. 

 Once you cross the small dock to the other side of the park, there are two separate, fenced off areas exclusively for dogs. Although there were many dogs on leashes in the other parts of the park, this would seem to be the area where dogs can truly stretch their legs, roam free, and just act like dogs. There is even a water fountain fit for man and beast!

On a hot day like today, you might be tempted to jump right into the water that borders the park. Luckily there is A.C.'s Icees, a Miami institution! Quench your thirst with a frozen lemonade or delicious fresh squeezed juice.

Kennedy Park would be a cool place even away from the water, but sitting on the edge of Coconut Grove along Biscayne Bay really sets it apart. What Miami needs is public access to waterfront land, and more of it! More waterfront parks, more public beaches, more places where we can go and enjoy the coastal region we all live in. Thank you to Michelle for taking the photos, there are more after the jump.

Merrie Christmas Park

Merrie Christmas Park is a beautiful, well maintained park on Le Jeune Road, east of US1 within the City of Miami. One of the first things that you notice as you pull up to the park, or even if you are passing by it, is the decline of elevation from the road surrounding it into the park itself. It's almost as if the park sits in a kind of geographic bowl. For a place like Miami, where flat topography is the norm, this difference in elevation is striking. It's not exactly rolling hills, but it is still unique from other parts of the city.

One of the best qualities of this park is that its focus is really on open space. There are so many parks in Miami that seek to control space, to use the land for specific, physical purposes: a basketball court in this corner, a pool in the other etc. That is not to say this can't be successful. Look no further than my previous post on Flamingo Park to see a park with a highly controlled use of space to see how a park offering a wide variety of recreational activities can be great. Still, there's something to be said about the feeling you get in a park that is simply open space to do as you please.

 

A playground, swingset and picnic tables/benches are the only real built objects in the park. The rest of the space is open to trees, and there are a lot of them. The shade provided by the trees was a welcome relief on what was a scorching hot day. In a city like Miami where tree coverage is low, it's nice to go to a park and seek relief from the brutal rays of the sun. 

It was a great experience to go to a park where less was more. The park was well maintained but you never felt like it was controlled. Even on a hot day, walking beneath the huge trees of Merrie Christmas Park was an excuse to be out in the open. The wide open space allowed for families to sit around, throw a baseball, and have a recreational experience that wasn't dictated by already built structures. Thank you to Michelle Nakah for taking the photos. I also heard that the hit horror short film Play Dead filmed a scene at the park, so when that movie gets big, you can go here as a part of Miami movie history. More pictures after the cut.

Margaret Pace Park

Plain and simple, this is a blog about parks. I'll use the blog to document exploration of a number of parks throughout Miami, the city that I live in. At times, I might venture outside of the county limits, but for now will stick with mostly Miami. There are a number of parks I hope to visit, and hopefully along the way other people will be able to learn more about the numerous places one can enjoy cheap or free leisurely fun.

Margaret Pace Park is the first park I visited for the purpose of this blog. I had been to it only once before, to play tennis with some friends who live in the neighborhood. It is a City of Miami park that is located at 1775 N. Bayshore Drive, in the area commonly called "Omni", over the by the Adrienne Arsht Center.

Hidden by high rise apartments, Margaret Pace Park is an urban, waterfront park that will make you appreciate the coastal nature of Miami. From the park you can see Miami Beach, as well as the different bridges and causeways linking the mainland to the barrier island, and small islands dotting Biscayne Bay. When I went it was cool, windy and cloudy, which made for an interesting view and feel of the park, in comparison to Miami's stereotypically hot and sunny days.

The park is multifunctional, with basketball, beach volleyball, and tennis courts, a playground and an outdoor gym. The best feature of the park though, is its wide open green space that leaves plenty of room for roaming, or just relaxing. You can even walk down to the edge of the water and stand on the rocks and look out onto Biscayne Bay.

Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it is the hidden nature of the park in a neighborhood under the heavy burden of road construction, but there was a surprising lack of visitors to the park. Despite the multiple recreation offerings, and its unique, waterfront location, most of the people I've seen on both visits have been a mixture of dog walkers and joggers encircling the park, never truly entering it. One would think that, with its proximity to a number of high rise residential towers, you would see more people enjoying a waterfront park right at their doorsteps. Hopefully in the future, I can visit Margaret Pace Park and see a more vibrant scene appreciating this true gem. In a coastal area with a surprising lack of public access to waterfront, a park like this one should be appreciated by all.

More pics after the jump, and thanks to Brian Ray for being the camera man!