Playground Pitstops
We believe everyone should have a close-to-home high-quality outdoor space where they can unleash their inner child. And for those times when you’re not so close to home, seeking out a playground or schoolyard is a great way to connect with nature and with the unique local vibe. These nine are extra special. Should you find yourself near one, take an hour or so to visit, with or without kids.
Rocky Graham Park, Marin City, California
Rocky Graham Park is the only outdoor recreation space in Marin City, which is home to more than 3,000 people. When the community redesigned the park, they envisioned a tree-house-themed play structure where exercise masquerades as play for kids. They also added an adult fitness area, so big kids can get their sweat on too.
Story Mill Community Park, Bozeman, Montana
This award-winning park and nature sanctuary—which is home to over 100 species of birds—undid heavy damage from prior industrialization. Now, its 60 acres include a restored riverfront, regenerated wetlands, and natural streams that greatly improve local water quality, plus a community garden to feed residents. Before becoming a park, Story Mill featured a wetland, wildlife corridor, and water-powered mill. The mill closed in the 1950s and sat in disrepair for several decades.
In the 2000s, the area was slated for residential and commercial development. Development plans halted due to bankruptcy, and doors opened for public, private, and nonprofit organizations to create a plan to return the landscape to a wetland. Trust for Public Land and city, state, private, and nonprofit groups planned and implemented the Story Mill Restoration Project.
Panorama Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado
It’s easy to say that the outdoors is for all, but making it so takes intention and thoughtful, inclusive, universal design like the sort you’ll find at Panorama Park. The Quiet Nook offers people with sensory sensitivity a peaceful spot to take a break from the noise. In fact, the whole playground complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and special attention was given to features designed for children with autism and people with mobility challenges. Children climb and play on a rope structure on a sunny day at Panorama Park.
To better understand southeast Colorado Springs, we worked hand-in-hand with community members every step of the way. Through a robust community engagement process, residents imagined the park of their dreams: universally accessible with multi-use areas and community art that reflects the spirit of the neighborhood.
Montbello Open Space Park, Aurora, Colorado
Imagine waking up every morning to the panoramic view that inspired Katharine Lee Bates’s “purple mountain majesties.” Imagine seeing the evening sky ablaze with orange and red hues as the sun sets behind the peaks. Imagine living your whole life in a state known for its outdoor splendor but never experiencing it. That was the reality for many residents of Denver’s Montbello neighborhood until Montbello Open Space Park opened in 2021, giving kids and their families the opportunity to connect—for the first time—with the Colorado outdoors by climbing on logs and boulders, walking through native tallgrass prairies, and splashing in a stream, all within a few minutes of home. Once a trash-strewn vacant lot, this 5.5-acre park, which serves 42,000 nearby residents, is now a restored native shortgrass prairie with an outdoor classroom, walking trails, interactive play spaces, and art designed with local students. It also features a central arroyo that collects and cleans stormwater before releasing it.
Five Mile Creek Greenbelt, Dallas, Texas
This ambitious greenbelt will include three new TPL parks and a 17-mile trail stretching across southern Dallas, adding vital green space for nearly 200,000 residents who increasingly face record- setting heat. Climate-smart features include native rain gardens and lighting that’s 100 percent solar-powered, which will save $71,000 in electricity costs over the next 20 years. Two of three new parks along Dallas’s Five Mile Creek Greenbelt that were designed in close collaboration with residents will include outdoor classrooms equipped with a pavilion and free Wi-Fi. The 3,567 Highland Hills residents who live within a 10-minute walk of Judge Charles R. Rose Community Park will have a place to exercise and breathe fresh air. The first stage features an outdoor classroom and views of downtown Dallas.
Historic Fourth Ward Park, Atlanta, Georgia
They don’t call it “Hotlanta” for nothing. So when “H4WP,” as it’s known, opened in 2010 with a state-of-the-art water-themed play area, it was an instant hit with kids and parents. But that’s not all that made the 17-acre park a splash; it also manages up to 44 million gallons of rainwater a day with its stormwater retention pond, fountain, and waterfall feature that help prevent chronic flooding that once plagued the area. Part of the Atlanta BeltLine—a 22-mile green space network— it gives people a place to cool off, play, and enjoy outdoor gatherings.
WACA Bell Park, Chicago, Illinois
Based on ideas sourced from residents, TPL worked with partners to reinvent this once-vibrant park, which serves 9,487 residents within a 10-minute walk. Its transformation includes new trees, which will combat rising temperatures in an urban heat island, permeable surfaces that reduce flooding, and upcoming solar panels that will power lighting and Wi-Fi throughout the park. WACA Bell Park is one of the first projects in Under the Grid, an initiative using public art to revitalize 15 blocks between the Pulaski and Kedzie neighborhoods in Chicago. Trust for Public Land helped lead community engagement sessions to redesign WACA Bell Park, ensuring that it was built with the community, for the community.
Now complete, the park is playful, active, colorful, open, and green—all ideas captured directly from residents during the engagement process. New trees, a colorful basketball court, and modern seating have helped rejuvenate the park to its glory days—an outdoor space that’s safe and welcoming for everyone.
Dundee Island Park, Passaic, New Jersey
Previously underused, this park—which serves 20,160 residents within a 10-minute walk—was transformed with local input and now includes a boat launch, soccer field, community garden, and walking trails. And its climate-smart design accommodates Passaic River flooding events, mitigating damage to surrounding neighborhoods.
Huntington Community Forest, Huntington, Vermont
Trust for Public Land teamed up with the Town of Huntington and the Vermont Land Trust to create Huntington Community Forest. Immediately adjacent to the Brewster-Pierce Memorial School in the heart of Huntington, Vermont, the 245-acre property provides the school with an outdoor classroom where kids can learn about the natural world every day, all year long— no permission slip required.
Huntington is the closest town to the iconic Camel’s Hump trail, but the steep terrain is too grueling for many residents. This community forest creates an outdoor space that people of all abilities can enjoy. A trail network offers exceptional accessibility for town residents and visitors to run, hike, snowshoe, and cross-country ski. By protecting the property’s riparian areas, wetlands, river corridors, and headwater streams, we’ve enhanced flood resiliency in the Huntington River Watershed and also protected the school’s drinking water. Huntington Community Forest now welcomes people of all ages to get outside and explore the trails.
