Alley Pond Park

Public park in Queens, New York

Alley Pond Park is the second largest public park in Queens, New York City, occupying The park is bordered to the east by Douglaston, to the west by Bayside, to the north by Little Neck Bay, and to the south by Union Turnpike. The Cross Island Parkway travels north south through the park, while the Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway travel east west through the park. The park primarily consists of woodlands south of the Long Island Expressway and meadowlands north of the expressway. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Alley Pond Park was mostly acquired and cleared by the city in 1929, as authorized by a resolution of the New York City Board of Estimate in 1927. The park contains the Queens Giant, a tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that is the tallest carefully measured tree in New York City and possibly the oldest living thing in the New York metropolitan area. The Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC), with a library, museum and animal exhibits, is located in the northern part of the park, on the south side of Northern Boulevard.

What is now Alley Pond Park was once home to the Matinecock Native Americans, who harvested shellfish from Little Neck Bay. The English began to colonize the area by the 1630s, when Charles I granted Thomas Foster , on which he built a stone cottage near what is now Northern Boulevard. Mills were built on Alley Creek by Englishmen Thomas Hicks and James Hedges. The valley also contained the region's first mail route, established in 1764. In 1828, the Burhman general store was opened, becoming the only store in the area. On the west side of the valley, William Douglas (the namesake of the Douglaston neighborhood on the east side) bought around Oakland Lake in 1827. The lake itself was named after another estate, Frederick N. Lawrence's "The Oaks": that estate was named because of the many oak trees nearby, and was the namesake of the Oakland Gardens neighborhood on the valley's west side. The lake itself was used as a water source by the town of Flushing from the 19th century through the creation of the City of Greater New York in 1898, when the city built a water pumping plant on the lake; by the early 20th century, the city took its water from upstate reservoirs. His successor Bernard M. Patten also supported the purchase of the land, and Douglaston civics groups argued in favor of the park. After the New York City Board of Estimate passed a resolution in 1927 to allow the acquisition of parkland, the city acquired the Alley site for such purposes on June 24, 1929. Later that year, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) expanded the park into a landscape surrounding the Alley and removed some older structures, including the Burhman store. After this acquisition had been approved, Mayor James J. Walker declared that "there is no better site in Queens" for a park. These sections officially opened in 1935 with a ceremony attended by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. At opening, the park had of new playing fields; the Alley Pond Park Nature Trail, the first of its kind in the city; a bird sanctuary; bridle paths; tennis court; picnic areas; and a 200 space parking lot. Part of the southern section of Alley Pond Park was renovated into a nature trail and reopened in 1940.

After the 1930s, NYC Parks had focused more on recreation in Alley Pond Park than on the park's conservation. the expressway opened in 1957 The center portion of the park, surrounding Alley Creek, was not developed through the mid 20th century and was considered an "eyesore". The related legislation was rejected almost unanimously by the New York City Council, with only the two representatives of borough president John T. Clancy voting in favor of the expansion. The Oakland Golf Club disbanded in 1952 but served as a city operated course until 1961, after which it was developed into the Queensborough Community College, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, and tract housing. This contributed to pollution in the Oakland Lake section of Alley Pond Park. Ford Motor Company bought a lot on the northern side of Northern Boulevard in 1968, intending to build an automotive showroom there, but the company's plan was controversial, and was rejected by the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals. Another lawsuit was filed in 1977 to prevent the construction of a tennis spa next to Alley Pond Park, which the plaintiffs argued would cause pollution in the park, though the spa owners won the lawsuit.

By the 1960s, civic groups were advocating for Alley Pond Park's restoration. Two thousand people participated in the first "Walk in the Alley" in 1969, led by Queensborough Community College dean John O. Riedl. Local groups also argued for the preservation of Alley Pond and Cunningham Parks. The city's park system was in various states of disrepair by the 1970s, with a maintenance building at Alley Pond Park having burned down. NYC Parks also cut staffing at numerous parks: though Alley Pond Park was maintained by 17 workers in 1970, that number decreased to 11 in 1972. The agency commenced the Wetlands Reclamation Project in 1974 to rehabilitate the park's natural wetlands. The Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC), founded in 1972, moved to its own building on Northern Boulevard four years later. The city also acquired over $10.9 million worth of land for the park. however, the windmill was burned in an arson two years later. APEC volunteers raised money to build a 40 feet (12 m) replica, which was completed in 2005. On the other side of the park, Gertrude Waldeyer led an advocacy group to preserve Oakland Lake, leading NYC Parks to spend $1 million restoring the lake in 1987, with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation designating the surrounding area as freshwater wetlands the next year. In 1993, almost $1 million was spent to restore the Picnic Grove, renovate two stone buildings, and reconstruct the playground and soccer field. This led local groups to propose that the city hire an administrator to run numerous parks in eastern Queens, including Alley Pond Park, Crocheron Park, Cunningham Park, Douglaston Park, Fort Totten, and Udalls Cove. A proposal to renovate the interchange between the Cross Island Parkway and Long Island Expressway was announced in 1995, leading conservationists to raise concerns over the potential removal of trees. The interchange plan was approved in 2000. With the renovation of the interchange, of the interchange were reclaimed for park usage, and Alley Pond was restored. The project was completed in 2005. The area around Oakland Lake was restored again in 2011. after a renovation of its Northern Boulevard headquarters had begun that September. The renovation of the APEC building was delayed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The restored complex is now open and tours are scheduled daily.

At , Alley Pond Park is the second largest public park in Queens, behind Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, and the ninth largest public park in the city. It occupies part of a terminal moraine, a ridge of sand and rock, that was formed by a glacier 15,000 years ago, at the southern terminus of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Boulders dropped by the glaciers on the hillsides of the southern end of the park still remain, as do scattered kettle ponds formed by melting ice. Much of the park is part of the Alley Pond nature preserve.

Alley Creek flows northward through the valley within which the park is located, emptying into Little Neck Bay. Alley Creek is surrounded by some of the last remaining old growth forest in Queens. The creek is crossed by a masonry and metal span carrying Northern Boulevard and a viaduct carrying the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch. the latter two are shallow wetland ponds. Numerous species of bass, pickerel, and sunfish can be found in the lake, and fishing is allowed. An urban legend speculated that the lake was 600 feet (183 m) deep with an underwater spring flowing to Little Neck Bay, but a 1969 study of the lake found it was only 20 feet (6 m) deep. Oakland Lake was officially used as a water source from the mid 19th century likely into the 1950s. The brook leading to the lake was channelized and later infilled in the 1930s, and the wetlands were partially infilled in 1941.

The northern end of Alley Pond Park includes of freshwater and saltwater wetlands. Freshwater from further inland mixes with the saltwater from Little Neck Bay. These wetlands host a complex ecosystem with numerous bird and fish species. The APEC building, on the south side of Northern Boulevard, was announced in 1975 as part of a series of improvements across Queens. The building opened in 1976 and contains a library, museum and animal exhibits. It is the tallest carefully measured tree in New York City, measuring 133.8 feet (41 m) tall with a 19 feet (6 m) circumference as of 2004, and it might also be the oldest living thing in the New York metropolitan area, being between 350 and 450 years old in 2004. A tree in Staten Island, known as the Clove Lake Colossus, has a more massive trunk, but it is only 119 feet (36 m) tall. The nearby Great White Oak in Douglaston, though smaller, may have been about 600 years old when it was cut down in 2009, though that tree's age is also disputed. The Queens Giant is hidden within a grove, barely visible from the westbound Long Island Expressway. The Queens Giant is surrounded by a metal fence on all sides to protect it, and a hill and a sign describing the tree stand in front of it. South of the Grand Central Parkway is the Alley Athletic Playground, with five baseball fields, a cricket/football field, a soccer field, a handball court, numerous batting cages, and a playground. Alley Pond Park also has numerous hiking and walking trails.

The Alley Pond Adventure Course is at the southern end of the park. Opened in 2007, The ropes courses extend up to 45 feet (14 m) above ground.