Monday, May 4, 2009

The Castle

The actual history of Deering Oaks goes back into the 1700's. Impressive! The Castle-in-the-Park was built in 1894, as a place of refuge for skaters from the cold wind and frigid January temperatures. I recall, getting my skates on in there on wooden benches and buying hot chocolate to stay warm. Today, 'the castle' still stands at the edge of the Oaks, amid other attractive features: the wonderful duck pond, complete with a duck house and water fountain, tennis courts, a baseball diamond, volleyball nets, a wading pool, basketball courts, horseshoe pits, a bacci ball area, a large playground for the kiddies, the cobblestone foot bridge and a newly renovated bandstand for summer concerts. The last time I stopped by, they were renting paddle boats out of the building and providing travel information for the city and the southern Maine area. As far as I'm concerned these days, there are two overwhelming attractions in the park: the spectacular trees themselves(hence the name Deering Oaks) and of course the 'millions' of squirrels! Both of these are well worth a visit, anytime of year.

3 comments:

  1. It is good to learn that some parks are really filled with trees of maturity and that they have lots of wildlife. Squirrels sounds good to me.

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  2. Howdy... thanks for visiting. I answered your question back on the blog about who is on the step. Click on "read more" and the next paragraph explains it.

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  3. folks, you have to enlarge this to really see it. Incredible colors and detail. Supremo!!

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