Tour: Astoria Park in Queens Nature, History, Engineering, Recreation, and Culture

At 60 acres, Astoria Park may be modest in size, but no city park surpasses the varied texture of the urban experience as a two-hour walk through this park.

Nature? Open lawns offer a vista of both wooded landscapes and Manhattan towers, the Hell Gate strait (the most dangerous New York City waterway), and bird watching on the Great Atlantic Flyway.

History? A Native-American village, stories of pirates, Victorian mansions, the HMS Hussar with its cargo of gold, the General Slocum disaster, and the legend of the Hell Gate Kid.

Engineering? The RFK Triborough Bridge, dubbed a ‘traffic machine,’ stands next to the extraordinary Hell Gate Bridge, which only needed a few coats of paint in its first hundred years.

Recreation and Culture? The Astoria Pool, the largest in New York City, Charybdis Playground, a running track, tennis courts, an exceptional concert venue and two comfort stations.