Franklin D. Roosevelt Park

Why go

Franklin D. Roosevelt Park earns time because it offers a broad South Philadelphia park where wetlands and recreation interrupt the surrounding infrastructure. Its central thread is lakes, lawns, sports grounds and renewed public spaces beside the stadium district. The central lakes preserve long views beneath mature trees. New play and gathering areas are changing how different parts of the park connect.

What to look for

• The central lakes preserve long views beneath mature trees.
• New play and gathering areas are changing how different parts of the park connect.

The full story

Franklin D. Roosevelt Park is best understood through lakes, lawns, sports grounds and renewed public spaces beside the stadium district. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park (originally named League Island Park and locally known as "The Lakes") is an aesthetically designed park located along the Delaware River in the southernmost point of South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, comprising some 348 acres (1.41 km2) which includes a 146-acre (0.59 km2) golf course, about 125 acres (0.51 km2) of buildings, roadways, pathways for walking, landscaped architecture, and a variety of picnic and recreation areas placed within about 77 acres (310,000 m2) of natural lands including ponds and lagoons. Bordered by the South Philadelphia Sports Complex on South Broad Street, Interstate highway-95/Philadelphia Naval Yard and Pattison Avenue/ Packer Park residential neighborhood. Many Philadelphians enjoy it as a green "Oasis" for a variety of recreational activities, while sport and entertainment event patrons attending games and events at the nearby stadium complex know it as an alternative place for offsite parking. The park was built to the design of Olmsted Brothers, the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted and John Charles Olmsted in the early 20th century. The parkland was reclaimed mostly from marshlands of Greenwhich Island, one of several islands in the area created by river channels present in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Useful to know

• Choose a defined loop because the park is larger than it appears from Broad Street.
• Daylight is best, and conditions near water can be muddy after rain.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.