Forest Park Hiking Trails

Forest Park is the third-largest park in Queens, and is home to the largest continuous oak forest in the borough! Explore a century-old pine grove on the orange trail, go birding at Strack Pond on your way through the red trail, and check out some of the park's historic sites, including the Richmond Hill War Memorial and The Carousel. Be sure to stop by the Forest Park Visitor Center to meet the Urban Park Rangers and to learn more about the park!

Interactive Map

Download the Forest Park Trail Guide.

Points of Interest

Buddy Monument

This WWII sculpture, known as the Richmond Hill War Memorial, by Joseph Pollia (1893-1954) represents a standard infantryman known as a “doughboy.” This name is commonly attributed to the rudimentary biscuits consumed by troops, though the derivation of the term doughboy remains in question.

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Pine Grove

This stand of pine trees was planted in 1914 after a fungus infected and killed 15,000 chestnut trees in 1912. Through the years, new pines have been planted in place of those that died, but several specimens here date as far back as 1909.

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The Overlook

In 1898, the five boroughs were consolidated to form the City of New York; at that time what was then the Brooklyn Parks Department managed the parklands in what is now all of Queens and Brooklyn. It was not until 1911 that an independent Queens Parks Department was established for the borough, and a new building was designed to house the administration. The result was the Overlook, so named for its sweeping view of Forest Park.

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The Carousel

The Forest Park Carousel holds some of the last surviving creations of master wood-carver Daniel Carl Muller.

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Strack Pond

This meadow honors Private First Class Lawrence George E. Strack (1948-1967), the first Woodhaven resident to die serving in the Vietnam War. His name appears on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, on panel 16E, Row 014. In 1966, NYC Parks constructed the Twin Fields baseball diamonds on this site, bounded by Woodhaven Boulevard and Forest Park Drive. After construction, the baseball fields were continually flooded with water due to the natural shape of the grounds (known as “knob and kettle” terrain), caused by glacial movement from over 20,000 years ago. Despite attempts to alleviate the problem with landfill and drainage pipes, the fields frequently went unused. As a result, the site has been converted back to its natural kettle pond condition. The City helped fund the renewal with funds from Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act. Parks planted many native trees, shrubs, and herbs such as the Canada mayflower (Mainthemum), Pennsylvania sedge (Carex), Low bush blueberry (Vaccinium), Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum), Sweet pepperbush (Clethra), Red maple (Acer rubrum) trees, Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum), Fetterbush (Leucothoe fontanesiana), Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), and Arrowwood (Viburnum debtatum) shrubs.

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Forest Park Visitor Center

The Visitor Center is home to the Queens Urban Park Rangers, their nature center critters, and many engaging artifacts and displays. Parks patrons are encouraged to stop by to check out free educational programming and learn about local wildlife.

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