Thursday, April 5, 2012

E is for Eden Park

Eden Park is one of Cincinnati's most popular parks, and also one of the oldest, as it dates back to 1859. The park is home to the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among other attractions.

Clancy and I visited Eden Park on a Sunday morning in early March, when the signs of spring were just beginning to make their presence known.


My favorite part of the park is the Twin Lakes area, which used to be an old stone quarry. On a normal day, one of the highlights of Twin Lakes is an overlook of the Ohio River, but on this particular morning the fog over the river was so thick that I easily could have believed there was no river below us at all.

Thankfully the fog didn't take over the rest of the area, and Clancy and I had a nice walk through the gardens surrounding the small lakes.



We found this statue of a Japanese cormorant fisherman in one of the gardens.


I had no clue what a cormorant fisherman was, but according to a nearby plaque, the cormorants are seabirds and fishermen in the city of Gifu, Japan began training the birds to help them fish more than 1200 years ago. The statue was a gift from Gifu to Cincinnati back in the 1990s, when the two became "sister cities."

I admit I didn't even know Gifu was a sister city, but I still thought the statue was cool and wanted to take a picture of Clancy beside it. But Clancy would have no part of it, as he thought the statue was creepy as can be and refused to go near it.

We moved on and found another statue.


This time I was the one who thought it was creepy and, honestly, one of the ugliest statues I've ever seen. It is a bronze replica of the Capitoline Wolf, and it was a gift to Cincinnati from the Italian government back in 1931. Interesting, but still ugly in my book.

At the far end of the lakes area, we came across a path that led nowhere, or at least, to nothing but a dead end overgrown with weeds and thickets. Near the end of the path, and not easily seen from the gardens, is a World War I memorial that is dedicated to the Battery F, 136th Field Artillery. It was dedicated in 1925, and lists the battle honors and the names of those commemorated.



I noticed that the inscription on the memorial said that it was "erected by the mothers." I found it very haunting, and also kind of sad that it seems to have been forgotten, as it is so removed from the bustle of the rest of the area.

As a history buff, I like all of the nods to history that can be found in Eden Park. Another popular area of the park is the Hinkle Magnolia Garden, which includes this picturesque gazebo.


Across the street from the gazebo, I found this stone among the flowers. The inscription reads "Find Me a Voice with which to speak For those who speak no more."


The stone was presented to the park by the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati in 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the Holocaust. I found the simplicity of the stone very powerful, and effective, as the words speak for themselves.

Eden Park is an unusual combination of history, beauty, and recreation, and as such it is the most diverse of the parks Clancy and I have visited. I actually made a return trip to the park recently for my K post, so I'll be sharing more about this local gem then.

See you tomorrow for F!

23 comments:

  1. Eden Park looks really beautiful...but I'd have to come in the summer because it also looks cold.
    Rhia from Five Minute Piece (about # 864 on A to Z list

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  2. Julie, that stone/quote for the Holocaust anniversary was beautiful.

    What a good post! I'm learning so many interesting things over here. :)

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  3. Julie,
    What a neat place...so gorgeous in the water and trees, but the plague grabbed my heart as did the stone~ That gazebo was adorable! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  4. I honestly have always loved Cincinnati for whatever reason. My Nana lived there, so we visted a lot when I was a little kid. We spent our first anniversary in the queen city and now your posts are making me want to come back even more. Not to mention we love the Reds and Bengals, so we have "good" reason.

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  5. Why are there little people under the giant stone wolf? Weird.
    Great photos!

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  6. Lloks like a great place to go for a walk and so pretty (well except for the stone wolf).

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  7. Hi Julie .. loved your Devou post, and now Eden park .. fascinating layout, sculptures - they're great .. the fisher men 'own' the cormorants and they fish for their owners .. amazing isn't it - Sue at Jumping Aground wrote about it - but I couldn't find the link .. if I do I'll email you ..

    Cheers Hilary

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  8. @Rhia, hi, thanks for coming by! I am looking forward to checking out your site, there are so many with A-Z I want to see it's amazing. It was kind of chilly there at the park, summer is definitely the best time to go.

    @Madeline, I thought so too, and it was so unassuming, I was really touched by it. Thanks!

    @Tracy, yeah, I thought that plague was so touching, and haunting really. I'm glad you liked the post, thanks!

    @ejw, oh, I can imagine you have good memories of visiting with your Nana. You should come to a Reds game, it's fun to have baseball starting up again. :)

    @Alex, the people are suckling the wolf's teats, which made the whole thing even weirder. It is the strangest looking thing LOL.

    @LynnMarie, LOL, yeah, next time I'll just skip right past the wolf.

    @Hilary, oh, how interesting, I'd never heard of the cormorants before! I will have to look for Sue's post, I'm not familiar with her blog but definitely want to check that out. Thanks!

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  9. Julie, Your blog is just fantastic. I'm really enjoying the tour! Just thought you should know.
    Beautiful pictures of Eden Park, BTW.

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  10. That stone with the quote is wonderful. So powerful in its simplicity.
    Great photos!
    I think I'm going to hit the park with my son. He needs to learn to ride his bike and this might be the day to do it.

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  11. Beautiful park and touching words.

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  12. What a lovely park. Those lakes look like a wonderful walk.

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  13. This is a beautiful park, and I especially like the meaningful inscription on the stone! Julie

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  14. @Susan, oh, that's so nice of you to say, thank you!

    @Annalisa, thanks!

    @deathwriter, thank you. I hope your son had success riding today!

    @Carol, I agree, thanks.

    @Mary, they were, as long as I avoid that wolf LOL.

    @Julie, me too, I was really glad I came upon that as it would have been easy to miss.

    @Emily, it really is a gorgeous place.

    @Jaimee, oh, do you live in Cincy or nearby? Great to meet you!

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  15. A beautiful park. I'm with you on combining as much history as possible. And sad about those names being tucked away. I'm enjoying learning about Cincinnati. So much is there. Clancy's a cool dude.

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  16. There are some real stories of history in this park, wonderful.

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  17. The pictures are really nice and I wanted to throw out there, I love a good thick fog. It makes everything seem otherworldly!

    Fellow A-Zer:
    http://libbyheily.blogspot.com/

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  18. Very interesting, Julie. It really is a mixture of history and random cultural markers! Looks like Clancy has artistic standards which he won't breach! lol

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  19. @Kittie, yeah, the WWI memorial just made me feel a bit sad. Thank you, and Clancy says thanks too! :)

    @Sarah, I thought so too, honestly I've been too the park 100s of times but never noticed most of the history before.

    @Libby, good point, honestly I love fog too, especially over the ocean. So cool and also kind of spooky. Thanks for coming by!

    @Carolyn, LOL, yes, Clancy is very rigid and won't budge LOL.

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  20. This looks like a beautiful park. Wonderful

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