Alcott Park

Date: June 30th 2015
Global Location: Lat: 42.976872; Lon: -88.035247
Acres: 16.8 
Start Time: 3:15pm
Start Temp: 64 degrees
Weather: Partially Sunny, Breezy with some Clouds
Steps Taken: 2,255
Miles Walked: 1.06

Welcome to the beginning of my park adventure! Today's park and the very first one recorded for the purpose of sharing with all of you, is Alcott Park, located on 97th street in Milwaukee. This park and the elementary school next to it are named for Louisa May Alcott, author of the novel Little Women. Sadly, I could not find any online resources explaining why the city and county of Milwaukee has a school and park named for her. It's a fairly small park, and didn't take very long for me to walk through it.

Above is the map I followed for walking every step of the paved trails. Because I wanted to cover every trail as completely as possible I did have to backtrack and re-walk certain sections of the trail.

I parked near the only sign that bears the park's name, on 97th street. There is no parking lot for this park, and unlike many county parks I've visited in the past, this is the only sign that tells you where you are.

A view of 97th street through a grove of small trees I found pretty.

There's a splash area for adults and children to cool off during the summer. Not very deep at all, so it doesn't qualify as an actual park pool which is nice seeing as there is no charge to use it. Right nearby is the playground. Since it came up at the start of my walk, I didn't spend any time on the swings today.

This is the path that on the map, you can see it ends leading into a residential neighborhood on Tripoli Ave. I would love to live next door to a park path like this. I hope the people that live there enjoy it as much as I would.

In the distance to the West of the park, there's a smattering of trees and a field as far as I could see.

Pictured above is some kind of open park building. All I found inside was the wide open area with a few benches lining the walls, an office for the parks official who was working and the public restrooms. Just now realizing that I should have seen if it was cool to snap a pic of the guy working at the park and talk to him about it. Maybe he would have known interesting facts about the park. Oh well, note for next time.

ONE BUBBLER! This park only had one bubbler. (Or for anyone reading this who is not a Wisconsin native, a drinking/water fountain.) In the future, if there's more than one, I'll include a bubbler count at the top with my intro stats.

I really liked this bent tree. I could see myself as a kid hanging out and sitting on it with a book and a snack. I love it when nature makes the perfect furniture.

Another view of the Western field.

A baseball diamond and soccer field in the center of the big ring path around the park.

A thicket I found pretty.

Where the park path technically ends facing North. After this point you're heading into paths that connect the park to the elementary school.

Alcott Elementary

The tennis and basketball courts connected to the school.

A closer shot of the baseball diamond.

At this point I've finished all of the "park paths" but to finish up and head back to my car, I included the sidewalk along the side of the park on 97th street.

The park only has the one labeled picnic area.

As I was leaving I took a picture of the beautiful garden the school has near one of the front entrances. It isn't quite visible in this picture but the name Alcott is engraved on the benches.

A closer shot of the tennis and basketball courts. This sign even says the two are part of the school's recreation area and not the park specifically, which is why I didn't include them in my walk.

Summing It Up:Good walking park, activities for children, and dogs are welcome. Street parking only though and not a whole lot in the way of nature viewing. I think I saw one or two birds. I give it a 3/5 stars overall. Pretty average park but nice.

Next Park: Algonquin Park in Brown Deer