Arthur Von Briesen Park

This former estate on the east coast of Staten Island is one of New York City's most serene and beautiful waterfront parks. The elegant sign at the entrance to Arthur Von Briesen Park is a good clue in itself.

Signs don't always reflect the aesthetic of what's inside, of course. But the handsome lettering and stone wall suggest this place belonged to someone of means, and the park's sweeping paths and green lawns evoke the upper-crust life too.

Arthur Von Briesen wasn't a typical rich gentleman, though. In 1876 the German immigrant and Civil War veteran helped found the German Legal Aid Society for the benefit of poor German immigrants. Later he became its president. In 1896 it evolved into the (just plain) Legal Aid Society, offering free legal services to cityfolk wherever they came from.

"Von Briesen argued," says the Parks Department website and historic sign, "that the benefits of democracy should be available to all, regardless of nationality. Immigrants, he believed, made better citizens when they are treated justly." It's wisdom some of today's public figures might do well to take to heart.

Look northward and there's the lower Manhattan skyline.

Look south to Fort Wadsworth and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

After Von Briesen died in 1920 the estate lay fallow until his heirs donated it to Parks. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses had the decrepit remaining structures demolished, and the park opened to the public in 1949. A renovation in 2001 has left us with the park in its present state, with some of Von Briesen's red oaks, horsechestnuts, and tulip trees lingering.

My favorite quote from the historic sign reads: "Frequent attempts to add active recreation facilities to this site failed as Parks determined that the site remain 'the most beautiful passive park in the city.'" It's hard to argue with that.

John J. Carty Park

I've been servicing my car in Bay Ridge for at least a decade, and only just now discovered that there's a park a few blocks away.

The location of John J. Carty Park, affectionately known as "JJ Carty," under the Verrazano Bridge feeder ramps doesn't make for a pastoral landscape. But its history is tied to the great bridge's, as the Parks Department asserts: "The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority developed both the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (1965) and this park concurrently thanks to a 1956 federal grant."

It's also known as Rubber Park because, according to Wikipedia, it was one of the first city parks with rubber matting under the children's play areas. (Not for the other reason any number of city parks could be called that.)

Rubber matting probably isn't needed under the Fort Hamilton Senior Recreation Center, which is in the southern tip of the park by 100th Street.

John J. Carty, who lived nearby, was a longtime First Deputy City Comptroller, and not to be confused with engineer and inventor John J. Carty, though the latter also had a New York City connection, becoming Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1889.

The park is really a row of separate spaces devoted to different activities. The best greenery comes from some lush trees just outside the park's northern end. Are these hickory trees? Ash? If anyone knows, please leave a comment below.

A peaceful sitting area contains a monument to the explorer Giovanni da Verrazano himself.

The lawns are thin and parched-looking right now, but the water jet was spraying enthusiastically on a happy toddler. After sinking into a state of relative neglect for awhile, JJ Carty got a bit of a touch-up during a recent spruce-up event.

Step south, and an expanse of barren concrete sweeps up to a bridge ramp.

The tennis courts are not terribly well maintained – their Global Tennis Network listing has a blank space after "amenities" – but they look usable.

The farther south you go, the bleaker things look. If I'd approached from the lower end and walked up, this post might have a different aesthetic arc, even with the exact same photos.

In any case, given the location, it's nice there's a park here at all.

Bath Beach Park and Shore Parkway Greenway

Bath Beach Park, also known as Bath Beach Playground, is a utilitarian space at the seaside edge of Brooklyn's quiet Bath Beach neighborhood. A walkway through the park ending at a curved wall is named for Joseph L. Pezzuto, a local community activist who had a major hand in the livelihood of this park and the whole Bath Beach neighborhood through a big chunk of the 20th century.

Atop the wall is a raised platform with benches.

Visiting on a warm weekday afternoon in early summer, I encountered a whole lot of not very much, just a scattering of children and their caretakers. From some angles it was easy to imagine I was in an episode of Life After People. The dusty softball field looked like a desert, the bocce courts and chess tables just as empty.

It was only the middle of the afternoon, so there wasn't too much going on in the playground itself either.

But at the back of the playground a strange gate beckoned. Why was it open? Where did the path lead?

I had to investigate, so, keeping an eye out for poison ivy and goblins, I followed the trail around the corner of the playground…

…and to the end. Where I found, not to my surprise, nothing.

Behind the handball courts is another unused grassy area. It all seemed to add up to something strange about Bath Beach Park. In college at NYU, Joseph L. Pezzuto was a member of the Rho Epsilon real estate fraternity – did you know there was a real estate fraternity? I sure didn't – but he died in 1999, so I can't ask him about Bath Beach Park's weird extraneous real estate.

Just across Shore Parkway a pedestrian bridge leads to the long bike path running alongside the Belt Parkway and the edge of Gravesend Bay, the Shore Parkway Greenway.

Looking west you can see the Verrazano Bridge, which upon its completion in 1964 became the longest suspension bridge in the world, a distinction it held for some time. In that great age of accomplishment, the U.S. could boast many firsts, bests, and biggests.

This pair made a nice silhouette against the span.

And with them, we bid farewell to Bath Beach, that former fashionable retreat, and, at least for now, to the Shore Parkway Greenway.