Druid Hill Park

Druid Hill Park is Baltimore's major green space — a 745-acre Victorian-era park in northwest Baltimore with a reservoir lake, wooded trails, historic structures, and the Maryland Zoo (one of the oldest in the country). The park was designed with the sweeping naturalistic landscape aesthetic of Olmsted-era American parks, and has survived the 20th century in reasonable condition.

The Maryland Zoo within the park is worth a visit independently, particularly for African savanna animals and the penguin exhibit. The park is most pleasant in autumn when the deciduous trees turn, and in early spring before the heat sets in. Getting there requires a car or bike — it is about four kilometres from the Inner Harbor.

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A story
Druid Hill Park was established in 1860, making it one of the oldest large public parks in the United States and predating Central Park in New York (opened 1858) by only two years. Both were part of the same 19th-century movement to create large green lungs in American cities. Druid Hill covers 745 acres, contains a lake, a zoo, and miles of wooded paths, and was — unusually for the era — originally integrated before being segregated by a court order in 1904.