Druid Hill Park is a 745-acre (3.01 km2) urban park in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. Its boundaries are marked by Druid Park Drive (north), Swann Drive and Reisterstown Road (west and south), and the Jones Falls Expressway / Interstate 83 (east).Inaugurated in 1860, under the administration of city Mayor Thomas Swann, Druid Hill Park ranks with Central Park (begun in 1858) in New York City, Fairmount Park (1812) in Philadelphia and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco as the oldest landscaped public parks in the United States.The land was originally part of "Auchentorlie", the estate of Dr George Buchanan (1696–1750), one of the seven commissioners responsible for the 1729 establishment of Baltimore Town, which was laid out by the commissioners the following year. Buchanan's country estate northwest of the town, and on the west bank and overlooking the Jones Falls stream running south to "The Basin" (today's Inner Harbor) of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River and future Port of Baltimore, included 579 of the 745 acres (3.01 km2) that comprise Druid Hill Park today. Renamed "Druid Hill" by Col. Nicholas Rogers, who married Eleanor Buchanan, it was purchased in 1860 by the City of Baltimore from family descendant Lloyd Rogers with municipal funds raised by the revenue derived from a one-cent park tax on the nickel horsecar fares, put through by 19th Mayor Thomas Swann, (1809–1883; served 1856–1860) - (later 33rd Governor of Maryland - served 1866–1869).After its purchase, Druid Hill Park was inaugurated by Swann on October 19, 1860. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Local residents often refer to the park as "Dru Hill" Park, a "Baltimorese" (local dialect) corruption of its given name, itself the inspiration for the name of the popular local R&B group Dru Hill.The park was designed by Howard Daniels, landscape designer retained by the newly created and appointed Board of Park Commissioners, and John H. B. Latrobe, (1803–1891), who designed the gateways to the Park and the alterations made to the early-19th-century Nicholas Rogers mansion that already stood in the site, later known as the "Mansion House". George A. Frederick, (1842–1924), the 21-year-old Baltimore municipal architect who later won the commission for Baltimore City Hall in 1860, (constructed 1867–1875), provided designs for architectural features in the park. Among Frederick's playful structures for Druid Hill in Moorish and Chinese styles is the Chinese Station erected in 1864[2] and the Moorish Station, which were stops on a narrow-gauge railroad that once wound through the park. The "Mansion House" now functions as the main administration building of the Baltimore City Zoo (founded 1876, later renamed Maryland Zoo in Baltimore).The Park served as an attractive hill for winter sledding during the 1940s, particularly for boys attending the nearby Talmudical Academy of Baltimore.Like Central Park in New York City's central urban Manhattan of the 1850s designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, (1822–1903), Druid Hill was at the northern edges of urban development at the time of its establishment. The northern end of the park, which contains some of the oldest forest growth in the state of Maryland, has never been landscaped, but rather left as a natural wooded habitat.Roadways through this section of the park have been closed to vehicular traffic since the late 1970s or early 1980s, but have always been open for hikers and bicyclists. A well-known Osage Orange tree, said to be hundreds of years old, was brought down by Storm Sandy in October 2012.The southern end of the park was a popular destination for city dwellers for a number of decades. Druid Lake, the park's most notable waterway, was constructed in 1863 and remains one of the largest earthen dammed lakes in the country. Through 2024, it serves as a reservoir for the Baltimore metropolitan area public water system, after which that function will be replaced by two large underground tanks installed in the western end of the lake.The dam was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1971.With the advent of automobiles, the park's many winding roadways became popular with car dealers who took potential buyers there to teach them to drive.Many of the park's older fountains and man-made ponds have been drained, allowing nature to reclaim those areas. However, many of their structures remain partially or completely intact.Druid Hill Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1973.The Park is also included in the newly organized Baltimore National Heritage Area in the 2010s in cooperation with the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Here is a local Business that supports the community
Google Map- https://goo.gl/maps/P4vXzzTVeEGEuUrK6
6340 Security Boulevard #100 Baltimore, MD. 21207
Be sure to check out this attraction too!