Green Spaces

Outdoors & Healthy Living

Buffalo has an entire park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted — that’s the same guy who designed New York City’s Central Park. He thought the purpose of green space was “to refresh and delight the eye and through the eye, the mind and the spirit.” Upon touring the City of Buffalo in 1868, he convinced local leaders that not one park– as in New York City’s Central Park – but multiple parks would better serve Buffalo’s needs. In all, there are six major parks, seven parkways, and eight circles throughout the system where residents make daily use of playgrounds, basketball courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, golf courses, running tracks, tennis courts, paths, trails, and a lot more.

Buffalo Niagara has many non-Olmsted designed parks across its region as well. Letchworth State Park is often referred to as “The Grand Canyon of the East.” And the Ralph Wilson Centennial Park, located along Lake Erie on Buffalo’s west side, is undergoing a $110M transformation​ into a world-class waterfront destination with a resilient shoreline to mitigate the effects of climate change and rising lake levels.

Enjoy beautiful and seemingly endless trails like: Eternal Flame at Chestnut Ridge Park, Knox Farm, Tift Nature Preserve, Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve, Niagara Gorge, Zoar Valley, The Town of Lockport Nature Trail, and Letchworth State Park.