Lancaster Parks
FHTA couldn't have built the trail without lots of help from many people, organizations, or government agencies, but we never would have put down an ounce of asphalt without the support of and help from Lancaster Parks and Recreation. They were there from the beginning. Most of the Lancaster trail itself is a park - maintained by the park district. Sections of trail that are on school property are maintained by that school (Lancaster City Schools, Ohio-University Lancaster, Forest Rose School). One of the goals FHTA had in laying out the route of the trail system was to connect as many parks and places of interest as possible. Lancaster is unique for a city of its size, with over 25 park and recreation areas. Starting at the westernmost end of the trail at Ety Rd, you'll pass through the Long Lakes wetland, Hocking Park, the Robert K. Fox Family Y Recreation Plex, Miller Park and Miller Skate Park, Martens Park, Hunter Community Center, Olivedale Senior Center (where FHTA meets every month), Maher Park, Cenci Lake Park, past Elmwood Park, Mary Burnham Park (AKA Cherry St. Park, for those old school Lancastrians!), Lanreco Park, and end up at Forest Rose School, where the Sensory Trail and Accessible Tree House can be found. Heading east from Mary Burnham Park along East Main Street, bike lanes on E. Main connect to the Lancaster Parks and Rec soccer fields. Following Broad St. north from Cenci Lake Park, a shared bike route connects the trail system to Downtown Lancaster. There you'll find Zane Square - the central part of Lancaster dedicated to its citizens by its founder, Ebenezer Zane. The northwest corner of Zane Square includes a statue of its most famous son, William Tecumseh Sherman, alongside a Civil War cannon he gave to the city, and Veteran's Park. Fountain Square is the southwest corner. The northeast corner is The Bandstand, the site of weekly free concerts in the summer sponsored by Fairfield Federal Savings and Loan and Lancaster Parks and Recreation, and the central location of the Lancaster Festival's free concerts in July. The southeast corner is the Lancaster City Municipal building - an impressive sandstone edifice built in the nineteenth century. |
|