A Park for All

Brooklyn Bridge Park provides a natural respite for city folk and wildlife alike

There are landscapes that alter our understanding of what gardens can accomplish. Prominent among them, for me, is Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Stretching for almost a mile and a half along New York City's East River, this 21st-century park is, at 85 acres, the largest such project undertaken in the borough of Brooklyn since the days of Frederick Law Olmsted. At the park's conception, the site was challenging. It comprised half a dozen retired concrete shipping piers perched on wooden pilings above the water. Yet the designers, Michael van Valkenburgh Associates, envisioned a celebration of indigenous nature. Rebecca McMackin, who signed on as Director of Horticulture in 2010, and the talented horticultural team she assembled were charged with turning this vision into an actuality.