There are more than 2,300 acres of parks within the city limits of St. Petersburg, Florida. There’s an astounding list of all these parks (complete with addresses) at the parks page on the St. Petersburg city site. I count 126 named city parks dedicated for public use plus an additional 11 that are shared with public schools. And that’s just within the city limits!
Pinellas county, within which St. Pete is located, lists an additional 24 county parks on their parks page. If you enjoy outdoor activities, those are two links I would recommend bookmarking. The Pinellas County parks page includes information on parks that permit camping (such as my favorite, Ft. De Soto) and beaches and nature preserves. This Coastal Travel Guide listing for Pinellas County shows an accumulative 321 parks within the county.
Obviously, I’m not going to be able to cover all those in one post. So, over the coming months, I’m occasionally going to highlight a different park, calling its location and special features to your attention.
Today’s featured park is Lassing Park which is in the Old Southeast Neighborhood. St. Pete is divided up into very specific neighborhoods, all marked with signs, and each having its own character. I think that’s a good thing, although a friend, a long-time resident whose opinion I respect, thinks it leads to a balkanization of the city. As long as the neighborhood identities are sources of pride and foster a shared sense of close community–and don’t facilitate economic discrimination–then I think the highly identified neighborhoods are a good idea.
In a series of later posts, I’m going to explore in depth a number of those different neighborhoods, including the Old Southeast. Each is fascinating. But today, I’m only mentioning the Old Southeast because of its hidden treasure: Lassing Park.
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(If that map doesn’t display in your reader, here’s a link to it: MAP.)
As you can see from the Google map, Lassing Park is a long, narrow strip of land bordering Tampa Bay. The pictures in this post were taken at low tide. Low tide is a special time for folks down here. In many places there’s a shallow sea bed extending out quite a distance that is completely exposed at low tide enabling people to walk to “islands” as the people pictured below are doing.
Lassing Park is quite off the beaten path, but special to locals who know of its location. Once, I saw folks there assembling a hot air balloon for a ride. It’s a primo Frisbee layout. Or–my specialty–just chilling on a bench. There’s a modest, natural beach, and the narrow, extended length of the park allows the eye to really stretch out and enjoy the expanse of green and sea blue.
Some weekend enjoy this free treat. Or, if you brownbag your lunch, slip away from work to Lassing Park to renew your sanity before returning to the grind.
Most images link to larger images.
click on larger image for closeup
