" An honor " I love this park. It's so much fun . The…read morepeople are lovely. I look forward to coming her many times over . They have parking.

Great 17+ acre park you can play soccer, baseball, softball, etc. Also has a running track and…read morejust south of the main baseball field is a kids playground. The playground is actually good...has swings for adults, kids and infants, a seesaw, and two different playground areas. There's also a fountain where kids and run through on hot days.

Duggar Park...what can I say? If you have any ties to "West Meffa" then you already can understand…read morethe history and appreciate its past. Duggar Park has been a West Meffa institution since my Dads younger days (he just turned 70!), back when West was the predominantly Black neighborhood of Medford. The Rhône tennis courts were named after a well known resident, and events are held throughout the spring/summer here. There's 2 playgrounds here, a sprinkler some tennis courts and a basketball court all along the Mystic river neighboring Somerville. And maybe even once in awhile you'll catch the ice cream truck stopping by. I have so many great memories of this park from the 80s/90s there's no reason why it doesn't deserve 5 stars. It's a great local small park if you're in the area great for kids and families.

Nice little park for kids 2-5. Right on the Mystic River. Some trash around but generally a nice…read morefeeling. Sign says to avoid park at dawn and dusk due to mosquito and tick borne illnesses. Swings, tennis courts and basketball courts next to kids areas. Would come back.

Tucked away on side streets in Arlington and just off the bike path, this recently renovated park…read moreis a gem for younger kids. Plenty of equipment and a sandbox with an excavator make for a great time. Other attractions include a basketball court, community garden, and picnic tables where you can host birthday parties. My kids love it.

Conway Park was a lovely little spot in which to eat some wings garnered at WOW Somerville. Ok, I…read moreadmit, it was the closest place we could find to eat. We had the benefit of hearing some drunk/doped up guy verbally abuse his drunk/doped up girl. Way to stimulate the appetite.

Nice little park, not bad for something in a fairly dense urban area. Not exactly insulated from…read morethe bustle, with the busy road on one side and the basketball courts on the other, but it's a relatively relaxing green place to sit (once you find a spot without dog crap or broken glass). But every spring, the cherry blossoms bloom like fireworks, and then it's picnic time. The playground is good, too. Not constantly overrun by kids, and the swings are nice and big.

What a great playground! The only reason that I give it four stars instead of five is because the…read morerubber surface squares that cover the entirety of the playground are coming apart, leaving gaps that kids can trip on. However, this is a perfect playground for all ages, from age 2 on up. There are four different sections: a wooden play set for older kids, a toddler section, another wooden play set for toddlers and older kids, and a climbing structure off to the side for older kids. The wooden playground equipment in the middle is perfect for playing chase, because there are lots of bridges to run on and spaces to hide under. Climbers will love all of the things to climb on, including a wall with a rope to help you scale. There are slides galore, bridges, monkey bars, fireman poles, ropes, tunnels and steps. The only thing: There are no swings here! But there are so many other things to do that you don't even miss them. One of the best things about the playground in this park is the view. You can see the Charles River from this playground, as well as all of the beautiful buildings and bridges around Boston.

Playground off of Storrow Drive with a lovely waterfront view. One set for kids 5+, and another set…read morefor the toddler types. Slides, swings, tubes, all of your basic playground needs. It's fenced in, which is a plus. There is no parking, which is a minus. But it's walkable from the green line. Stroll over to the nearby Lee Memorial Wading pool to make a whole day of it with your little ones. ETA: there actually is parking, over by the wading pool, but you have to put your life at risk by slowing down enough on Storrow drive to turn into it. Then you have to try to get back on... obviously this outrages everyone else on Storrow to the point of lewd gestures and angry horns, since they're so busy with their important lives.

Our little group had lunch in town, and two were staying a few nights to visit their son, who lives…read morenot far from here because his first job after college is in Boston. We then needed to walk the dog, and we went to Powderhouse Park. I can recommend it for a fifteen minute stroll around the perimeter, to walk the dog, or if you happen to be in the area. It has historical features of interest, which is a bonus. I am glad municipalities have green space. That is so important to live-ability. I would not say this facility is a destination. It's too small. Tufts University is nearby. The founder of that institution and the owner who bequeathed this land were cousins or something along those lines, according to the internet (a credible claim, though my fact checking was merely cursory). If I were associated with Tufts or lived nearby, I could see coming here on a regular basis. It was not crowded, which is nice.

It's a great park to walk your dog around…read more It's not the best park for a picnic, mainly because it's a great park to walk your dog around. You smell what I'm stepping in? The squirrels obviously get fed because they're fearless. Or maybe they're fearless because it's a great park to walk your dog around? Either way, they will steal your Sun Chips, so (again) leave the picnicking for another park. Still, a park is a park, even one with random topography that can induce vertigo and no real separation from the anarchy that is the Powderhouse rotary. I do find it fascinating that the original powder house is somewhat present, in a senile, flaccid sort of way. The retired turret. Old Stoneysides. And I still talk about the day when I can hold a keg party there. But I wouldn't know what to do; I'm always in the dark. Because a party with a powder keg will be giving off sparks. I really need it tonight.

A decent community field that houses 2 baseball fields and lots of field space. There is parking in…read morea small adjoining lot or along a side street.

Big local park! Great to have such space in the neighborhood. This is in the middle of my running…read moreroute. Nice to see family, kids, children playing sports.

Oh, Alden Park. This is a special, special place. This is the park also known as "that playground…read morewith the crazy netted climbing thingy across the street from Oxford Spa." Yep. That's the one! That crazy netted climbing structure is the Climbing Web, a place for kids (and big kids like me) to climb around and get lost in the tangles of ropes and knots and rubber platforms. There's also a couple of slides, swings, a fountain, and plenty of other entertaining spaces to frolic in. The park functions as a school recess area for the Baldwin School as well as a community park and playground. It also happens to be of particular sentimental significance to me. This is where me and my honey came to play in the webs and swing on the swings in the middle of the night when we first met. He wasn't yet my honey then, but I like the think the spark was first ignited at Alden Park.

Children from the Baldwin school were playing ball in the circular area and after kicking the ball…read morethree times and grazing the stroller, without a single reaction from either the children or their parents, I stood up from the seat that I thought was designed for parents to sit in and walked down to the circular bit of the playground to ask the children to be careful with the ball. The fourth time, I was hit in the face. Not on the head, not on the leg, in the face. Again, nobody reacted (not an apology, not a single parental intervention to ask the children to apologize, be careful, stop or to ask me how I felt: a dodgeball thrown in your face does hurt quite a bit, I still have a sore lip and a headache). I stood up as I had no idea who was responsible, raised my voice in order to be heard and expressed my irritation and concern for my 5 month old. Still no reaction whatsoever. I saw a father look away and grab his child, so I am guessing, his son threw the ball? Minutes later, the ball came back to the stroller and this time I grabbed it, as I was starting to become really weary of the whole thing: that is, parents not intervening: I don't hold the children responsible, they are just children... Surprisingly, my gesture triggered a reaction from parents who demanded that I give the ball back. More surprising still was the chain reaction this confrontation provoked, by mothers who decided to gang up against me (as it was probably the easier option), rather than teaching their children manners or proper social behavior in what I thought was a public space. Of corse, nobody had seen anything when I reiterated that I was hit in the face. 1) Their first point was that this was the playground of the Baldwin School students, that it was where they played ball after school and it has always been the case. I must have been mistaken when I entered the premises in the first place, thinking it was a common space, open to kids below a certain age and paid for by local taxes. 2) This was followed by a girl telling me: "give me my ball back: it's my property! What would you do if I stole your baby?". Obviously the notion of property, already well-developed by the time children start the Baldwin school is mastered in their teenage years. Although I'm not sure that kidnapping my 5 month old would be charged as lightly as confiscating a used doge ball... 3) When I mentioned in passing that my five year old did not go to the Baldwin school, I was immediately told that I should probably go to the playground near his school, not this one. Another rule I was not aware of. 4) I was told by the cohort of mothers that if I didn't want to get hit by the ball, that I should go sit elsewhere in the playground to avoid the ball. I thought that the metal chairs screwed in the floor of the playground by the city of Cambridge were for the use of parents, grandparents, baby sitters who were keeping an eye on their children, not for decoration. Mine was climbing up the big frame, so I was strategically placed to see him play. 5) In addition, I was told that "instead of doing my knitting" (strangely, she had not seen me get hit by a huge ball but she could see me knit from that distance), I should watch the ball and I would have seen it coming to my face. Unlike parents who bury themselves in their iPhones at the playground (including those who "did not see me" get hit by the ball), I knit (I actually don't own an iPhone, believe it or not), precisely because I can look at my son while knitting. A lot harder to do while texting, going online, doing emails, etc. 6) In the end, I was told that if I wasn't happy with this setting, I should just go elsewhere, but they had nothing to do with it... I love Cambridge: I went to graduate school here, I was married at Cambridge city hall and I really think it is a place that can generate amazing people, scholars, great parents and kind children. Today I was disappointed by what I saw and by what I heard. Hearing a 12 year old invoking property, seeing such entitlement in parents who take it for granted that a public place is theirs and making the rules because they live here or their children go to school here. I thought that community was not just about what you could squeeze out of it, but also primarily about sharing, respecting and giving back. I'm disappointed because everyday, I tell my son to get off his bike when he goes into a playground, never to litter, to play with other children, to apologize if he hurts anyone or even just takes their turn on the slide, even by accident and to respect adults. As a result I sincerely hope that my child will not turn into a bully, a mean girl or a brat who terrorizes other children because they are different, ostracizes those who come from elsewhere or seem marginal and who dictates the rules on campus and in life because they come from wealth and utterly believe the world is their playground.