Picnic Areas

Franklin Park is perfect for picnics!  Neighborhood residents have been coming to the park every spring and summer for years, to hold large family reunions or small picnics.

Send us a digital photo of your picnic in Franklin Park for the FPC website! mail@franklinparkcoalition.org

Franklin Park is the only park in the city where it is legal to barbecue. Red cans in picnic areas are for hot coals. If you're bringing a large family or community group, you can apply for a permit for the date you want to picnic to make sure there won't be another big group at the site that day.

Picnic tables can be found at these locations:

The Resting Place or Shattuck Picnic Grove - located on the park maintenance road in front of the Shattuck Hospital. There's a baseball field just down the hill, two adjacent tennis courts, and a woodland path that leads to Scarboro Pond, just a ten minutes walk away.  The Resting Place, the name given by Frederick Law Olmsted, denotes the spot where local Minute Men rested on their way home from the battle at Lexington and Concord.

Playstead Picnic Spot - located on the southeast corner of the Playstead, adjacent to the rear or "Giraffe" entrance to the Zoo, just in from Seaver Street and Elm Hill Avenue. In addition to the playing fields on the Playstead, great for a game of frisbee or wiffle ball, there's a basketball hoop and playground close to the picnic site. 

American Legion Picnic Site - located just in from the American Legion Highway entrance to the park, across from Franklin Hill and along the Loop walking path. There is a small playground here and Scarboro Pond is across the golf course, following the Loop path.

Schoolmaster Hill - located on a hill overlooking the golf course, Olmsted's "Country Meadow" where sheep once grazed. The path is unmarked, but you can find it about halfway along the main park road, on the same side as the golf course and the Shattuck Hospital. Across the road from the path is Valley Gates parking lot, adjacent to the Pierpont Road fork leading to the Playstead and the rear entrance to the Zoo. The walk to Schoolmaster Hill is up a gentle incline on a paved path. In addition to picnic tables, there is a restored stone walkway, an arbor, and an open structure that once held the park superintendent's office and a tea house. Children think it looks like an old castle!

Wilderness Picnic Grove - nestled in a grove of hemlock and oak trees, this site is not actively used today and many of the picnic tables are in disrepair. Small picnic groups can still find a few in good shape. From Valley Gates parking lot, take the woodland path straight back from the road and look for a small tin sign on a tree on your left pointing the way.

Be sure to take all of your garbage with you when you leave. Please help keep Franklin Park clean and litter-free!