I know I keep talking about the CITY of Manchester, NH and all there is to do here but, before you start picturing all the concrete and blacktop, I thought I’d talk a bit about all the walking and hiking you can take in without driving all the way to the White Mountains.
From the Ash Street Inn you can get to some pretty fun spots pretty quickly. The list of parks within the city limits is pretty extensive and can be found at the Manchester parks and recreation website. As you can see from this listing, some of the parks are quite small – mostly historical monuments and such. But several are quite large and allow for lots of recreational activities year-round.
Derryfield Park is just about a mile east of the Inn. It is situated on a broad hill overlooking Manchester, to the west, with great views of the skyline and the mountains beyond. The park covers almost 77 acres primarily around the Oak Hill Reservoir, with some of the area developed for recreation and some left in it’s natural state. At the northern end of the park it connects with the McIntyre Ski Area which is a small, local ski area that is a favorite for tubers! A great park for lounging around on a Sunday afternoon with a good book – and a pillow!
Livingston Park/Dorrs Pond is about a mile north of the Inn. The park is situated around Dorr’s Pond and offers a wide of recreational activities from fishing and hiking to soccer and tennis. It covers over 130 acres, including the pond, and is a favorite nearby getaway for our guests. For a day of fishing, a few quick sets of tennis or a three mile run, it is close and convenient and still in the city.
The Massabesic Audubon Center may be the best of all. Just six (6) miles from the Inn, the sanctuary surrounds Massabesic Lake which is the primary water supply for the city of Manchester. The Lake has a surface area of 2,500 acres and the protected watershed area covers another 8.000 acres. Here you can fish and boat, hike, go bird-watching and just commune with nature all day long. There are guided activities through the Audubon Center as well as marked trails if you want to head off on your own. Whatever you choose, it’s a remarkable place to be for a few hours and just a few minutes from downtown Manchester.
These are a few of the large parks and well worth the time to visit. But you don’t even need to go out of your way to enjoy some great little parks that dot the city. From the Inn to the restaurant area Elm Street, you can pass through three parks complete with well mown grass, trees and flowers, traditional park benches and all the little things that make parks fun like children, puppies {on leashes, of course) and squirrels. All during a 15 minute on your way to dinner. Which we’ll get back to next time.
