Father’s Day at Palmisano Park
This weekend I went to Palmisano Park with Judy and our older son Daniel. Our younger son David is in Minnesota, but he and I had a nice talk on the phone.
Palmisano is an award winning park in the old and very urban neighborhood of Bridgeport (historic home of the Daley clan), south of the Loop. Work on the park began in 2009 on the site of a quarry that for 40 years had been used as a dump for construction debris. Today the park includes prairie and wetland habitats as well as a two acre pond.
We started off with lunch at Pleasant House, about a 10 minute walk from the park, a place that specializes in English-style meat pies. Suitably fortified, we headed out to explore this 27 acre pocket of nature in the city.
You enter from busy Halsted Street, coming to a fountain that recalls the cranes that were used in the old quarry. All the water that falls on Palmisano Park stays in the park, and water circulates from the pond to the fountain and back.
The walk to the pond is a steady descent. Overall, I thought the restored habitats seemed remarkably lush and full given that they had not been planted until 2011.
Along the way, we got to see some wildflowers. Right now is not when the prairie is at its most colorful, but we got to see both smooth Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis), and a blue variety I didn’t recognize.
There was also Coreopsis (I think it was C. lanceolata, but I couldn’t get close enough to tell).
Daisy fleabane was blooming (Erigeron strigosus).
Also, purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) was in evidence, although the flowers didn’t yet have the blooms that remind me of purple tutus.
As we descended, we got to watch shallow waters flowing and trickling downhill, occasionally channeled into little waterfalls. Much of the construction was done with slabs of repurposed concrete.
As we transitioned into the wetlands, we saw some blue flag iris (Iris versicolor).
There was also common arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) and a wetland grass unknown to me but interesting-looking nonetheless.
I enjoyed seeing the sun reflect off the flowing water as we got closer to the pond.
Palmisano Park was designed with the environment in mind, but it is very people-friendly. There were joggers, walkers, and kite flyers. Once we got down to the pond we found several families on fishing expeditions. I don’t know if they caught anything, but the state Department of Natural Resources keeps the pond stocked with fish.
We also saw a father supervising his kids as they played in the shallow water. I’m not sure why, but there is something about moving water that is magical for children, and ideally all should have the opportunity to play in a quiet stream.
After we were done walking, we retired to Bridgeport CoffeeĀ (at 31st and Morgan) where we had a long relaxing talk over some excellent iced coffee. If you find yourself in the Bridgeport neighborhood, this place is definitely worth visiting. Great coffee, pleasant and informal atmosphere, and good service. Oh, and they also have locations in Hyde Park and in the South Loop on Roosevelt Road.OK, full disclosure: the brother of a good friend of mine is a part owner. However, I didn’t learn this until after I had been there, and I had already decided that I really liked it.
I hope to get back to Palmisano Park later in the summer when more of the prairie flowers are in bloom and the grasses have reached their full height. And, of course, visit Pleasant House and the Bridgeport Coffee Company.
Did you do anything special for Father’s Day weekend?
gardeninacity 
Isn’t it amazing how quickly plants can establish? I love the idea of those tutus! It sounds like you had an excellent Fathers’ Day. Our kids dragged their dad to the pub, then we all went to a BBQ where the dads did all the cooking (not sure how that happened), followed by a quintessentially English game of croquet. I think your son is clearly looking after you better than our kids look after their dad (although I don’t believe the dads did all the washing up – so it wasn’t as tough on them as it might have been!)
Have you seen purple prairie clover in full flower? Here’s a link, and you’ll see what I mean. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/plantfinderdetails.aspx?kempercode=j970
I’m going to pass this post on to our daughter & family who live in the uppermost part of Chicago. Sounds like a great way to spend a day! The plants you identified remind me of a wetlands/prairie spot created in a small town nearby. We visited it last Friday (the paved walk is perfect for my hip rehab)!
Your daughter should visit if she gets a chance. Hope your hip recovery is going well.
Happy Father’s Day! We took a ride to Ipswich Mass and had fried clams, then stopped and played in Patton Park in Hamilton, the home of General Patton and family. Someday I would love to see the prairie in bloom!
Yum, fried clams. Hard to get good ones here. Growing up in NY I remember eating buckets of steamer clams.
Sounds like you had a great day. We went to early church and took our breakfast to the beach to eat and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Yes, there is something about water that draws us in. š
The ocean is much more majestic and mysterious, of course.
What a lovely day you had with your son!
Yes, and the weather was great also.
Glad you had a nice outing with you son. It’s nice to see places like this get a second life. We had a nice long chat with our daughter on the west coast. My husband requested pancakes, so we had buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup and fresh peaches.
Pancakes and fresh peaches, hard to beat that.
This looks a wonderful day out with your son, lovely to see land being reclaimed like this too. Great photo of you both, I can see the similarity! We spent it with most of my siblings, their families and our Dad in his lovely garden.
This site was really given a new lease on life – literally. But putting a dump in the middle of a densely populated area is the kind of thing we used to do.
Great day with your son! The park looks really lovely and like a tranquil oasis in the city. It definitely seems lush for only being there a few years. What a treasure!
I was just talking to someone who lives near the park and she had no idea what was in there until she saw my post. The park is an oasis as you say, though it actually has some spots with great views of the skyline.
What a lovely place to visit with your son, and nice to hear it is well used, it also looks like a wonderful place for wildlife!xxx
We did see songbirds, ducks and Canada geese and rabbits.
This is fascinatng, I didn’t even know this place existed. You had a beautiful day. Thanks for identifying the Daisy Fleabane, I took some pictures over the weekend of it and others I still have to figure out.
I think a lot of people still don’t know about it, I only heard about it because it was talked about in a lecture I attended.
What a great FD you had. It looks like your son is a fine young man too. The park seems like a nice, relaxing place to visit, I bet the pollinators will be doing just that.
He is a pretty good kid. And yes, the pollinators like this park.
A beautiful park! If they keep restoring habitat like this where ever will we throw our industrial waste?
Behind the mansions of rich people!
Good to hear about a new park in Chicago. Thanks for the introduction. For FD, the kids were here and we had a good time. I got close to nature, first by counting some sheep and then by sawing a few logs.
You are a regular John Muir, I always said so.
I have not been here before!!! Thanks for sharing this one as it looks just fantastic….I am adding it to my list!! And that first shot of you and your son is awesome! A very Happy Father’s Day to you!
I think you and the beans would definitely enjoy it.
Hi Jason, there’s some very heavy duty stone and concrete work in the restored park, which is understandable, given it was a quarry. It’s amazing how it was all restored and it hasn’t taken long after planting for all the plants to establish, come together and fill out.
That was my reaction as well.
It was a nice day and wonderful stroll with your son in this renovated park, Jason. Happy belated Father’s day!
I love the wild flowers too and they look nice on your photos.
Thank you.
A bit too late but still a belated happy fathers day to you :-). You really know all the native species. I see many of them around here and in my yard, but hardly know them. Seems like a real place to visit and wander around.
Yes, it’s a great place.
Looks like a great outing! We had lunch with my husband’s middle child and her husband.
Father’s Day lunch sounds very nice.
My son is in the Air Force so Father’s Day is on hold until July for the two of us but my daughter and I had a nice talk.
I like the way they built a sort of amphitheater down to the pond. It looks like a great place to spend the day. I think your mystery grass might be panicled bulrush (Scirpus microcarpus.)
Thanks for the ID. They do all kinds of educational programming at Palmisano, even overnight camping trips.
Sounds like a great day, you’re lucky to have this time together.
The park is nice, I always like parks best when they hold on to some kind of history and still look like a quarry or whatever else they were in a past life.
This park had some real personality, a sort of blue collar prairie park.
I love places like this that have been repurposed, especially if they are now parks.
It’s good to see a plot of land brought back to life.
What a perfect way to spend Father’s Day! Our son is fighting wildfires in the West, so we did not get to see him, but thank goodness for cell phones. Our daughter was with us the week before so we celebrated with her before hand. That is a remarkable park. I am fascinated with the way they repurposed the concrete.
My best wishes to your son, I hope he gets home safely.
What a wonderful visit….I look forward to seeing more wildflowers when you visit there again.