Brooklawn Park
85 acres in the North End — ballfields, a skate park, a splash pad, woodland trails and a duck pond, on land once walked by Thoreau and Emerson.
85 acres
North End
8 ball fields
Free to visit
North End
85 acres
Free to visit
8 ball fields
About the Park
Brooklawn is the North End's backyard — 85 acres of ballfields, courts, woods and open lawn that stay busy from the first spring practice through fall cross-country season. It's a genuine multi-use park: youth leagues on the diamonds, kids cooling off at the splash pad, teenagers at the skate park, and neighbors doing laps on the flat, paved walkways.
On the eastern side, families gather at the duck pond, where geese and mallards nest around a little island house. Head west and the park turns quiet and wooded — a genuine pocket of forest in the middle of the city.
What's here
Baseball & softball
6 baseball, 2 softball fields
Courts
4 tennis, 2 basketball
Splash pad
A summer favorite
Skate park
Plus a playground
Baseball & softball
6 baseball, 2 softball fields
Courts
4 tennis, 2 basketball
Splash pad
A summer favorite
Skate park
Plus a playground
Nature & running trails
Including cross-country
Community center
Rentable for small events
Nature & running trails
Including cross-country
Community center
Rentable for small events
Home to Whaling City Youth Baseball, Bay State Girls Softball, and New Bedford Pony League Baseball.
Ricketson Nature Center & Trail
Tucked into the park's wooded west side, the Ricketson Nature Center is a community space built around nature and environmental learning, with local plants and animals on display and free, child-focused programming year-round.
Ricketson's Nature Trail winds out from there through a surprisingly dense stretch of urban woodland, full of unusual woodland perennials and wildlife. The path dates all the way back to Daniel Ricketson's own residence here in the 1800s. Parking is available along Brooklawn Avenue.
Ricketson Nature Center & Trail
Tucked into the park's wooded west side, the Ricketson Nature Center is a community space built around nature and environmental learning, with local plants and animals on display and free, child-focused programming year-round.
Ricketson's Nature Trail winds out from there through a surprisingly dense stretch of urban woodland, full of unusual woodland perennials and wildlife. The path dates all the way back to Daniel Ricketson's own residence here in the 1800s. Parking is available along Brooklawn Avenue.
A bit of history
Long before it was a park, this land was the country estate of Daniel Ricketson, a prominent New Bedford Quaker, historian and abolitionist who built here to escape the bustle of the city center.
Ricketson kept remarkable company. Among the guests who visited him on these grounds in the 1800s were Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson — two of the most influential writers in American literature, walking the same woods where New Bedford kids now run cross-country.
As the textile industry boomed and the city's population grew, New Bedford converted the land into a public park at the end of the 19th century — and it's been the North End's gathering place ever since.
Location & contact
Brooklawn Park
New Bedford, MA 02740 · North End
Trail parking along Brooklawn Avenue
Park info: (508) 961-3015
Flat, paved walkways throughout
Brooklawn Park
New Bedford, MA 02740 · North End
Trail parking along Brooklawn Avenue
Park info: (508) 961-3015
Flat, paved walkways throughout
Homes near Brooklawn Park
North End listings — a strong fit for families with young kids.
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