A Favorite Place: Bird Island Pier

Last weekend we took the kids to one of my favorite Buffalo places - Bird Island Pier. 

The 1.25 mile walkway, which begins at Squaw Island, carves out the placid Black Rock Channel from the brisk Niagara River. As it passes beneath the Peace Bridge, beyond the beginning point of the river and into Lake Erie, the pier gives the walker / runner / rider / fisher beautiful views of the city, lake, river and sky. 

If you're ever in the area, it's a must visit!

A view of Lake Erie with the Emerald Channel Water Intake Building in the distance.

Bird Island Pier, Black Rock Channel and the Peace Bridge on the American side.

Peace Bridge

The reason for the name.

A dilapidated Black Rock building declares its Buffalo love.

Get there: On the I-190, head South toward Buffalo. Take the Ontario Street Exit. Turn Right onto Niagara Street, and then Right onto Ferry Street (also known as Robert Rich Way). Drive over the bridge onto Squaw Island for parking.

The East Side's Secret Garden

This past weekend, we took the kids to the Buffalo Museum of Science. And we all loved it. We loved it so much, in fact, that on the way out we added a bit of money to our entrance fees and purchased a family membership. But I won't talk too much about the museum. You can visit the website and learn everything you need to know. But I do want to talk about someplace else. A magical place.

For those of you who don't know, the Science Museum is located in Buffalo's gritty East side. One doesn't expect to find a place of pure magic on the East side. But we did. On accident. 

Located right behind the Science Museum is Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. The park, formerly called the Parade, harkens back to 1871 and the wonderful mind of Frederick Law Olmsted (the landscape architect who designed Central Park in NYC, among many other brilliant spaces).  Originally connected to the gorgeous Delaware Park, MLK Jr. Park now stands alone, a poignant metaphor for the socio-economic reality of the area. But there is still beauty.

The eye is first attracted to the five-acre reflective pool, but that's not the real treasure. Adjacent to the pool is a modestly sized circular area enclosed by a wrought iron fence.  Inside the fence, a path makes its way around and through the space, canopied by beautiful old trees, and edged by smaller new ones. The day we visited, the air was thick with the sweet scent of flowering trees, and their blossoms fell like a soft snow. 

It was breathtakingly beautiful, enchanting, almost surreal. It was pure magic.