Institute Park

Nana Andey 3 months ago

I couldn't find parking and was skeptical to park off the street. The area itself was clean. I didn't find homeless people sleeping there like I find in other places ( usually 1, 2 or 3) . The park is great for picnic with 1 tennis court. Not sure of other amenities. I plan to visit there again.

Paul Nakazawa a year ago

One of Worcester’s parks used for public convening —- outdoor concerts, celebrations and other community events. Pleasant place to walk, but suggest using mosquito repellent during the summer if walking close to the Salisbury Pond/marsh. For urban hikers, this is one of the public parks along the 14 mile East-West Trail that traverses the City. The Park would benefit from better way-finding signage and more paved paths. The boardwalk is one of the more interesting parts of the Park (but no signage!)

Kyle Doll a year ago

Lovely park with a a wonderful spread of trees, grass, pond, and in between. Has a great boardwalk path on the north side which connects the WPI townhouses (accessible from the sidewalk) to O’Connell field (annoyingly google maps has rejected attempts to add this connection atm). Some negatives: the pond is quite overgrown with invasive weeds and often smells horrid (particularly around Lancaster St), the paved trail does not encircle the entire park, the gazebo has a ramp that does not connect to the paved trail, the tennis courts are in poor shape, and the traffic on Park and Salisbury can be dangerous with speeding cars.

P S JR Edited 2 years ago

Friendly small park with a small pond with plenty of wildlife, swans to an occasional deer you’ll see walking the woodland trail bridge (safe modern) has a few corners with some bench seating, in traffic around Park Ave we often just just come here to clear our heads 20 min, it’s peaceful hearing the birds chirp and squirrels running around the leaves. A real 7 out of 10

Justin Shaw 3 years ago

Really lovely, peaceful park on a sunny afternoon. Not nearly as busy as Elm Park down the street. And not nearly as many "attractions". But if you want quiet open green space, this is the one. Unless there is a picnic or festival going on, that is. It's right by WPI, so there are college students hanging around, passing through to go to class. I just wish there were more sidewalks or pathways. You end up walking through mud to get from one end to the other. There is a new pathway close to the boardwalk, which is very pretty, and has benches to sit on by the pond. But it ends unceremoniously behind the fire station and to get back in the park you either have to turn around (and go back to where the path abruptly ends in the grass) or walk out the park and onto the street, on narrow, broken, dangerous busy street sidewalks, across the fire station driveway, and back into the park. It's kind of ridiculous tbh.