Heritage Park in Cerritos, CA, offers kids the chance to learn about America in the 1770s while getting their sillies out running and climbing around and through the town. The red covered bridge you see in the right of the photo is one of two entrances to the Heritage Park Play Island, the park’s main attraction.
Until last week, I forgot how much we love Heritage Park in nearby Cerritos, CA. The Play Island, Heritage Park’s main attraction, is designed to resemble a 1770s Bostonian village complete with the Old North Church (here a tall tube slide with climbers), model cannons, town buildings (with more climbers, slides, and pathways to explore), and maps and other markers detailing such history as Paul Revere’s midnight ride (1775) and President George H.W. Bush’s visit to the park (1988).
Heritage Park’s Play Island rules, hours, and special event information is clearly posted for all visitors to take note. No need for a town crier here!
Kids are thankful for The Old North Church on Heritage Park’s Play Island.
Just a couple of the small town buildings on Heritage Park’s Play Island, which resemble those one might find in an old Bostonian village.
A peek inside one of Heritage Park’s Play Island buildings.
The tall ship that’s docked at Heritage Park’s Play Island is a great place to sit and feed the ducks and turtles.
T operates one of the tall ship’s cannons at Heritage Park’s Play Island.
A spiral staircase winds its way up and down to various levels of Heritage Park’s Play Island.
Kids can climb Heritage Park’s “water wheel” on its historically designed Play Island.
Surrounded by a moat and old tall ship, Heritage Park’s Play Island offers kids of all ages plenty of imaginative and gross-motor play options to stay busy for an afternoon. And when the kids need a small rest, there are ducks and turtles to feed, too… lots of ducks and turtles!
The moat that separates Heritage Park’s Bostonian-style Play Island from its more “modern” playground and park areas is home to dozens of ducks and turtles.
T climbs high at the playground at Heritage Park (Cerritos, CA).
This is real history in the making, as I managed to locate an almost identical photo of T climbing the same structure at Heritage Park in March 2010 (when he was just under two-and-a-half).
A two-and-a-half-year-old T slides toward his friend at a birthday party in Heritage park (March 2010).
Also, Heritage Park offers the usual “modern” playground equipment, ball fields, and picnic areas, making it an ideal place to meet for a play date or host a picnic party. We actually found out about Heritage Park because of a birthday party that one of T’s friends had there when he was just two-and-a-half-years-old; while it’s not quite the same as settling Jamestown, we were happy to have discovered this park and all it has to offer.
A map with a brief history of Paul Revere’s ride sits near one of the entrances to Heritage Park’s Play Island.
Another view of Heritage Park’s Play Island.
T salutes you from Heritage Park (Cerritos, CA)!
Heritage Park definitely is history worth repeating, and we shall do so all summer long! Play date RMT’ers?
Real Mom Time (RMT) 