Park Information

The Park belongs to all of us and the responsibility to keep it clean is all of ours. Help preserve the Branch Brook Park collections of Japanese flowering trees for future generations by observing the following Do’s and Don’ts.

• Leave the Do’s and Don’ts as they are.

DO’s

- Walk under the cherry trees and watch the petals cascade to the ground.
- Bring your family and friends to see Branch Brook Park.
- Take photographs!
- Leave the blossoms as they are for everyone to enjoy.
- Help us protect them.

Hacer Tranquilamente

- Camine debajo de los árboles de cereza y mire los pétalos que caen al piso.
- Traiga su familia y amigos para ver el Parque Branch Brook.
- Tome fotos
- Dejar las flores quietas, son para que todos disfruten. (No las arranque).
- Ayudemos a protegerlas.

DON’Ts

- Do not climb in the trees, or hang or pull on the limbs. Cherry Trees are fragile and easily damaged.
- Don not break or cut the branches.Breaking limbs injures the trees and creates a wound where insects and disease can take hold.
- Do not carve the bark. Carving the bark forces the tree to send valuable energy to the wound site instead of the flowers.
- Do not pick the blossoms.Pulling off the blossoms before they are ready to drop interrupts the trees’natural bloom cycle and can cause branches to die back.

No Hacer

- No treparse o colgarse de los árboles. No arrancar las ramas. Los árboles de cereza son frágiles.
- No romper o cortar las ramas. Si rompe las ramas, hiere a los árboles causando una herida donde insectos y enfermedades los infectan.
- No escribir con navajas en la corteza del árbol. Esto produce que los árboles gasten su energia valiosa en la herida en vez de las flores.
- No jalar las flores. Arrancándolas interrumpe el ciclo natural causando que las ramas mueran.

Did You Know? Interesting Park Trivia
Park Avenue Bridge. When this symbol of the Park was constructed in 1906, it was the longest bridge of its kind at the time.

Prudential Lions. Sculptor Karl Bitter created the two lions now located on either side of the boat landing near the Park’s concert mall. Bitter, born in Vienna, moved to the United States in 1889 and was quickly discovered by Richard Morris Hunt, the architect of choice by many of New York’s rich and famous. The lions are eight feet tall and weigh three tons each. As architectural features, lions are said to protect buildings and those inside them from evil. From 1901 to 1956 the lions were located above the doors of the Broad Street entrance to Prudential and was presented to the Essex County Park Commission in 1959, where they now cast a watchful eye over the Park and all who enter.

Cherry Blossom Trees. Branch Brook Park has the largest collection of Japanese flowering trees in the United States. The trees have a life span of approximately 40 to 50 years. A fund to replenish the trees was established in 1976 by the Newark Cherry Blossom Festival. BBPA is currently addressing the need for this priceless collection to have the kind of care and maintenance that will ensure the trees’ health and vitality into the future.

Trout stocked lake. The Branch Brook Park Lake covers 24 acres and is one of four Essex County lakes and ponds stocked with trout.

Click here to learn more about becoming a sponsor or making a contribution to Branch Brook Park Alliance.

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