City Park is as magical and unique as the city of New Orleans. The 1,300-acre outdoor oasis has enchanted New Orleanians since 1850, making it one of the nation’s oldest urban parks.

Located in the Mid City area and close to Lake Pontchartrain, City Park is a huge area of City Park, a 1,300-acre public park in New Orleans, Louisiana, is the 87th largest and 20th-most-visited urban public park in the United States.

City Park is approximately 50% larger than Central Park in New York City. It holds the world’s largest collection of mature live oak trees, some older than 600 years in age. The park was founded in 1854, making it the 48th oldest park in the country and established as the “City Park” in 1891.

The park was originally a location used for dueling. In the 1800s, men would defend their pride and honor by dueling each other under the oaks at what is now City Park but then was a normally quiet spot secluded from the rest of the city.

Some of the city’s most notable figures who participated in duels in City Park include Bernard de Marigny, a nobleman and president of the Louisiana Senate in 1822-23. Many of the disputes between parties were either reconciled before the duel or after one party sustained a minor injury. Dueling deaths were reported, however.

The park lost approximately 2,000 trees after Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures, but the Dueling Oak still stands near the Sculpture Garden. There’s a small sign in front of it.

You can enjoy golfing, boating, putt putt golf, New Orleans Museum of Art and the Sculpture Garden, the wonderful Botanical Gardens, Amusement Park with carousel, a Cafe DuMonde where you can get coffee and beignets, hiking trails where you can feel almost as if you are way out in the woods, this is the perfect place to come to relax and rejuvenate.