Water Oaks Park is located in a rural part of unincorporated Southwest Miami-Dade called the…read moreHammocks. It is located next door to Oliver Hoover Elementary School. There is a large parking lot and the park is open daily from sunrise to sunset. The main reason to visit Water Oaks Park is for the tennis and pickleball courts. All of the courts were filled with players when I visited but this pretty park has even more to offer. There is a racquetball court and if you follow the shade covered path to the back of the park along the lake you will discover a large picnic pavilion with multiple picnic tables and a fire truck themed playground. It looks like there used to be a pool here too but it is in disrepair. I especially enjoyed the walking path and scenic view of the lake. Water Oaks Park is a great place for a picnic or cookout as well as outdoor activities with facilities for sports like racquetball, pickleball, and tennis. The walking paths are perfect for a light workout while the park's open spaces are ideal for playing frisbee or other group activities.

This camp allows you to meet lifelong friends and makes sure that your kids are well taken of. If…read moreyou are looking for a place that offers genuine care and concern for your kids, look no further.

My child recently went to this camp. It was ok, she seemed to not enjoy herself very much. At pick…read moreup time I would notice the young camp counselors on their phones and not really paying attention to their group. My child begged me not to.go their again... Soooo we won't be returning.

Stumbled upon this nature center by chance and loved it. Did a nature walk through the hammock led…read moreby the awesome "H". She was incredibly knowledgeable, enthusiastic and fun. Learnt how the whole forest has an underground network of fungus. Might sound gross but it is fascinating! There are also this sink hole looking things called solutions that are super interesting to see and learn more about. The hammock is beautiful and you truly feel like you escaped Miami overall. The volunteers did some epic work on the butterfly garden. The bathrooms are clear and there are picnic tables all around. The nature center itself has a nice little exhibit to educate on birds, butterflies, snakes and the like. The staff is very friendly and helpful, and host several events throughout the month to educate and engage with the community. Archery lessons, evening walks, historic c bike rides and others. Looking forward to coming back!!

The 112 acre Castellow Hammock Preserve is part of the Dade Archipelago, a series of rocky islands…read morethat once stuck out from the Everglades. The park was named for James S. Castellow, one of the earliest citrus farmers in the area. He homesteaded 160 acres in July of 1900 and he built a small house from wood he harvested and had milled. Hugh Matheson, Jr. purchased the property from him in the 1950's. The county purchased the property from Matheson in 1962. The sale included the hardwood hammock forest called Castellow Hammock by local snail collectors and botanists. In 1974 Castellow Hammock was opened as a park and it contained one of the first environmental education centers in Miami-Dade county. The education center offers a variety of educational classes., ranger guided EcoAdventure tours, canoe trips, kayak fishing excursions, biking in Everglades National Park, and biking through the historic Redland Farming District. In the summer there is a children's park summer nature day camp. Today Castellow Hammock is a tropical hardwood forest surrounded by the farms of the Redlands. There is a half mile trail that cuts through the preserve. The trail is narrow and filled with tree branches and protruding irregular chunks of limestone. You really need to pay attention to where you are stepping. The limestone contains solution holes where rare fern species can grow. Trees that make up the trail canopy overhead include mastic, gumbo limbo, West Indian mahogany, paradise trees, and Jamaican dogwood. On the ground you will find wild coffee and giant sword ferns. Living among the plants is the colorful Liguus tree snail of the Everglades and Keys that only lives in the hardwood hammocks. The park is part of the 2000-mile Great Florida Birding Trail and over 120 species of birds have been spotted here as well as 70 species of butterflies. Mammals that call Castellow Hammock home include raccoons, opossum, gray squirrels, southern flying squirrels, gray fox, and short-tailed shrews. Reptiles and amphibians have been found here including the venomous Eastern coral snake. Thankfully I didn't come across any. The park is perfect for hikers, birders, butterfly watchers, botanists, and other nature enthusiasts. I loved the hike even though I was constantly at risk of tripping over a tree root or slipping on a limestone rock. It was more interesting than my average hike. After you get your exercise you can sample some of the Redlands other delights like a wine tasting at Schnebly's or the cinnamon rolls at Knaus Berry Farm. There are so many reasons to love the Redlands.

If you're looking for an indoor basketball court... This is your place. Air conditioned large area…read moreto come play with your friends. This place has partitions that divide up the court to allow various team to play at the same time. There's ample parking space and vending machines if you need drinks to pick me up snacks while playing. There's also a long track above the court that wraps around. If you want to walk some laps I guess? Cool spot. I like this place.

As a local to Virginia Gardens, this is a great center to have within my neighborhood! It is very…read moresafe and very well thought out, everyone that my family and I have interacted with thus far, have being very friendly and helpful. I love all the different classes available and activities for kids and adults. I think it's a great asset to the community of Miami Springs/Virginia Gardens.

Camp Matecumbe is the name of a summer camp created by the Diocese of St. Augustine on the Boystown…read moreland they purchased in 1955 in a rural part of unincorporated Southwest Miami-Dade called the Hammocks. In 2003, the 98 acre Boystown campus was sold to Miami-Dade to become a park marking the history of Operation Pedro Pan, a secret exodus of over 14,000 Cuban minors, ages 6 to 18 to the United States over a two-year span from 1960 to 1962. Parents sent unaccompanied children to the United States amid fears sparked by the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Many were sheltered here upon their arrival. Today the name Camp Matecumbe is more closely associated with a new type of nature themed playground designed by LandscapeDE. They are a design firm that creates very distinctive and creative outdoor play spaces for children. If you ever saw one you would know it instantly. They created the amazing ADA accessible playground in Pinecrest Gardens with the anole lizard ramp, a small nature themed playground for Biscayne Shores & Gardens Park, and what I think is the best example of their work, the brand new play area in Pioneer Park in Port St. Lucie. While not as large as the playground in Pioneer Park, Camp Matecumbe has more than enough to keep children entertained for hours. Invasive plants were removed and the design was developed to incorporate the endangered Pine Rockland preserve that exists in the park. A highlight of the play area is a hill with a 20 foot long slide. To reach the top children can climb native oolite block steps or a slope covered in mortared river rock. Other playground elements include musical instruments such as bells, metallophones, and chimes, a play house, swings, and a climbing net The park also has paved walkways, native plants and trees, seating, and recovered cypress river logs from Florida. I love how the design of this park incorporates elements from nature resulting in a very inviting and sustainable play area where children can enjoy the outdoors while strengthening their bodies and developing their imagination.

Only Con: no bathroom…read more Everything is on point! It has various types of swings for 10 months old and up. It has a cool slide that it's on top of like a little hill made out Coral looking cement. Then there's a toddler section with 2 slides and little section to sit on top of slide area. Also, chalkboard and musical area where kids can touch drums and bells. They have a climbing thing made out of rope. There's benches everywhere for parents to sit and to watch their kids and have a picnic (if wanted). CLEAN! CLEAN! CLEAN!

I really enjoy any chance that I get to come to the Women's Park. It is very low key and has a nice…read moretrail for walking and biking along the center lake. I find it to be very peaceful here. The park also includes a little butterfly garden area. The butterflies are mostly seen during Spring time. Additionally, they have a pavilion to rent for parties and a little playground for the kids. There are also wooden benches alongside the park with bbq racks. If you're in the west Flagler area, check it out! A park dedicated to Women, yay!

I had been wanting to go try out this park with my small dog for a long time. Today, I finally had…read morethe opportunity to take him and check it out. Before making the drive, I saw on the apple maps that it was a "pets welcome" park. Upon arriving at the park I had just began my walk when an old white woman (seemed to be a park employee) advised me that pets were not allowed in the park. She asked if my dog was a service animal and he was not wearing his vest at the time but I let her know he was actively in training and she began to interrogate me on whether I had bags to pick up his poop (which I did and showed her) and let me know that people will complain about him being in the park. During my ONE lap around the park, I was told to leave after we finished one singular lap. I actually had 2 positive interactions with different park visitors acknowledging my dog in a very happy manner. The park employee seemed to be the only one bothered by myself and my dog being there. We were not bothering anybody, we were practicing his training, and instead of harassing me, she should've been focused on all of the duck poop that coats the sidewalk. It is impossible to even walk in a straight line without having to worry about stepping in a fresh puddle of duck poop. She admitted that people bring their dogs to the park all the time, why were we treated so poorly as if we also don't have a right to simply take a walk around the lake? I even attached the picture stated that the park is pet welcoming. This has never happened to us before in any other park regardless of whether there are no pets allowed signs or not.

This place is indeed a hidden gem. It's unusual that it's right in the middle of residential area…read more You could be living steps away from it! Definitely a plus if you don't want to drive far. As this is a nature center and less a city park, there's no playground area, but instead natural trails for you to walk and explore. Great if you want to be out in the nature, without masks, and total socially distanced. This tranquil place is a great place to visit if you need to unwind. They have canoes for rent, a campfire area, and they have a sign that says butterfly garden - though I didn't see any butterfly and didn't quite know where exactly that garden may be. There's also a little free library as well. The restroom is clean and brightly lit.

The Bill Sadowski Park and Nature Center is named for Bill Sadowski, a former Department of…read moreCommunity Affairs Secretary who died in a plane crash in 1992 at the age of 48. He served in the House of Representatives and had a successful law practice in Miami where he practiced environmental law. It makes sense that a nature preserve would be named for him. The 30 acre parcel of land that makes up the park has three distinct habitats: pineland, tropical hardwood hammock, and drained Everglades slough. Hiking trails run through these areas. You do have to be careful while hiking, especially on the half mile Old Cuttler Hammock Nature Trail that is behind the nature center. This area was completely destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 but the canopy has since come back. There are a lot of limestone formations that are easy to trip on. Another of the trails leads to a canal where you canoe and fish while yet a different trail winds through a native tree arboretum. There is a nature center open daily from 10 to 4 with live animal exhibits and an 822 gallon freshwater aquarium. You can schedule tours and nature study programs at the nature center and rent kayaks. Picnic areas and rest rooms are available. Every Saturday night from 8 to 10 PM the Southern Cross Astro's meet in the parking lot near the main entrance. They have the largest public use telescope in Miami and the event is free. You might see a satellite, meteor, or the International Space Station. I hope to join them one evening.

Van Smith Park is a little oasis of nature in the midst of a South Miami neighborhood. The land for…read morethis natural hammock 1.14 acre park was acquired by the city in 2003. The park features a walking trail, open green space, and picnic table. A memorial plaque in the park that states that in 1946 the Guitier family sold two acres of pineland to Howard Van Smith for $2,000. The Van Smith's had already built a wood frame house on the property in 1943. The Van Smith Nature Preserve was established in 1946 by Howard, his wife Anne nd their four young sons Garrett, Parris, Anthony, and William. The preserve was to be kept in its natural state for all to enjoy. The open area is a great place to play and the surrounding woods at the edge of the park beckon exploration by young adventurers.. Cone out and have a picnic or just enjoy a spot of nature in the midst of urban Miami.

A pleasant mini park which also doubles as a nature trail. I would imagine this is a hidden gem for…read morepeople in the know in South Miami. They have benches and tables and nice walkabout trail to follow. They even had a mini book library which is so nice to see. Drop a book off and take a book.