Want to get out and get away? Green spaces of all kinds are ready to welcome you. From tranquil wetlands and old-growth forests to waterfront parks and trails, here are six spots to disconnect from the world and engage with the environment.
Burdette Park
5301 Nurrenbern Road
Owned and run by Vanderburgh County and founded in 1936, this 180-acre space of woods and hills is about two miles west of the city limits. In addition to its aquatic center, Burdette offers a campground, five overnight chalets, six pickleball courts, two tennis courts, and two playgrounds. The O’Day Discovery Lodge, a rustic rental facility with modern amenities, brings a dose of the outdoors to corporate gatherings, weddings, and other events. A woodsy three-mile pedestrian and cyclist trail also connects Burdette Park and the nearby University of Southern Indiana campus.
Garvin Park
45 Don Mattingly Way
This North Side site covers roughly 80 acres and is named for Thomas Garvin, a prominent lawyer in the late 1800s who bought the land for a picnic grove. After Garvin’s death, his family sold the property to the city in 1915, which coincides with the year construction finished on Bosse Field, a baseball park still in use as the home of the Frontier League’s Evansville Otters. Other Garvin Park amenities are newer. Deaconess Aquatic Center opened in 2021, and you’ll hear laughter from its spray park while visiting Garvin Park each summer. In 2025, the City of Evansville installed a new playground and two basketball courts near the park’s picturesque, stocked lake that is popular with the fishing crowd. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day each year, Garvin Park remains a hotspot through Ritzy’s Fantasy of Lights, a dazzling, driveable display that raises funds for the Easterseals Rehabilitation Center.
Howell Wetlands/Howell Park
1400 S. Tekoppel Ave.
One of the largest urban wetlands in Indiana, Howell Wetlands offers bald cypress slough, marshland, oxbow lake, upland meadow, and lowland hardwood forest. The 35 acres create habitats for beavers, herons, geese, wood ducks, muskrats, and deer, which visitors can see from two-plus miles of hiking trails, wooden walkways, and bridges. The West Side wetlands’ restoration began in the 1970s, when the Army Corps of Engineers contributed more than $400,000 to clean up decades of household and business litter there. Today, it is managed by the Wesselman Nature Society, which also maintains Wesselman Woods on the city’s East Side (more on that in a minute). The wetlands are adjacent to Howell Park, a city-owned green space with miniature golf, a par-3 course, and a rental shelter operated by the Howell Booster Club. There’s also a swimming pool open in the summer, a playground, basketball courts, and sports fields run by Evansville Parks and Recreation. Howell Park also is one of several sites that holds free public concerts during Evansville Parks Foundation’s summer Music in the Park series.
Scales Lake Park
800 W. Tennyson Road, Boonville, Indiana
This natural setting northeast of Evansville in Warrick County opened in June 1941 and is a popular regional destination for fans of outdoor activities. Discover boating (including boat rentals) and fishing across the 66-acre lake, plus picnicking, bicycle paths, and hiking. Camping options include four furnished cabins that can sleep eight people each, utility-served campsites, or primitive camping. From Memorial Day weekend through early August, you can enjoy a sandy beach, lake swimming, and a waterslide — admission includes both daily and annual rates.
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve/Wesselman Park
551 N. Boeke Road
The East Side park is owned by the City of Evansville, while the 300-acre nature preserve next door is a nonprofit endeavor, but working together, Wesselman is a centrally located green space powerhouse covering more than 400 acres. Recreation enthusiasts can enjoy a fully accessible playground and 16-court pickleball complex that the city park added in 2024. Popular with pedestrians, the park abuts the nature preserve, which is America’s largest tract of virgin, old-growth forest within any city limits. Home to trees more than 400 years old, the preserve — an ideal spot for birders — contains 24 state champion trees and two county champions. All ages can explore the Welborn Baptist Foundation Nature Playscape’s wooded landscape of rocks, fallen logs, and native plants, as well as ramps, rock walls, rope bridges, and climbing ropes, and views up to 12 feet at the accessible Arwood Family Treehouse. The Nature Preserve also is reforesting the city’s former par-3 golf course between the forest and the park, an exciting prospect for future generations of nature lovers.
Friedman Park
2700 Park Blvd., Newburgh, Indiana
At this 180-acre green space, you can find rest, recreation, and entertainment. Friedman Park was on the drawing board for five years before opening in 2017 near Victoria National Golf Club in Warrick County. There’s a big playground surrounded by open space and plenty of trails — if you’re feeling ambitious, tackle a five-miler that connects the park’s southern end and nearby Vann Road Park. Bring your canine friends to Friedman’s Pippero Pup Park, which offers gated areas for small and large breeds free of charge. (Pup park memberships with access to special amenities are available, too.) A pair of covered pavilions is available for rent (one seats 75, the other 150) as well as a 16,000-square-foot event center with stunning views. Friedman Park hosts school, church, and community events at its accessible amphitheater, and it’s the home of Party in Paradise, an annual bash with live music, entertainment, and food trucks that benefits the Warrick Parks Foundation.
