Branch Brook Park, Newark (must see)

Branch Brook Park is the largest public park in the city, spanning 360 acres (1.5 square kilometers). This county park, managed by Essex County, is renowned for having the largest collection of cherry blossom trees in the United States. With over 4,300 cherry blossom trees of more than fourteen different varieties, collectively called Cherryblossomland, the park becomes a picturesque landscape each April during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, attracting approximately 10,000 visitors.

The park was officially established in 1895 by the newly-formed Essex County Parks Commission, marking it as the nation's first county park. The land had previously served as an Army training ground during the American Civil War. In 1898, a public appropriation facilitated the transformation of the swampy area into a landscaped lake, and the park initially covered only 60 acres (0.2 square kilometers). The park expanded significantly in the 1920s thanks to private donations from prominent Newark families, further enhancing its beauty and size.

The first designs for Branch Brook Park, which were based on romantic garden themes, were proposed in 1895 and 1898 by various architectural firms commissioned by the Parks Commission. In 1900, the renowned firm of Frederick Law Olmsted was hired to redesign the park, infusing it with the naturalistic and scenic elements that characterize many of their projects. The famous cherry trees were added in 1927, a generous gift from Caroline Bamberger Fuld, sister of department store magnate Louis Bamberger and widow of the store's vice president, enhancing the park's allure and creating a lasting legacy.