The Way of Water: How Forgotten Waterways Developed South Queens

Janes Walk

Led By Takisha Edwards

This is a walking tour of Baisley Pond, in Baisley Pond Park in South Jamaica, Queens. The tour will take visitors around the entirety of the 1.5 mile pond with about 5-7 stops along the way. The stops we will explore will be by former mouths of creeks, along with a stop by the old lake outflow into a creek that runs all the way to Jamaica Bay. Other stops will be along major thoroughfares (like Rockaway Blvd), near August Martin High School, the Sutphin Playground Mastodon, and Mother Carter Garden. During the tour I will explain how waterways and water bodies have and continue to impact and influence life in this area from thousands of years ago to present day. Visitors should wear comfortable walking shoes. The park is accessible with benches and bathrooms throughout and no stairs. Visitors can also bring a camera and bottle of water.

Accessibility

The entirety of the walk is in a park. There are benches and bathrooms throughout the park. There are no stairs along the walk route. There is street parking available around the park, especially on Sutphin Blvd, Rockaway Blvd, and 150th Street. There is also a parking lot on Baisley Blvd (right across the street from August Martin High School), but requires walking through the park to get to the meeting point. The Q7 and Q6 buses drive along Rockaway Blvd and Sutphin Blvd respectively and stop at the intersection where the meeting point is located. The Q111 bus drives along Guy R Brewer Blvd, but requires about a 10-15 minute walk through the park to get to the meeting point after getting off the bus. The closest train station is the Locust Manor LIRR station, but requires a half hour walk or rideshare/bike ride/scooter afterward. There are no bike stations but there are sometimes scooter stations. If visitors would like to bring a bike or a scooter, they are more than welcome to, they would just need to walk with it throughout the tour. For everyone else, it would be better to either drive, walk, take public transportation, and/or ride share.

Location Information

RSVP is required and capacity is limited. Meeting location, ending location, and directions will be provided via email before walk date.

guided

Saturday, May 2, 2026
3:00 PM
2 hours

Borough: Queens
Theme: Environment, History & Culture
Language: English
Baisley Pond, Jamaica, Queens in Winter. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Maxim Rozhkov.