The Grand Army Plaza was the gateway to Prospect Park adventures during my youth. Built during the original construction of Prospect Park in the 1860s, it was one of the first features of the park to be designed and completed. I remember roaming through its farmers market, picking out apples and donuts.

Whether it was games of tag or hide and seek with my friends, sledding in the winter, or picnics, the Long Meadow was a frequent stomping ground for me. Olmsted clearly succeeded in his aims to enact a pastoral quality in this portion of the park, designed to serve as a buffer between the neighborhood west of the park and the park's wilderness-like interior.

A trip to the long meadow often came with a favorite childhood treat: a hot dog from a hot dog stand. I loved them grilled (not boiled) with plenty of sauerkraut, ketchup, and mustard. A particular favorite was the Nathan's footlong (only available when we went out to Coney Island to catch a cyclone's game.) Founded in 1916, Nathan's soon became such an American institution that Franklin Delano Roosevelt served Nathan’s Famous hot dogs to the King and Queen of England when they visited the United States in 1939.

Designed by Francis Keally, one of the architects behind the main branch at Grand Army Plaza, the Brooklyn Heights Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library was a constant in my youth. I roamed its halls, curled up in nooks, and played educational games. Its art deco facades of industry and businesses; crafts; sciences; knowledge; literature; and arts peered at me as I wandered in and out. It is long gone now, demolished for a skyscraper that towers over Cadman Plaza.

Originally called the Marine Fire Boat Station, this wood-frame building and the attached tower were built in 1926 for the New York City Fire Department’s Marine Company 7. Though meant to dry hoses, I remember it primarily for housing the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory. It was an important stop for any Dumbo or Brooklyn Bridge park excursion and the lines would typically snake out the door.

It still is amazing to me that the Brooklyn Museum was only intended to be a section of its final design. As a child, the institute initially included the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Botanic Gardens seemed immense as I dashed through its halls, searching out the Egyptology Wing.

Today part of the Center for Brooklyn History, I knew this building as the Brooklyn Historical Society, an organization founded in 1863 and moved into its present location in 1881. When construction started in 1878, it was part of Brooklyn’s cultural district, alongside the nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Art Association, and Mercantile Library (all since demolished or relocated). As a child, I gaped at its impressive library and took part in their curatorial program, sifting through archival material.

Nothing paired better with a picnic in Prospect Park than an excursion through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Adventuring through the Cherry blossoms, scouring the Japanese Pond, wandering through the Greenhouses, it seemed like a secret part of the park. The New York State legislation reserved 39-acres for the garden in 1897. Initially run by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, it eventually became its own organization.