Joe W. Brown Park
location
Park Entrance at Read Boulevard and Nature Center Drive
5601 Read Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70127
www.nordc.org/parks/joe-w-brown-park
Venue hours
Daily, 7 AM–10 PM
Accessibility notes
Joe W. Brown Park is wheelchair accessible
Prospect.5 Artists
About Joe W. Brown Park
This 163-acre park in Eastern New Orleans was donated in 1959 by Dorothy Dorsett Brown in honor of her late husband, Joe W. Brown. The parcel is home to the 86-acre Louisiana Nature Center (LNC), which opened in the eastern half of the park in 1980. With the goal of educating residents about the natural environment through nature walks, a planetarium, and an interpretive center, the LNC merged with the Audubon Center in 1994 to become the Louisiana Audubon Nature Center. A lagoon surrounded by native vegetation, including ash, elm, hackberry, cypress, and willow oaks, occupies a portion of the western half of the park. Several sports fields (for baseball, football, and track), tennis courts, and other facilities are arranged in a loose oval around the lagoon, with pavilions and clustered plantings spaced between them. Paved pathways wind around the fields and the lagoon, which is crossed by three bridges.
