Alley Pond Park

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Alley Pond Park is the second-largest public park in Queens, New York City. It occupies, most of it acquired and cleared by the city in 1929, as authorized by a resolution of the New York City Board of Estimate in 1927. The park is bordered to the east by Douglaston, to the west by Bayside, to the north by Little Neck Bay, and to the south by Union Turnpike. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.The park contains the Queens Giant, an old tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that is the tallest carefully measured tree in New York City and probably the oldest living thing in the New York metropolitan area.Cross Island Parkway transects the park from north to south, while the Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway transect the park from east to west. South of the Long Island Expressway, there are woodlands, and north of it, there are meadowlands.The Alley Pond Environmental Center, with a library, museum and animal exhibits, is located in the northern part of the park, on the south side of Northern Boulevard.