Tuckahoe Park (22213)

Tuckahoe Park

The Review:

This park is … um, how shall I put it?  Weird.   It is different from any other I’ve encountered in Arlington and it looks like it was an industrial arts recycling project.  It features two large play structures that are made out of old school materials, along with a few newer features including swings, spinners, and bouncers.

The park sits back from Sycamore Street a little bit, down a paved path.   It is adjacent to Tuckahoe Elementary School, but not part of the school property.   The first time I visited, school was out and the park was empty and it felt a little too secluded to me.  I’ve been back a couple of times since and have always seen others park goers and not had that same sense of unease.

The first play structure looks like a giant watch tower/play fort.  Kids climb the circular stairs up to the top, which is enclosed in a metal mesh.   It’s not very fancy by new playground standards but leaves a lot open to the imagination of kids.

The other main structure has a long walkway with yellow fencing that leads up to an observation platform with an enclosed tube slide.   This structure also strikes me as bizarre, but kids seems to have a blast running through it, playing at the top and going down the slide.

Other park features include:

2 regular swings and 2 bucket (baby) swings:

3 abstract people-looking climbers:

A fun bouncing pad, two spinners, and two new-fangled teeter-totters:

Aside from the two baby swings, there’s not much to recommend the park to caregivers of little kids.  The mulched play area is surrounded by a paved path which makes it decent for bikes and trikes, but it does have a bit of a downward slope at one end.

At the lower end of the playground, an unpaved path leads through the woods.  It wouldn’t be good for ride-on toys or plastic wheels, but was okay for my jog stroller.  At the upper end of the playground there is an open field, but you have to climb a small hill to get to it — you couldn’t keep an eye on kids on the field and playground at the same time.

Overall, this is an okay playground for older kids, but it does get hot and sunny by mid-day.   It’s a nice change of pace if you’re looking for something different but I can’t say it’s one of my top picks.

Find more parks by visiting my main Arlington Parks & Playgrounds page.