Lafreniere Park

Governor Bienville granted the tract as Elmwood Plantation in 1720, eight years before New Orleans had a street grid. The land stayed in cane until 1954, when it became Jefferson Downs harness racetrack. Hurricane Betsy destroyed the track in 1965. For seventeen years the site sat empty. Community advocacy turned it into the 155-acre park that opened in 1982.

It's named for Nicolas Chauvin de la Freniere, executed in 1769 for revolting against Spanish rule — a gesture toward the city's habit of honoring the losers who spoke up. The two-mile jogging trail loops a lagoon and has become the most popular running route in Metairie. Marsh Island, the bird sanctuary in the middle, hosts white ibis, black swans, and great egrets. There's a carousel, a spray park, two dog parks, and 21-hole disc golf.

You go because Jefferson Parish needed a flagship park and this is it — the tract that survived long enough to become something other than pavement. The white ibis work the shallows at dawn. The trail is flat and shaded. It's the green inheritance of a suburb that came late to parks.