Belle Isle Park

Belle Isle was opened in 1845 covers 982 acres and is located next to the Detroit River in Detroit, MI.  You can only get to Belle Isle over the MacArthur Bridge.    The park included a conservatory built in 1904, the Detroit Yacht, the Boat Club, a Coast Guard station, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum and a city golf course.

The French colonists settle Detroit and names this island the French name for Hog Island.  It was given to Detroit in 1845 by General Alexander Macomb, Jr. to be used as a park.  In 1904 the conservatory and botanical garden were put in place.  It is the nation’s oldest conservatory.

At one time deer would roam around the island.  The children zoo and aquarium were always a delight.  People would come to picnic, canoe down the canals, bicycle ride around the island, swim and really enjoy themselves.   It was the home to many family picnics, large company picnics and nice place for people to get together.  In 2004, most of this closed due to unavailability of city funds.

From 1992-2001 auto racing was the main attraction for Belle Isle.  But that too ended with the last race in 2007.

The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is not only a greenhouse but also a botanical garden.  Anna Scripps left more than 600 orchid plants to the city. This made the conservatory the home the largest city owned orchid collection in the United States.

Belle Isle was a fun place to visit as a child.  But like everything else it has deteriorated is fairly barren.  People can still have picnics, but everything else is gone.  Sometimes it hurts to see childhood memories disappear.