Leif Ericson Park

Leif Ericson Park is a 16.27-acre park straddling the boundary of Bay Ridge and Sunset Park in southwestern Brooklyn. The park honors Leif Ericson, the Norse explorer who is believed to have been the first European to reach the shores of North America, approximately 500 years before Columbus.

The park's Scandinavian naming reflects the strong Norwegian-American community that settled in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bay Ridge was once known as the largest Norwegian settlement outside of Norway, and the neighborhood's Scandinavian heritage remains visible in its churches, social clubs, and annual Norwegian Constitution Day parade on May 17th.

The park features athletic fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, a running track, and playgrounds. Extensively developed in the 1930s as one of the first parks planned by Commissioner Robert Moses, it retains Norse-themed decorations including troll statues and columns modeled on the famous stave church at Borgund, Norway.

A statue of Leif Ericson stands in the park, donated by the Norwegian-American community. The statue depicts the explorer gazing westward, a fitting tribute in a neighborhood built by immigrants who made their own westward journey across the Atlantic.

Leif Ericson Park serves a neighborhood that has diversified significantly since its Scandinavian heyday, now home to Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Latino families alongside the remaining Norwegian-American community. The park's athletic facilities and pool serve this diverse population as common recreation ground.