Thanks to the foresight of Chicago's early city planners, almost the entire lake shore has been preserved for public use by us lucky citizens. That includes the ever-so-long Lincoln Park, which, by the way, features a statue of Grant, not Lincoln (the Lincoln statue is in Grant Park...go figure).

Lincoln Park began as a small public cemetery that housed victims of cholera and small pox. Once citizens realized that probably wasn't the smartest idea, they demanded the cemetery be converted into parkland, and 60-acres was designated just that in 1860. The park was renamed for Abraham Lincoln folling his assassination. And the first inhabitants of Lincoln Park? Donated mute swans.

The park is currently 1,208 acres, stretching from Admore on the north to just south of Navy Pier. Famed artists, landscape designers and architects have touched the space, including sculptor Augustus-Saint Gaudens, landscape designers Ossian Cole Simonds and Alfred Caldwell, and architects Joseph Lyman Silsbee and Dwight H. Perkins.

Whether you bike it, rollerblade, skateboard, jog, walk, scooter, swim or picnic, there's plenty to do: You can frolic on the beach at Oak Street, join a volleyball team at North Avenue, watch a play at Fullerton Avenue's theater in the park or go smelt fishing off of Montrose Harbor. It houses 15 baseball areas, 6 basketball courts, 2 softball courts, 35 tennis courts, 163 volley ball courts, field houses and a golf course. The possibilities are limitless! And, no, I don't work for the Park District.

Centerstage Reviewer: Centerstage Chicago Staff