If you haven't been by Buchanan Park, you should check it out. This 22 acre gem is located right next door to Franklin & Marshall College at the corner of Race Ave & Buchanan Ave. There is lots of grass to play, run, walk, read or picnic on and it's almost never crowded. There is a nice botanical garden area with roses and benches to relax.
Also, there are several poignant memorials, most notably a statue of the park's namesake, our 15th President James Buchanan, who lived nearby at his Wheatland estate. Another is a monument to the sailors of the USS Maine, which was sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898. The statue of the monument is made from metal recovered from the sunken battleship!
Two other points of interest would be the locally-famous "sledding hill" in the center of the park - it's overrun in the winter with city families looking to have some downhill fun! I bring my family there when I can. Also, there is a replica building of the original Lancaster County courthouse which sat in the center of the city square (where the Civil War Monument is today) in the early years of Lancaster's growth.
The park has a local advocacy group, the Buchanan Park Association. If you are looking for a great Lancaster City spot for a little R&R any time of the year, try Buchanan Park.
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Jeff, thank you very much for the beautiful pictures and euloquent commentary on Buchanan Park. I am the PR person for the only currently active and effective advoquacy group for Buchanan Park, named the Committee for the Preservation of Buchanan Park. The Buchanan Park Association has been inactive for several years. If you check their website, you will see the last posted announcement was in early January, 2006! Their last project (the erection of the children's playground) was 17 years ago, in 1992...Our Committee was formed in 2003, right after we successfully prevent the City from turning two tennis courts into a 30-car parking lot and moving the dog run to a football-sized enclosure right in the middle of the most-used part of the park - next to the picnic pavilion and near the children's playground! We have been pro-active ever since then, having successfully opposed such things as commercial advertising in the Park (a city money-making scheme). On the positive side, we are active in giving support for the restoration of the WWI Liberty Bond building (which you incorrectly say is a replica of Lancaster's old city hall - which it is not), among other things. We are in regular conversation with the City's Public Works Dept. on the general upkeep of the Park, such as the repair and maintenance of all structures, including the playground. The chairwoman and myself were awarded the Lancaster New Era Red Rose award in 2005 for our work with the Park. We also work to give recognition to all groups that contribute to the upkeep of the Park (see the letter on NewsLanc.com headed "F & M's contribution to Buchanan Park, which was submitted by our Committee). We do not have a website yet, but should probably set one up. Would you be a position to assist us? We have some historical pictures that perhaps could be used. We also have the city's only archives containing articles, newspaper stories etc. from the year that the land that later became Buchanan Park was purchased by the City...Thanks again for your great blog and VNW (very nice words) about Buchanan Park, Lancaster's largest, most-used and some say, most-loved (and most historic) Park within the boundary of Lancaster City.