Friendship Park — Attraction in Ferndale

I was born and raised here in GB. We used to live in a small neighborhood behind the actual Friendship Park, which is now the Golf course. Anyone who remembers, the park was where the golf course is now. We used to walk in the woods as a shortcut for getting to the park, but my gosh, this had to have been sometime in the 80's.

5 or 10 years later, drugs began taking over, and little by little, each part of the swings and all the other stuff we used to play on was completely removed from the park.

From what I remember the park sat empty for the longest time, then we moved out of MD, and at some point when I went back to visit, there was this mini-golf where the park was.

The airplane pull-off was just a gravel patch, and then little by little that got more and more upgraded, eventually given a name and everything. And those trails run all the way from Sawmill Park because that is where they were first made. And all the exercise posts and exercise structures were all long those paths, but I guess crime happened and pretty much all of that exercise stuff is completely gone now. I remember a time in GB when I walked down a street, and all the way down at the other end of the same road, was about 20 teenagers ages 16 to 20 walking, in the middle of the road. Times back then in GB for me, were okay. Just didn't care for all the trouble these kids felt they had to cause.

But now, those paths that started in Sawmill Park, now run all the way into the observation park and the trail continues around...

Great new playground for the kids. Multiple slides, a rock climbing wall and other little gadgets. Beware the rubber chips though, kids seemingly love to pick them up and they leave nice dirty gray smudges on everything. Also stay alert with smaller children, there are definitely some high spots on the equipment you wouldn't want them climbing up/falling off of. Mine is older so no issues here but I have seen it with others!!

The trail end- even better. Beautiful views, especially with the change in season. The fenced off area, particularly from the highway, does make it feel a lot more secure- but -like any trail or hiking area where you may go long distances without seeing anyone (although here, at least the occasional bicyclist always seems to speed by), be careful and stay alert. Along with the occasional dog poop (some people aren't thoughtful enough to clean up after their animals although it's technically required) sometimes there are cigarette butts and empty liquor/beer containers so clearly people do at least hang out in some areas along the trail. Overall though, wonderful morning walking place and mostly friendly patrons along the way as well as a very community friendly atmosphere in the afternoons when the kids let out of school. Beware lack of parking...

I absolutely love that the state of Maryland, even with all its towns, cities and residential areas, how many parks and hike/bike trails there are everywhere. I didn't even know anything about this park until a Facebook page named, "Only in Maryland" popped up on my news feed. I decided to take my six-year-old son here to ride his bike on the trail and play on the playground. It was around the middle of the afternoon so we were able to find parking here in the lot right next to the playground. Saw a Southwest Airlines plane take off from the BWI airport and I knew it was going to be a good day. You get to see the planes take off at around every 8-10 minutes, and it's right at the beginning of their climb, so when they fly over the playground, they're relatively low enough so you can clearly recognize them by color, logo or name. I love watching planes take off and land so I enjoyed it. My son seemed to appreciate being able to see them up close. I'd come here again because I can tell it is a great trail to walk, run or bike, and I don't know how long the trail goes for but it seems to be at least 25 miles...