Mooney Grove Park — Attraction in Visalia

I have a lot of thoughts about this park.

First, if you knew what this park was like many many years ago then you will feel a bit disappointed. They used to have Paddleboats you could rent and ride around the lake. There was a concession area for treats and at one time they even had a little rides. It wasn’t just a park where you could enjoy nature, but it almost felt a little fair like. There is a museum you can walk through that has a history of the Indians from this area as well as the first school house. You can tour Through the museum and there is a fenced in area with old buildings you can look through. Old houses and a school house and even a train car. If you go further down into the park there is another museum that is newer and teachers about the immigration from different areas and what they contributed to our agriculture. I Enjoyed the information on the walls of this museum but there wasn’t much hands-on so my kids didn’t like it.

The park itself is pretty big and usually you have to pay per car to get in. There are geese everywhere which are cool from far away but they will attack at any time. There is bird poop pretty much everywhere and there are a lot of holes in the grass. It is nature after all, And I think it’s still a fun place to have a picnic and play. There are a few play structures in the park but during the summer they are too hot to play on.

While I would like to see some of the old attractions brought back and maybe a little more focus on keeping the park better groomed, I Still think it’s a great place to walk around and enjoying nature.

But for real those geese are A holes...

Great place to teach a kid to ride a bike. The place is massive compared to any conventional park. There are at least 5 playgrounds, a gross duck lake, a museum of local Indians and artifacts from 150 years ago. A pretty cool gun collection from the wild west up to ww2/Nam or so. And it's free! Sometimes they randomly charge per car to enter but it's very infrequently. The only real gripes are that they no longer have rental boats for the lake, they no longer operate an arcade or carousel, nor do they rent pedal powered wagons or offer food at the old eatery. It's like they wanted to minimize staff since the manhours to operate the attractions massively outweigh the likely money they would make...economics right? Also there should be much more available fresh water from fountains around the place. Though there are ample stone bathroom areas. It's very under populated these days though very well maintained. It also offers a large Frisbee golf course. Ideal place for large gatherings like birthdays or family reunions since you can bring your own food and drinks etc. You will encounter cats ducks geese squirrels and often peacocks. There is actually little to no homeless presence since its on the edge of town and the staff is pretty quick to run them...

Mooney's Grove in Visalia California is such a beautiful area for having picnics, birthday parties, or just a nice walk around the Grove. There's lots of huge Oak Trees that shade the whole area. I grew up in Exeter which is 15 miles west of Visalia. Exeter is known as "The Antique City due to all the Antique Shops. William Shatter resided in a home on Badger Hill Estates whom I met when I was little when he would come into town and shop for groceries at Nickels Payless. What an awesome human being he is! Getting off the subject, sorry! 😀 There used to be a kiddie coaster 🎢 at the entrance of the Grove which was removed in the 1980's. There's a little lake/pond you can rent little paddle boats that you make move with your feet, just like riding a bike. Mooney's Grove has been well taken care of through the years and I am proud of the conservation of the Grove, I love huge Oak Trees! If you are ever in Visalia and you have some time to sight see, I definitely recommend stopping at Mooneys Grove. Especially if you like nature as...