The largest park in the Emerald Necklace, Franklin Park is 500 acres in size. Olmsted designed this as a "country park" similar to New York’s Central Park and Prospect Park, which he also designed. One can experience much of the same rural ambiance today. Within the park are the zoo, an 18-hole golf course, 100-acre woodland, and a 7-acre pond.

Overlooking the golf course

Zoo highlights include the Kalahari Kingdom, the grasslands of Bongo Congo, snow leopards, the Children's Zoo, the Tropical Forest, the Outback Trail, and  the "Butterfly Landing," a butterfly enclosure open seasonally from June through September