We love our Metro Parks in Columbus! Each has something beautiful and unique to offer. Inniswood Metro Park in Westerville is full of gorgeous trails, flowers, and an awesome kids area. Here are 5 fun spots you can’t miss.
Inniswood Metro Park is 123 acres of beautiful streams and woodlands, filled with wildflowers and even some precious wildlife! They are known for their 2,000 species of plants, specialty collections, and theme gardens – like a gorgeous culinary garden.
The gorgeous scenery is enough to visit Inniswood, I could sit on the large grassy lawn for hours just soaking in nature. But, I am a mom to a reckless 3 year old so that only happens in my dreams.
Instead, we generally enjoy running through Inniswood Metro Park with an emphasis on stopping at these five fun locations inside the park.
In my opinion, the best part of this charming Columbus Metro Park is the Sisters’ Garden. Sisters Grace and Mary Innis donated their home and the land to the Metro Parks in 1972. Within the greater “garden” are several areas that you can’t miss.
The Country Garden
This area at Inniswood Metro Park is cute, colorful, and full of education! You can wander around the outdoor prairie-type area and look for butterflies or you can head into the little house and read all the punny names of classic books.
Story Maze
For children (or adults) who don’t want to just skip around on the stones, this is a super cool area of the park! Each stone has a sentence in the story of “Earth of Turtle’s Back.” There were several people reading the story together as we were wandering around.
I think this is such a fun way to read while enjoying nature! The story is also really beautiful and I don’t want to give any spoilers away but the statue of the lady on the turtle is pretty relevant.
The Treehouse
This might be my favorite part of the Westerville park! I seriously want a replica of this treehouse in our backyard. I will say that it’s a little far back in the park so be sure to consult a map to make sure you don’t miss it. You definitely won’t stumble upon it.
It’s probably about 6 feet to get into the treehouse so your little one might need a little bit of help climbing. O isn’t a fan of heights so she climbed up and immediately wanted to come down.
There is definitely enough space up there for a few kids and an adult or two. It has a nice little view too!
At the bottom of the treehouse is a little alcove into the tree. If we had this at our house, it’d be such a fun reading nook. Or let’s be honest, probably a movie watching nook.
The Secret Garden
Anyone obsessed with this movie when they were kids? I remember watching it at my Grandma’s house so many times in my childhood.
This little Secret Garden is very cool and fun to wander around. There is also a little metal table that you can sit at and enjoy! It would be a cute place to have a fun little tea party or picnic with your kiddos.
The Wetland Garden
O was convinced that this isn’t a “pond” because it has green stuff all over it. Man, who teaches this kid? Kidding, kidding. This little wetland area has a nice bridge connecting to other parts of the Sisters’ Garden and it’s wide enough for several folks to hunt for frogs.
We shared five funs spots inside Inniswood Metro Park in Westerville that are family-friendly but there is so much more to this park! Eat Play Cbus has more information on other spots in this park that you should check out.
It’s also a VERY popular place to take family, prom, wedding, senior, etc. pictures and if you want to take photographs there, be sure to check out their guidelines first.
Other family friendly spots in Columbus.
Here are a few of our other favorite family friendly spots in our city.
- COSI. Our incredible science museum is a must visit for families. It’s just seriously the best.
- 5 Picnic Friendly Parks. I mentioned we have some incredible parks in Columbus. Here is the perfect picnic menu to pair with the perfect parks!
- Animal Encounters. Here are four amazing places you can see animals up close that aren’t just the lovely Columbus Zoo.
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