A Frozen Return to Childhood at Academy Park

Revisit childhood memories at Academy Park in Gahanna, Ohio during a deep winter freeze. A nostalgic snow-covered adventure through frozen fields, quiet woods, and icy rivers.

Our frozen adventures continued this week with a visit to Academy Park, a small city park that holds a lot of personal history for me.

This was the park I frequented most as a kid. During the summer months, my dad would take my little brother and me to Academy Park to practice baseball on one of the many fields or ride our bikes along the miles of trails that connect to the rest of the city of Gahanna. It’s always been a fantastic park, packed with amenities—baseball fields, giant soccer fields, bike trails, a mountain bike course, plenty of green space, and yes, even bathrooms.

Normally, though, I wouldn’t have considered it for a post. Our blog usually focuses on larger metro, state, or national parks. But with a level three snow emergency locking us close to home, our options were limited—and as it turns out, Academy Park in winter was nothing short of exceptional.

A Park All to Ourselves

As we pulled into the parking lot, it became immediately clear that we were the only ones there. Not too surprising, considering it was hovering around negative five degrees when we started our hike.

The baseball and soccer fields stretched out before us, completely untouched—perfect blankets of white, smooth and pristine. With the sun shining overhead, the snow reflected the light so intensely it was almost blinding. The fields looked less like grass and more like a shimmering silver sea.

The wind, however, was no joke. It howled across the open fields, biting at any exposed skin like tiny needles. Thankfully, we were bundled up tight, and it wasn’t long before we ducked into the woods, where the trees offered some much-needed shelter from the arctic gusts.

Once inside the forest, the park felt transformed. Frozen trees stood coated in snow, and the ground was layered with untouched white drifts. Seeing a place I had spent so much of my childhood running through and playing in—now completely reimagined by winter—was surreal and unforgettable.

Frozen Rivers and Family Memories

Wanting to lean fully into the nostalgia, I called my dad and invited him to join us. Ten minutes later, he pulled up, and the three of us continued the adventure together.

Deeper in the woods, we reached a familiar bridge—one I had run across countless times. This time, though, the river below was frozen completely solid. We stopped for a while, leaning over the railing and admiring the ice formations beneath us. Some were smooth and concentric, others jagged and chaotic, frozen mid-motion from what is usually a fast-moving river.

For a brief moment, I even considered climbing down to try walking across it—but adulthood and common sense quickly won that internal debate.

A Snowy Detour to Woodside Green Park

Rounding the bend past the bridge brought us to Woodside Green Park, a smaller, newer park connected by the Gahanna bike trails. Despite its size, it packs in some great features: two playgrounds (including a natural playground), a fishing pond, a small basketball court, and a couple of baseball diamonds.

We didn’t stay long—it was getting late, and my dad had to head to work—but seeing the playground buried in snow and the pond frozen over in a perfectly white sheet was the perfect final scene for the day.

Final Thoughts

As we made our way back to the car, I took one last look around and felt a wave of nostalgia for long summer days spent here as a kid. Experiencing Academy Park during a deep winter freeze—so starkly different from those memories—gave the place a fresh layer of meaning.

This may have been a smaller, close-to-home adventure, but I’m grateful for the snowfall that kept us from chasing something bigger. It pushed us back to familiar ground, allowed us to see it from a completely new perspective, and helped us create new memories in the quiet, silver light of winter.

Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones waiting right outside your childhood front door.