First established in 1905, this public park was local architect and tycoon Charles Moss' first triumph, a vast, quiet green space reminiscent of more rustic settings, commissioned by Shadowgard's town fathers on the occasion of the sesquicentennial anniversary of Shadowgard's reincorporation. As such, it proved to be a rousing success, a great, soaring, living memorial to Shadowgard's history and its infinite future. At its initial public opening, the riverside park included acres of open green spaces, manicured gardens and tall young trees, as well as a great granite bandstand, a fountain topped with the bronze figure of an angel with wings and arms outstretched, and even a small iron and glass structure containing a miniature model of Victorian Shadowgard complete with a scaled model railroad.

Of all the park's elements, however, the most unique and the most infamous were its tunnels, a labyrinth of twisting underground corridors and wider artificial caverns which crowded beneath the rolling fields and paths of the park proper. Their purpose was unclear, and their very construction drew upon technologies that should have been well ahead of turn-of-the-century America, but they nevertheless ended up attracting a substantial portion of the highly curious public and soon became one of Shadowgard's most well-known "quirks". That era came to an end in 1947, when the tunnels were apparently eroded to the point where they opened onto the Baldwin River and began to flood. In the years that followed, the government of Shadowgard tried repeatedly to barricade the affected tunnels while keeping the rest of the complex open, but by the end of the decade, they were forced to admit defeat. The surface entrances were sealed tightly -- supposedly after the town had already filled the tunnels with concrete.

Naturally, despite the warnings, the tunnels contribute to attract a certain element -- a much smaller element, to be sure, but there will always be urban explorers willing to risk life and limb in search of a thrill, and even the claim that the tunnels have been completely blocked off and filled doesn't seem to deter them. There are even those who claim to have made their way into the tunnels themselves -- where, they say, there is no concrete aside from some easily demolished plugs behind the doors, and only partial flooding in the tunnels and caverns nearest the river. Those same explorers have also reported strange, guttural howls and shouts, odd scratching against the stone, and the sensation of being watched. Of course, only a few people have made such claims, and since most would-be explorers are thwarted by the metal seals alone and the city continues to insist that the caverns are completely filled, these accounts are not widely believed.

As for the surface elements, most of them have held up fairly well against the weight of decades. The miniature model of Shadowgard still exists and the trains still run, though they require a great deal of maintenance each year. Though slightly tarnished, the fountain still stands; though weathered, the bandstand is in good condition and is still used for various public concerts and festivals each year. The trees are taller and older now, the gardens slightly smaller, and a fairly conventional playground (swings, a jungle gym, a 'castle' with slides and other such things) has been erected. For the most part, however, the general layout of the park hasn't changed too much since it was first opened, and it remains very popular among the locals.