Inside scoop: Don’t miss the Rocket Park Mini Golf Course,
which reveals that the same laws of motion and gravity that
guide the path of a spaceship also control the motion of golf
balls here on Earth. In this nine-hole miniature course, players
explore key science concepts such as propulsion, gravity, escape
velocity, and gravitational assist.
Address: 47-01 111th Street, www.nysci.org.
QUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN
A converted and relocated remnant of the 1939 and 1964
World’s Fairs, the Queens Botanical Garden consists of almost
40 acres of trees, shrubs and rose, bee, herb, and flower patches.
Something is in bloom no matter the season. Special sections
include Cherry Circle, Fragrance Walk, Perennial Garden,
Arboretum and Pinetum. The Victorian Wedding Garden,
complete with a footbridge over a babbling stream, is a favorite
spot for couples to exchange vows.
Built in 2007, the visitors center was the first New York
City building to earn a “Platinum” rating from the United
States Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
The center has a planted green roof that minimizes storm water
run-off, solar panels that generate 17 percent of the building’s
electricity, geothermal heating and cooling that uses 55-degree
water pumped from an aquifer to maintain the building’s climate,
gray water recycling that cleans water from its sinks, dishwasher,
and showers for use in the building’s public toilets, compost
toilets for staffers and bioswales that capture storm water to
reduce pressure on the city’s overburdened sewer system.
Inside scoop: The garden abuts Flushing’s Main Street on
one side. This thoroughfare is the heart of the city’s biggest
Chinatown with Asian restaurants, boutiques, hair salons, and
stores. Some places sell vegetables and fruits that don’t have
recognizable English names.
Address: 43-50 Main Street, www.queensbotanical.org.
QUEENS MUSEUM
The Queens Museum re-opened in 2013 after a $69 million
renovation that created 50,000 more square feet, extra galleries,
studios for resident artists, and a new, gorgeous sky-lit atrium.
The museum is most famous for its Panorama of the City of
New York, a 9,335-square-foot, 900,000-structure, scaleddown
architectural model of all five boroughs. The permanent
22 QUEENS IN YOUR POCKET • www.itsinqueens.com