In addition to the architecturally significant homes designed by Samuel L. Pratt, the Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company left another legacy — our parks. Robert Morris Copeland’s layout of the Cottage City portion of the town, when combined with the rest of it at least apocryphally allows Oak Bluffs to be known as having the most parks per capita in the world. There were no separate census records in the mid-to-late 1800s when the town was built and we didn’t secede from Edgarville until 1880. Most evidence supports that there were 140 year-round residents then — and with 40 named parks it’s easy to impute the validity to that claim. One of these, Niantic, is soon to be renovated, and thanks to the Facebook site OBDowntown, we are alerted that the final plans are available on the town website oakbluffsma.gov if you’d like to take a look.

Niantic Park, across from the senior center, was renowned as the home of the annual Oak Bluffs tennis tournament for years and often presided over by Sen. Edward W. Brooke. Along with its playground, the park has a long legacy for its basketball court among year-round and seasonal youngsters. The new design has several new features. It will be expanded to include the awkward triangle formed by Pocasset and Tuckernuck, where Katama avenue was extended. Marked crosswalks will be near Circuit and Pocasset crossing Wamsutta, and there will be more parking spots available.

New conveniences include restrooms, an additional basketball court, more playground equipment and new landscaping. There’s a lot of green space and it will be interesting to see if that will include irrigation. The plans call for a sidewalk lining Wamsutta that continues into the new facilities. It is annotated as being a “concrete walk” and I’m really hoping that means one like those in Ocean Park and not just city-type concrete. This would also match the sidewalk at the base of the park on Circuit avenue that passes Conroy Apothecary. The Niantic Park upgrade is very impressive, hats off in particular to park commission chairman Amy Billings and her department.

Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr.’s documentary The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross earned an Emmy for outstanding historical program at the Sept. 30 ceremony in New York. The documentary, which premiered in 2013 on PBS, details the journey African Americans have made in the U.S.

Photographer Michael Johnson’s signature photograph Joy (the Polar Bears in a circle) will be featured in the upcoming HGTV Dream Home series. The decorators, like many, fell in love with it.

The 11th annual Chocolate Festival begins Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Featherstone, with founders Jeanne and Malcolm Campbell’s Chocolate Preview Party. Donations are $50 per person and you can RSVP at 508-693-1850. Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. each day Island bakers and chocolate artisans will have samples available, two tastes for $5 or five for $10, a great way to sweeten up the Columbus Day weekend.

Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary hosts a Fern and Feather Day Camp celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The free, family-friendly event features food, music and fun, including a live animal presentation, a silent auction, music by the Flying Elbows and the Chandler Blues Band, and an Edible Wild Vineyard walk and talk with wild food expert Russ Cohen. There is a fee for the walk which requires a reservation. Call 508-627-4850 for more information.

On Wednesday the Oak Bluffs library offers Fossil Day Crafts for Kids at 3:30 p.m. Children two and up (with parents) can make dinosaur footprints. National Fossil Day is Thursday, Oct. 16, and there will be a huge fossil display from 4 to 7:45 p.m., free for the family with a Q & A session. Folks are encouraged to bring their fossils — except those with whom they may be related — to show others. Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s Anna Carringer and Ann Ducharme will join the presenters.

Columbus Day weekend is widely acknowledged as the last hurrah for many Oak Bluffs seasonal folks. Bye-bye snowbirds!

Keep your foot on a rock.

Send your Oak Bluffs news to: Skip@mvgazette.com.