Moncus Park — The Horse Farm Saved

For a century this was the university horse farm — 100 acres of open land in the geographic center of Lafayette, used for ROTC and equestrian education. In 2005, a community campaign called Save the Horse Farm launched, one of the first Louisiana activism campaigns to use social media as an organizing tool. The city bought the land from UL Lafayette for $6.8 million in 2012. A nonprofit engaged 7,400 residents to design the master plan. Today the park draws nearly 500,000 visits a year. Trails wind through the grounds. A weekly farmers and artisan market runs. There's an amphitheater, a dog park, a Veterans memorial, a treehouse, and a half-mile stretch of Coulee Mine running through it. Free admission. Open daily dawn to dusk. Johnston Street.