Hills of Roser Park

Stairway to a House on a Hill

St. Petersburg is a great place to live, and you can find just about any sort of diversion or entertainment that you might want. But what if you come from the north and you really miss having hills around you? Or maybe you’re a born and bred St. Petersburg native, but you’d love a change of terrain once in awhile?

You probably think you’re out of luck. Everybody knows that there are no hills in St. Petersburg, right?

Well, you might be surprised! In fact, I have friends who have lived here for their entire lives and they don’t know about our hills.

So, if you’d like a change of scenery, I’m going to tell you where to find it. You can do a little driving tour, you can park your car and take a walk, or you can even bring a blanket and a lunch and have a picnic on the side of a hill, right in the heart of St. Petersburg. This is truly a hidden St. Petersburg gem, and it’s one worth exploring!

Looking Down From Above Roser Park

House on a Hill

The place to go is Roser Park. It’s located directly behind All Children’s Hospital, and it’s bounded, roughly, by 6th Street South and Dr. ML King Street South (formerly 9th Street South) and by 7th Avenue South and 11th Avenue South. In addition to a beautiful public park with a creek running alongside, you’ll also see picturesque brick roads and stately early St. Petersburg homes, homes that were owned and occupied by some of St. Petersburg’s most prosperous residents in the early 1900′s. Built by Charles Martin Roser beginning in 1911, the Roser Park homes were actually St. Petersburg’s first ‘out of the city’ development, a sort of early 20th century suburb. For much more detail on Roser Park, check out the Historic Roser Park website.

But for an easy, present day treat, drive over to Roser Park and check it out. It’s a peaceful oasis of history and beauty only minutes away from anywhere in the city. I’ll do a post in the near future with more detail about this entire neighborhood, which is one of St. Petersburg’s six Historic Preservation Districts, but for now, I just want to show you the hills and get you excited enough to go and find this place!

(Please note: in order to see the true depth of the hills in these photos, click on any of the photos so that you can view a full-sized version of the photograph.)