Portland, OR

Portland is home to more than 200 delightful parks of all sizes and styles — but only one is built atop a volcano. In fact, Portland is one of six American cities with an extinct volcano within its limits, thanks to the 636-foot-tall Mount Tabor. Experience this novelty by exploring 191-acre Mt. Tabor Park, a century-old public space known for its open-air reservoirs, annual Adult Soapbox Derby, and, yes, its volcanic cinder cone.

Named after an Israeli peak of the same name, Portland’s Mount Tabor became a city park in 1909. Parks superintendent Emanuel Tillman Mische consulted with famous landscape architect John C. Olmsted to create a design for the site, which included several walking trails, gently curving roads, long flights of stairs, and plenty of space to showcase native plants.

A few years later, construction workers found volcanic cinders in the park, which were used to pave the park’s pathways.