Mãe Bonifácia State Park, Protected area and ecological reserve in Duque de Caxias, Cuiabá, Brazil.
Mãe Bonifácia State Park is an ecological reserve in Cuiabá with trails, exercise equipment, and designated areas for observing native animals and plants. The grounds offer various walking routes for different fitness levels and recreational spaces.
The park was created by decree 1.470 of 2000 and inaugurated in December 2000 by governor Dante Martins de Oliveira. It was re-categorized as a state park by decree 722 of 2011. A statue of Mãe Bonifácia, a healer remembered in oral tradition, stands in the grounds. In 1883 a powder magazine was built beside the ruins of her house; it exploded on 15 April 1937.
The park is named after Mãe Bonifácia, a Black woman remembered in oral tradition as a healer who lived near the site and helped escaped slaves avoid the men hired to recapture them. A statue in the park commemorates her, though historians question whether she existed. The name also survives in the Córrego Mãe Bonifácia, the stream that runs through the grounds.
The grounds are open daily from early morning until sunset and entry is free for all visitors. Weekends tend to get crowded, so weekday visits are more peaceful.
The park's name comes from a woman whose story is mostly oral tradition: some historians doubt she existed. A statue of her stands in the grounds, and a legend holds that she buried her jewels and gold in an iron cauldron somewhere on the land that is now the park.
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