(airy music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(parkgoers chatter) (bright music) - [Narrator] A day in the park means something a little different for everyone.

For some, it's time at the playground, while others seek the calm of nature.

But how did the park system in Mecklenburg County develop from the earliest parks built by developers to the massive portfolio of parks, greenways, dog parks, urban parks, neighborhood parks, and a collection of unique nature preserves we have today?

Coming up on "Trail of History," we'll head north, south, east, and west to explore some of the stories behind the diverse park system in the county from how early cemeteries played double duty by providing green space for the living to how a depression-era program impacted several parks.

- Memorial Stadium, Bryant Park, and part of Independence Park, were WPA programs.

- [Narrator] Come along as we meet the folks who bring the arts to Freedom Park and Kings Drive each year.

- A wholesome community needs the arts and the wholesome community needs the parks.

And if you can put it all together, it's just fantastic.

- [Narrator] And explore how folks today use the park system with activities like pickleball, running, skateboarding, and even dragon boat racing.

All that and more on this episode of "Trail of History."

(upbeat warm music) (traffic droning) Cars honking, trucks rumbling down the road, and construction just about everywhere you look, it's easy sometimes to feel like you're living in a concrete jungle with no way to escape.

(birds chirping) But don't despair.

There's likely an oasis of nature just around the corner.

Thanks to Mecklenburg County's Park and Recreation Department.

On the shores of Lake Norman, Myra Bellinger finds hero Oasis here at Jetton Park.

- I'm a nature girl for sure.

I came today on a rest day.

I came to quiet my life, train my brain to shut up, to get out of this rat race of running, running, running by hamsters, da-da-da.

It's necessary for your health.

It's necessary for fresh air, it's necessary for appreciation.

Oh, we need parks for sure.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Here's a fun little fact for you.

Mecklenburg County's comprised of over 334,000 acres of land.

Of that, less than 7% is parkland.

- And that's about 22,500 acres.

We're a little over 230 facilities and that means our neighborhood parks, community regional, which are local and regional parks, our nature facilities.

It's really right at about a hundred neighborhood parks, 30 to 40 community parks and about 35 regional-type parks.

- [Narrator] According to the deputy director of Park and Recreation for Mecklenburg County, Peter Cook, all those parks and rec centers get a lot of use.

- Our numbers are in the 1.2 to 1.5 million folks a month visit some type of park, be it greenways, recreation centers, nature centers.

- [Narrator] Making it all run smoothly takes an annual budget of over $70 million and a mix of about a thousand full, part-time, and seasonal employees.

Now, before all the planned greenways, dog parks, athletic fields, and pickleball courts were all the rage, there was a time when only the elites of society enjoyed dedicated green spaces, spaces like the walled gardens of Ancient Persia or medieval hunting parks in England.

Up in Massachusetts, you'll find the oldest park in the United States, the famous Boston Common, which initially served for grazing livestock.

(cow lows) During the Industrial Revolution, cities experienced unprecedented growth as people left farms for factory jobs.

But with cities now bursting at the seams, there grew a need for public green spaces.

In the 19th century, one innovative solution killed two birds with one stone, so to say, and created green spaces folks were dying to get into.

- Around the country, and around the world, really, you had cemeteries and graveyards were kind of a respite area where folks would go, maybe they had Sunday or a half a day off and they would take their families and picnic.

In large urban areas this was sometimes the only tree-covered or open space that folks could go.

So they were, in essence, some of the first parks.

- [Narrator] Cities like Paris, Boston, and even Charlotte, all built cemeteries with park-like aesthetics.

Opened in the 1850s, Charlotte's historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery provides a beautiful final resting place for your loved ones, while also giving residents a place to stroll.

(warm music) In the beginning, parks in Charlotte weren't built with public dollars.

They were built by folks like Edward Dilworth Latta, who developed Charlotte's first streetcar neighborhood in the 1890s.

Latta, wanting to entice buyers to the area, constructed a lavish park complete with a lake and terrace gardens.

While some of those amenities are gone today, folks still enjoy the walking paths, playground, and basketball courts.

A few years after, Latta Park opened, and the demand for public green space only grew from there.

Charlotte city leaders in 1904 hired prominent landscape architect John Nolen to design Independence Park, the city's first publicly funded park.

- There is a big play movement that started in the early 1900s about play and the need for play and having kids get out into the nature.

- [Narrator] And by the 1920s, the city officially created a parks department.

- We had Independence, we had Cordelia, we had some of the smaller parks uptown.

- [Narrator] As the nation endured the Great Depression that began in 1929, parks in Charlotte benefited from the federal program called the Works Progress Administration.

Some of the projects in the city included the construction of Memorial Stadium, rock walls at Independence Park and baseball fields at both Bryant and Independence Parks.

According to Cook, preserving these now-historical fixtures comes with challenges.

- We've had to invest capital money.

Memorial Stadium was built in about '36 or so.

It wasn't the size that we would need it for more professional sports today.

We kept the historic brick walls and the stones and we rebuilt the stadium recently.

We now have about a $42-million stadium that is very nice.

Bryant Park, we had to redo some of the stadium seating.

- [Narrator] Each of these early parks holds historical significance for their pioneering designs and enduring facilities.

But they also reveal something else about Charlotte's past.

(mellow music) Though built for public enjoyment, these early parks were shaped by the realities of segregation at the time and were intended for use only by white residents.

- A lot of these early parks were.

There's not parks set aside for African Americans.

- [Liz] It is written into the deed of Independence Park that this park was for use by white people.

- [Narrator] Denied access, Charlotte's African American community carved out their own spaces.

- You know, the African American community who was really not that far removed from enslavement at this point in time, did just what they did with the schools, which is they just made their own and a lot of cases they were better.

- [Brandon] First one was Morgan Park and Cherry.

- [Narrator] Public art and signage at Pearl Street Park helped to share the stories of the park that once served as an oasis for African Americans.

- Brooklyn being the most vibrant African American neighborhood in Charlotte at the time, there wasn't really any space there except for Pearl Street Park.

- You know, the history of Pearl Street Park is really the history of Brooklyn.

That was their dedicated green space.

- [Narrator] Today, parks like Cherry and Pearl Street welcome all visitors, but serve as a conversation starter for discussing the era of segregation in Mecklenburg County.

(warm music) Throughout most of the 20th century, the city of Charlotte ran its own park and recreation.

As demand increased, numerous parks and rec centers were constructed.

- Like a lot of cities, you had certain urban parks, but then you had a big growth in population.

So there is a big need for athletic fields, playgrounds, shelters, and now people love greenways.

And we've taken our riparian corridors and made them great walkways and transportation corridors.

- [Narrator] While Charlotte and other towns in the county operate their own park and rec departments, a need still existed in the unincorporated areas.

- The county developed a park and rec department in the '70s, which are nature preserves and other facilities in the surrounding county from the city of Charlotte.

But as Charlotte continued incorporating more and more of the county, public leaders started discussing a merger of services.

- The city of Charlotte was growing.

They had a park system and we had kind of a county park system with lands that we got for water protection starting into greenways.

Our nature preserves at that time.

The city had recreation centers in neighborhoods and some athletic fields.

It was decided over many years that they would get the county police system, we would get the park system and we grew from there.

We merged with the city of Charlotte in '92.

So Mecklenburg County is the park and rec provider for all of Mecklenburg County.

We do have six other municipalities in the city of Charlotte that have various park and rec components also.

- [Narrator] Today, the department manages a diverse portfolio of properties, facilities, and amenities.

- We have a system that a lot of folks know as neighborhood, community, and regional.

And the neighborhood parks were usually under 20 acres.

They had a playground, they had some amenities.

They usually didn't have a parking lot or restroom.

They were more walk-to neighborhood-type amenities.

Then the community might have some ball fields, parking lot, restrooms, and then the regional are a destination-type park.

They have many more fields, many more amenities and would attract folks from a greater distance usually.

(bright music) We had a large increase in population coming into our center city area.

Work with many partners.

It takes a lot to get those land parcels together to develop Romare Bearden, and that's been one of our jewels, especially in our urban park system.

So we want amenities to draw folks in and that live there to have a nice amenity to go and really our urban corridor connects to our greenway system, Little Sugar Creek Greenway.

We want to provide what the community is asking us to provide.

Every community's a little different.

What works good for us may not work good for some other city.

Our folks love trails, greenways, activities, both passive and active, and a lot of programming.

Our youth sports, adult sports, we have senior programming, we have senior nutrition programs that are in many of our recreation centers during the day.

- [Narrator] In southwest Mecklenburg County, on the shores of Lake Wylie, you'll find the first park in the county system.

- [Chris] I believe it's about 1,300 acres, so it's a pretty, pretty large park.

- [Narrator] Welcome to the McDowell Nature Preserve.

- There's a lot of things to do at McDowell.

We have several shelters that you can rent if you want to have a, you know, a picnic or a family gathering and that there is actually a playground at McDowell.

It's one of the few ones that we have.

We've got over 50 campsites and you can bring your rig down or you can grab a tent.

We have a Nature Center down there.

We have miles and miles of trails that you can go to.

It's right on the lake so you can launch your canoe or kayak.

We have some areas there that have rare species that we manage for.

So there's a rare sunflower that we have some populations of out in the kind of that prairie area.

- [Narrator] McDowell might claim the title of first nature preserve, but it's certainly not the only one.

- We have 28 nature preserves in the county.

Just over 8,000 acres.

We focus mostly on passive recreation.

So we have over 85 miles of trail.

Four of our nature preserves have nature centers.

So we have nature-based education.

You can learn about snakes, you can pet the turtle.

We have shelters that you can rent and have a picnic or have a family gathering.

- [Narrator] In a county that's showing an insatiable appetite for growth, nature preserves play multiple environmental roles.

- [Chris] Larger properties tend to provide a lot of environmental benefit and value.

- [Narrator] One of those benefits?

Improving water quality.

- We've worked with federal and state on land and water grants to try to protect our areas around our water sources.

- Have a lot of properties along the Catawba River and along our lakes that do a tremendous job in protecting water quality.

You know, from all areas up in the north with Latta and Cowans Ford all the way to the south at McDowell.

- [Narrator] Besides serving as a refuge for plants and wildlife, nature preserves and parks often protect historical sites and cultural resources.

Some of them dating back thousands of years and others that are a little more recent.

In Ballantyne, Big Rock Nature Preserve might be small in size, but the massive boulders here have been enticing visitors for thousands of years.

According to research, Indigenous people camped and spent time near this very spot.

The boulders likely providing shelter and protection from the elements.

Travel north to Huntersville and find the Gar Creek Nature Preserve.

Under a canopy of trees, the Preserve protects the McCoy Slave Cemetery, the final resting place for the enslaved of the Albert McCoy family.

(warm gentle music) More than a century after the first parks were established in the county, the demand for recreational spaces and facilities continues to grow.

As the population increases and community needs evolve, the Parks and Recreation Department understands that offering a diverse range of options is essential.

Opened in 2013, Romare Bearden Park, named for the Charlotte-born artist, offers a relaxing green space for uptown residents, visitors, and workers amongst towering apartments in office buildings.

While at Pearl Street Park... - [Terry] Every time I come here I look around and think how nice it is.

- [Narrator] The pickleball craze is in full effect.

- I love the game.

It's really fun.

I play it all the time.

I probably play four times a week.

This is my favorite court.

Yeah, I love to come here.

- It's really cool that you can just kind of walk up.

You don't need a reservation, first come, first serve.

I just recently started, but I'm really looking forward to playing some more this summer.

- [Narrator] If relaxing at Romare Bearden Park or playing a round of pickleball at Pearl Street isn't your thing, perhaps a run or stroll on one of the county's greenways will do the trick.

The first one opened in the late 1970s and the system continues to expand across the community.

(upbeat music) Each Saturday at the Sharon Road West entrance of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway, the Charlotte chapter of parkrun gathers for a free weekly running event.

- parkrun was started about 20 years ago in the UK and the idea really is just about getting people out into nature to exercise.

And so the principle is it's a free, timed 5K course.

- [Caller] Mark, get set, go.

- It's now in 20, I think, countries around the world.

80 events, right as of this week in the US.

You can run if you want to test yourself on a 5K course, you've got that.

If you wanna walk, that's also fine.

- [Narrator] parkrun events usually attract people from all walks of life and fitness abilities.

- Oh, it's so much fun.

It's invigorating.

It keeps me active and fit.

I look forward to it every week.

- One of the things that attracted me to parkrun, I'm not a very fast runner, but with parkrun, kind of, you don't recognize people for how fast they've run.

You recognize people for consistency, for coming out.

They call them milestones.

So when someone has done 25 parkruns or they've volunteered 25 times, we recognize them, at 50 times, 100 times.

So that's what I like about parkrun.

It's really, you know, it's really for anyone.

- [Narrator] With parkrun events happening each week around the world, often those traveling to other countries or cities will look to see if there's a parkrun event at their destination.

Like American Dr. Michael Wasserman who now lives on the other side of the world.

- I live in Hobsonville, Auckland, New Zealand.

Whenever I travel anywhere in the world, the first thing I do is I go to the parkrun website and I look to see if there's a parkrun nearby.

- [Narrator] Besides being free and a part of the global running community, parkrun volunteer Mitch Mitchell says the other star of the show is the Little Sugar Creek Greenway - parkrun events are held in parks all over the world and so the course can be very different, but we really like our course and part of the reason we chose this course, it's on the greenway, it's a green space, you're out with other people, you've got Little Sugar Creek running along the side, so a water feature is always nice.

You don't have to worry about traffic.

It's just a really beautiful space and we can use it all year round.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Much of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway comprises mostly of natural areas, but along Kings Drive across from the historic Cherry Neighborhood, the greenway transforms into the perfect setting for the Kings Drive Art Walk.

- Best and most important thing here is that we're promoting in the center of Charlotte, a wonderful small arts festival that has artists from up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

- [Narrator] The Kings Drive Art Walk is a great place for local potter Brett Beasley to network and show off his creations.

- I think that Festival in the Park and where we're at right now is Kings Drive Art Walk is very important for both myself, for income, sure, but exposure to the community.

- [Narrator] The Kings Drive Art Walk is presented by the organizers of the Festival in the Park.

An annual family-friendly celebration of music and the arts held annually in Freedom Park for more than six decades.

- At the festival we also have pony rides for kids.

We, have a family fun zone where there's amusements for kids.

We have four different performing arts stages.

- [Narrator] Frank Whitney has been part of Festival in the Park, well, for most of his life.

- I've been volunteering since as long as I can remember 'cause my father founded the Festival in the Park.

And when I was four years old in 1964, I actually fell in the lake at Freedom Park.

- [Narrator] His father, Grant Whitney, worked for Belk.

And when John Belk suggested the creation of a festival, it fell on Grant to make it happen.

- It went from being a dream of John Belk and implemented through my father, Grant Whitney.

And it's continued, the festival has continued now for 62 years and this Kings Drive Art Walk has continued for 15 years.

- [Narrator] He credits his late father and his sister, Julie Whitney Austin, who serves as executive director of the festival for bringing it all together.

- She is incredibly organized like my father was, and she uses that natural talent to put on this event.

She stays busy, but that's her exceptional organizational talents make these things happen.

They're a lot, a lot of leg work.

- [Narrator] He says the festival and the art walk often serve as a launching pad for local artists and musicians.

- We have so many artists that come here that started here.

We're kind of a think tank, so to speak, of new artists.

Whether it's performing artists or visual artists, we're trying to bring the community to the art or trying to bring the art to the community and it works.

- [Narrator] If running, the arts, or dog parks aren't for you, how about some time on the water with the folks from the Charlotte Dragon Boat Association?

- Oh, it's amazing.

Dragon boat is the ultimate team sport.

So it's not one of those sports where, you know, you could just go out and do your own thing like a tennis or something like that.

So it's sort of both, you know, your own fitness and contributing to the boat, but it's also figuring out how to gel together with the whole team so that you really surge that boat forward.

One person giving more effort doesn't really do anything.

So it's all about teamwork out there.

- [John] Put it very simply, dragon boat is a long canoe, okay?

Now the difference is that you have a number of paddlers sitting on the rows, 10 rows.

So you got 20 paddlers.

- [Narrator] Dragon boats actually date back more than 2,000 years to Southern China.

But the worldwide popularity of racing the long, sleek boats is much more recent.

- So people like to be in the water.

Now it has been dormant that until 1988 when the Hong Kong Trade Association reintroduced it at the Vancouver World's Fair.

All of a sudden it just took off.

Dragon boat is very popular throughout the world and people enjoy this full-fledged water sport, there's a lot of attributes, you know, team building and outdoor, you know, it is environmentally very clean and all the good stuff.

- [Narrator] The Association kicks off their season at Ramsey Creek Park with the annual Charlotte Asian and Dragon Boat Festivals held each May since 2005.

- When the city was launching a very major community building project called Crossroads Charlotte.

And so we also at that time organized our first Dragon Boat Festival at Ramsey Creek Park.

Three months after, we founded the Charlotte Dragon Boat Association.

We used the tag line, "We didn't win or lose.

We're in the same boat working together."

- [Narrator] Coach Richard Migdalski says there's some worthwhile benefits to the sport.

- We got 20 people out on the water.

So you're constantly with people constantly socializing.

All that helps to increase your wellbeing, decrease your stress levels, whether it's dragon boat or it's kayaking or it's surf skis, or it's outrigger canoeing, there's so many opportunities to access the waterways, whether it's in Lake Norman going out to parks and rec and places like Ramsey Creek Park.

So many areas for people to get into the water and exercise.

(bright music) - [Narrator] While the county's parks for years have been popular places for folks and their families to spend time, in 2020, the Park and Rec Department effectively became an essential service to the community.

- COVID was another huge reason.

People were getting out, gettin' outside more.

They wanted to not be around other people.

So I think people really started appreciating the parks more during COVID.

- [Narrator] With this renewed interest in green spaces, you might ask, "What does the future hold for the county's parks, recreation centers, greenways, and nature preserves when there's already a large variety of activities and facilities?"

Peter Cook says they are constantly evolving.

- We develop over time when we have community needs, we do community surveys to find out what folks are interested in.

We work 'em into our capital improvement program.

And so it's, we're planning 5, 10, 15, 20 years out for different types of amenities for parks, where parks are gonna be located, land purchasing.

- [Narrator] Something else new in 2025, with so many historical assets within the department's portfolio, they created a new historian position.

- It's a whole new thing.

It's exciting for me to do community engagement and history.

And I think the parks is a way to connect with ecology, science, nature, and history and culture.

- [Narrator] Time outdoors, perhaps hiking your favorite trail in McDowell Nature Preserve, strolling around the lake at Freedom Park, or even skateboarding at Renaissance Park are just some of the ways to experience Mecklenburg County parks.

- The parks have dramatically grown over the years and they've done a good job of defining regional parks with smaller parks.

And so you have both at a smaller park, maybe a linear park like this, you don't have the sporting activities, but you still have just getting out in the open and enjoying the fresh air.

The park is a place where everyone can come together, whether you're an athlete seeking a little league field or a pickleball court or you're coming to walk just stroll down the greenway with or without art.

We really have some exceptional parks, particularly with regard to the greenway.

The greenway stretches 20 miles I guess, but it's an incredible to have something like that where you can safely ride your bike or walk.

- I've been part of our park system, my family that's part of the park system and I like other people to see what we're building here in our community and I really enjoy working for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation.

We have a little something for everyone, so it's kinda like our school systems or others.

You want to develop a system and put into a system, even though you may not use all of the things that are offered, you know that the things you like are there and it's for others and it's for the health and wellness of our community.

- Perfect.

- [Narrator] So the next time the walls of your apartment, office, or home start to feel like they're moving in on you, or the traffic jam has your blood pressure up, maybe ask your GPS where the nearest park is.

A little time on the pickleball court, running on a greenway, exploring a historic site or enjoying the dog park with your four-legged best friend might just be what you need.

Thank you for watching this episode of "Trail of History."

(warm upbeat music) (warm upbeat music continues) (airy music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.