On Saturday my wife and I visited the E. Carroll Joyner Park in Wake Forest. This is the town’s newest park located at 701 Harris Road, approximately 1 mile off of Capital Boulevard. The park covers 117 acres and is being built out over several phases. Phase I of the park was completed in late July 2009 and opened to the public in August 2009.
The park features three miles of paved walking trails that wind around the open fields providing views of restored farm buildings, groves of pecan trees. Leashed dogs are allowed at the park as are bikes on the trails. While we were there we saw several people biking and walking even though it was kind of chilly. I imagine this will be a very popular destination once the weather warms up. There is also a 1,000-lawn-seat amphitheatre at the park that will serve as the new home of Wake Forest’s Six Sundays in spring concert series in 2010.
As I mentioned above, much of the park is made up of open meadows making it a great place to fly a kite or throw a frisbee around. There is also a unique looking “stacked” stone wall that bends around portions of the trail along the road near the park entrance and a garden area adjacent to the amphitheater. I am looking forward to going back to the park in the spring when the area greens up and the garden is in full bloom.
If you want to make an afternoon out of your trip to Wake Forest, when you leave the park you can take a short but picturesque drive through the Wake Forest historic district on N. Main Street as you head towards downtown Wake Forest to check out the farmer’s market , whish is open on Saturday mornings in the spring and summer from 8-12, or swing by the Wake Forest Coffee Company on White Street.
For more information about the E. Carroll Joyner Park check out the town of Wake Forest’s parks website. You can view more pictures from my trip to the park in my flickr photo album.
The Triangle Explorer 