I was looking forward to this park more than any other in Anderson. I had seen photos and thought this was sure to be a five star review. The park is large and located right along the White River Trail, so you can easily get a good hike, both inside and beyond the park. There is a baseball field, a huge playground with so many pieces of equipment that I lost count, a spacious parking lot, shade trees, a stone shelter, and restrooms.
The playground is larger than just about any I've seen and has that soft padding underneath. But wear and tear has left some spaces where the padding is missing and can easily trip a youngster who isn't watching where they go. Time to fix it!
What I was really looking forward to was the restored Terraced Garden (also called the Japanese Garden). Set on a hillside southwest of the playground, massive stone walls form terraced levels where beautiful gardens should be. Sadly, the shrubs are overgrown and the flowers are missing. A small stone shelter area was filled with litter and the paint was peeling in strips from the benches. What a shame that this park has been allowed to look in such disrepair. The good news is that it is all cosmetic and could be restored with a few days work trimming, scraping/painting, and replanting. Seems like a lost opportunity for the parks department/city to bring in tourists.
One of the better maintained areas of the park was the Veterans Memorial just south of the Terraced Garden. Large bronze medallions represent the branches of the service while a statue called "Spirit of Liberty (Kenneth G Ryden 1998) has an eagle in flight in the center of the plaza. A walkway leading up to the statue has a built-in timeline of historic events approaching the eagle.
I may be a bit harsh on the negatives in this review. The park really must have been fantastic in its prime. But neglect can ruin even stone gardens and playgrounds. It's not bad yet, but it's no longer great.
Review #1102 read more