Local Parks: It's About Preserving the Views

I finally went to Birmingham Park in Milton. I love this park. Or maybe I should say I love this park the way it is now, with no real structures or signage or ball fields. And I don’t count those old barns as structures. They’re more like historical artifacts surrounded by 200 acres of woods and open fields. It’s beautiful.

But I’ve got an anxiety flavored sadness about it because I figure in time the fields will become ball fields and the woods will be shaved to become recreation-purposed structures made of concrete and glass. I’m not trying to dispute the benefits of ball fields. My kids played rec league sports for over 10 years at Wills Park so I’m familiar with all the benefits of youth sports. Thing is, I don’t play youth sports and neither do my kids anymore.

These days, I go to local parks for two reasons. The first is exercise. I visit about 4 parks regularly for the purpose of walking and running. Indeed, parks are particularly useful for walkers and runners because the trails are usually marked with mile-markers, the asphalt and gravel paths are easy on the knees, and there’s no real danger of being hit by a car. But still, I could do this in the neighborhood or at the high school or middle school track, right? Which brings me to the second reason I go to parks – they usually provide me with the natural scenery I crave. Running through a canopy of trees by a creek is just far more pleasurable than running on the street and passing the same 30 houses. 

However, notice I said that parks "usually" provide good scenery. Fact is, some parks are so dense with activities that there is little natural scenery. Think of all the activities going on at our local parks: tennis, disc-golf, community gardening (OK, I’m biased toward that one and besides, it’s good scenery), basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, lacrosse, tennis, equestrian, dog parks, and the list goes on. Let the record state, I believe people truly benefit from these activities. The caveat is that if you cram too many of these things into a park, the place just starts looking tired and run-down. 

I am of the opinion that park (and city) planners should give a hearty nod to nature. Call me old fashioned or sentimental, but I have this notion that parks are the great preservers of nature. I guess I am a product of what I grew up with, which was visiting state and national parks. Back in the quaint old 1960s and 1970s, my parents didn’t take us to any Caribbean resorts and they didn’t take us to Disney World, but they were incredi-crazy excited about getting us to the Great Smokies or Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia, or the White Sands of New Mexico. 

As a young person in my 20s, I discovered the pocket parks of Druid Hills. Having to travel every day from Decatur to downtown Atlanta gave me plenty of time to admire the work of Frederick Law Olmsted in the beautifully designed parks and vistas along Ponce de Leon Avenue. And there are pocket parks in this area that I don’t think anyone knows about, except the locals. These parks have stood the test of time. There must be something about them that people see and crave. 

I am not a city planner or landscape architect, but I know a good thing when I see it. I know that Central Park in New York is a masterpiece. I marvel at the Emerald Necklace, an interwoven and connected series of parks that surrounds metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio. Another masterpiece that gets little national attention and yet almost defies description is Forest Park in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, an urban oasis that surpasses New York’s Central Park by 500 acres. All these places share an element in common and that is, they preserve nature first and foremost. The landscape is the key figure. The landscape is the recreation.

I hope that the Birmingham Park doesn’t develop out too much. And I hope the Milton Trail System becomes a reality. I hope our Alpharetta Greenway stays uncluttered and that we don’t burden our other local parks with too many activities. We have to remember that undisturbed natural places breed discovery and discovery is an activity – an activity that breeds curiosity and questions, which then breed study and understanding and respect, among other things.