Do you know these 5 unique neighborhood parks?
There are more than 70 parks of various sizes around the city — have you visited them?
By William Newlin
Coolidge Park and Ross’ Landing might be the showpieces of Chattanooga’s parks collection, but from Avondale Park to the Riverside Bird Sanctuary, there are dozens of community spaces dotted around Chattanooga. With spring around the corner — depending on the groundhog you ask — here’s a few to discover or revisit as the weather warms:
1. Milliken Park
Milliken Park offers a splash of color amid its industrial surroundings in the Alton Park/Oak Hill neighborhood. A mural celebrating local kids covers the park’s street-facing entrance, and a looped path circles both a playground and a softball field.
Size: Medium
Features: Playground, softball field, walking path
Parking: Lot
2. Ted Bryant Park
Compact but versatile, Ted Bryant Park is a fenced space near the intersection of E. 10th Street and Central Avenue. It serves the surrounding neighborhood with a half court for basketball, a pavilion, and a playground built last fall.
Size: Small
Features: Basketball hoop, playground, pavilion
Parking: Street
3. Mountain Creek Park
On weekdays, sounds of recess accompany walkers tooling around the paved paths of Mountain Creek Park, which sits next to Red Bank Elementary School. Trees along the walkways, picnic tables, and charcoal grills make it a laid-back spot for a barbecue or some exercise below Signal Mountain. You can find the road to the park entrance and parking lot behind the school.
Size: Medium
Features: Walking paths
Parking: Lot
4. Brainerd Levee
If you’ve driven over the South Chickamauga Creek on Shallowford Road, you’ve seen the Brainerd Levee. It’s a mound of earth built in the 1970s to prevent the creek from flooding homes on the other side. In doing so, the levee created a miniature wetland that draws more than 100 bird species, such as great blue herons, American bitterns, and sedge wrens. Spring is a good time for amateur birdwatchers to see the levee’s visitors.
Size: Large
Features: Walking/biking path, birdwatching
Parking: Lot
5. Perkins Park
A classic gazebo — complete with two rocking chairs — is the focal point of this two-tenths-of-an-acre mini park off Vine Street. Perkins Park also displays a sign marking the Fort Wood arboretum, which was certified by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. This means the neighborhood contains a few dozen distinct tree species marked by small placards, including a Foster’s Holly planted in the park.
Size: Very small
Features: Gazebo, benches
Parking: No parking available, walkable from UTC's campus