University of ArkansasA Park in our own Backyard
If you’ve entered the campus from Asher Avenue in the last few weeks, you’ve noticed the winding walkway, the gushing sprinklers and the increase in green in UALR’s Trail of Tears Park. The park, which is the first section of the plan to create a greenway from UALR to War Memorial Park, is on track for substantial completion by the end of this month.
As the 4.5 acre haven emerges with life and energy, it’s hard to believe its asphalt and cinderblock-filled past.
Long before it was a home to concrete, the area was a trekking ground for American Indians on their force migration to Indian territory. A part of the Old Southwest Trail, one might imagine that the displaced tribes could get a cool drink from the creek and a much needed rest on the land. The Trail of Tears park is rich with history.
UALR Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management David Millay and planners of the Coleman Creek Greenway Project are working to capture that history and rejuvenate the natural beauty for a new generation of trekkers. The park includes a 1,000-foot walking, biking or running trail that will soon be marked with interpretive signs and plaques describing the area’s significance. The “Circle of Life” segment, a nod to the American Indian culture, can already be seen to the right of the campus’s gated south entrance.
As part of the eyesore-to-eye candy makeover, the park is being restored with native plants, rocks, trees and grasses, with the help of some industrial sprinklers.
Grow, baby, grow!
But a field of green isn’t the end of the enhancement for UALR. The Coleman Creek Greenway Project hopes to extend the trail through campus to 32nd street.
For now, the campus community awaits the soon-approaching day when the sprinklers can rest, the abundant green is freckled with reds and yellows, and we can rejuvenate our weary minds right in our own backyard.
For more information on the complete enhancement, visit the Coleman Creek Greenway Project website.
How cool!
The UALR Trail of Tears Park anchors the planned Coleman Creek Greenway and sets the standard for development along the creek from I-630 on the north through the UALR campus to Fourche Creek on the South. The greenway as planned will connect with Little Rock trails systems north and west and will go south to link with trails systems into Saline County. The greenway will also improve the quality of life within the University District, distinguish it from other neighborhoods and attracting new families and businesses into the area.
I grew up behind the college. We were the last house on Milton st, right next to the creek. There were five of us kids and we played in the woods all the time. My sister and I were always playing the part of the Indians. All my happiness, saddness and life questions were in these woods. It was my cemetary for dead birds and animals and many a fort was built by my brothers. I climbed everytree big enough to climb. I loved that neighborhood. My mom stilled lived there when the college bought the property for a parking lot. I cried. I am now 63 years young. I love that you are doing this.
and a neat thing about the park is that it is being funded primarily from private or gift resources. A number of donors have contributed cash, professional services and in kind work which demonstrates the strong desire of many in the community to return the property to a more native state.
I think that there need to be a great many more projects like this all over. Thank you for looking at ways to add more green space back into our lives. As Carolyn shared, I also played behind my apartment complex growing up, make forts, feeding spiders, burying baby birds. My area was also lost to a parking lot (a church one in my case). I hope that this project will inspire.