New Castle County cut the ribbon on its newest park in Brandywine Hundred.
The new park is 31 acres of open space off Grubb Road, just south of Naamans Road, with a 1.1-mile paved walking path.
County Parks Division Manager Kendall Sommers says that 20 years ago, the county’s original plan was for ballfields and playgrounds, but the community wanted something more passive.
“They wanted it to be more open space and very passive where people could come and enjoy it but there weren’t heavy activities going on throughout the day,” Sommers says.
Sommers says $275,000 from DNREC’s Outdoor Parks and Trails Program paid for design and construction, adding they will beautify the space this winter with a native plant meadow and interpretive history signage.
“We are going to be working on the meadow installation and the signs over the winter with hopes to get those in and ready to go in the spring," Sommers says. "Meadows are a thing, they don’t just get planted and thrive, so that will be a three-year-long process to get them established so that they are cultivating on their own.”
Signage will include information about surrounding wildlife Jester House on the property.
Alan Baseden is president of Jester Artspace, the nonprofit working to restore the farmhouse and turn it into an art center.
“And we’ll have workshops and events, outdoor and indoor," Baseden says. "So it’s a nice cultural feature within the park. You’ve got this natural setting but then you have art as well.”
Baseden says Jester House reconstruction is nearly complete while Sommers says meadow planting will begin this winter, but will take a few years to develop fully.
