| Sources |
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 8 Oct 2009.
Dr. Edward R. Wear obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 20 Jan 2012.
Earth moves for PF park: Groundbreaking for new complex 'an exciting day'
by DEREK HODGES
Pigeon Forge City Manager Earlene Teaster talks about the projected park time-line to completion during Thursday s groundbreaking for the new city park.
Charlotte Wear sits with her son Eddie during the groundbreaking ceremony. The park will be named after the Wear family.
PIGEON FORGE — The hills around the old farm echoed Thursday with the sounds of diesel tractors chugging through tobacco fields and the laughter of children not yet born, the call of a mother that dinner is ready and the cheers of baseball games still to be played.
On a plot filled with more than 230 years of the community's history, the future was dug out of the red clay dirt on a chilly, gray afternoon as ground was broken for a new city park. It was an event many in the crowd had been looking forward to for quite a while and one heralded as "major" for the city's future.
"This truly is an exciting day for Pigeon Forge," City Manager Earlene Teaster said. "This park will be a tremendous asset for the city and for its residents. It will be a place where generations of our youngest residents will be able to come to play, explore and spend time with their families."
The new complex is set to feature five 300-foot baseball and softball diamonds, a multi-purpose field for football and soccer, pavilions, playgrounds, basketball courts, a dog park and an extensive network of walking trails. All of it is set to be laid out on a rolling 116 acre plot that Charlotte Wear's in-laws farmed for five generations. It was in hopes of preserving it in an undeveloped state and doing something to help the community that motivated her to offer the land to the city for $8 million, less than the appraisal.
"We've walked every inch of this farm and we have a really strong attachment to this place," Wear said, surveying the expansive plot. "We're excited it's going to be put to good use for the whole community. It's such an exciting thing for the community and our family."
Wear's son Eddie, who carries the name of her late husband Dr. Edward Wear, smiled the smile of a nearly-13-year-old as he thought of days spent on the farm and the ones to come in the park.
"I didn't get to come out here that much the last few years, so I'm excited to be able to spend some time here again," he said. "Hopefully we'll get to come out a lot and have picnics."
The complex is expected to open in spring 2013 with its first phase, which includes all those facilities mentioned. They'll be hemmed in by the flow of Waldens Creek, the waterway the Wears settled next to as some of the first residents of what would become Pigeon Forge.
In later years, the project will continue beyond the stream, along the rolling hills that start to rise just past its banks, Parks and Recreation Department Director John Wilbanks said.
"There is an incredible view from on top of that ridge of the Smokies and the Cumberlands," he said. "In years to come, probably in just 10 years, Wears Valley Road isn't going to look the same. This is going to be our own little Central Park. This will be a little green space for people to enjoy when they come into our town."
Wilbanks said the project, expected to cost roughly $7.5 million not counting the cost of the land, will bring "some of the finest facilities in the area" to the city. The groundbreaking was sort of the first physical step in a process that has been in the planning and dream stages for several years. With the existing city park showing its considerable age and below standards in some areas, the opportunity to create a new one is something Wilbanks welcomes.
"This is a great day to be in Pigeon Forge," he said. "We're getting ready to start on a project that is well-needed and that will bring a lot of fun to Pigeon Forge."
It became necessary to move the complex from its current home on Community Center Drive to the parcel a short distance down Wears Valley Road when city officials agreed to build a new wastewater plant on the existing site. That facility will be state-of-the-art, treating effluent to the level where it can be reused, which it will be at the park. There it will be used to water ball fields and even, in a none-so-true demonstration of recycling, flush toilets.
The thought of it all was enough to make Charlotte Wear beam.
"I can't say how excited I am to see how it all turns out," she said, sharing the smile her son carried. "This has just been a blessing, to have the chance to be part of this."
dhodges@themountainpress.com
|
Search | Advanced Search
, d. 8 Oct 2009 (Age 56 years)