Cary, NC is a great place to live. Really. Here are 12 reasons people love living here. One of those reasons is that Cary is known for having some of the best parks. And with 30+ public parks, we certainly have plenty of them and they are all nice! The following are a few of my personal favorites, with examples of what makes each one unique.
Kids Together Park
Highlighted Feature: Special Needs Playgrounds
The first of Cary’s best parks, is Kids Together Playground, at Marla Dorrel Park This delightful play space is designed for people of all abilities to enjoy. The park features beautiful landscaping, with rolling hills and whimsical artistic design throughout the playground. The structures all include ramps, chair-swings and varied surface walkways for textual clues to make the playground accessible for all.
Image courtesy of Kids Together Park. This whimsical bench with interactive trumpet tube is wheelchair accessible.
Kids Together is walking distance from Wellington Ridge, Wellington Place and Pink Acres Subdivisions.
Macdonald Woods Park
Highlighted Feature: Shady for Summertime
Macdonald Woods park is tucked within a cluster of beautifully wooded subdivisions, with greenways providing easy access to the park.
You will find a soft substrate of recycled materials, a shaded playground, basketball court, open play field, picnic tables, and a new restroom facility.
Image courtesy of Town of Cary. The summer shade provides great options for play when the days are hot!
MacDonald Woods Park is walking distance from Macdonald Woods, Stonehaven, Pirates Cove, Hillsdale Forest, and Beaver Pond Subdivisions. Additionally, the Hinshaw Greenway provides a pedestrian bridge over US-64, with foot access to Kids Together Park.
Ritter Park
Highlighted Feature: Greenway to Local Attractions
Ritter Park is a nice sized park with ball fields, large shelters, clean bathrooms and plenty of room to roam. It’s nice because there is a great playground very close to the ball fields so if you have a kid playing sports, it’s easy to keep an eye on a sibling. There’s also a climbing wall and nice sandboxes with diggers the kids can sit on to pretend they are excavating. Pretty cool!
Image courtesy of Mom in Chapel Hill.
Ritter Park is walking distance to several other local parks and recreation facilities. You can access the trails around Symphony Lake, Booth Ampitheatre where concerts and festivals are hosted, and the Hemlock Bluffs Nature Center. Ritter Park is also walking distance from the following neighborhoods: Lochmere, Regency and Williamsburg Common subdivisions.
Jack Smith Park
Highlighted Feature: Sprayground
Jack Smith park opened in Cary in 2016 and was the first playground to incorporate a spray ground. Additionally, the park has a climbing wall, dog park and some beautiful, whimsical art kids of all ages will enjoy.
Jack Smith is walking distance from Birklands Subdivision in Lochmere, but due to limited sidewalks in this area, the other surrounding neighborhoods should depend on vehicles to park access. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of parking!
Jack Smith is filled with whimsical artwork from local artists.
Walking trails and beautiful architecture
More creativity shows through in the playground design.
These delightful sheep sculptures watch over the games played on the large field behind the playground.
Walnut Street Park
Highlighted Feature: Great for Older Kids
Walnut Street park is nicely situated on 11 acres in Cary. The best feature of this park IMO, (although there are many great features) is the playground structure specifically designed for older children. once my kids got to that age that park play was a little boring for them…this park still feels fun!
The playground structures are designed for older kids and encourage large motor movement and balance.
In addition to the playground, there is a 1.5 acre field that is great for just throwing a ball or flying a kite. A really nice trail with beautiful brick work, and my favorite…the blueberry bushes planted at the front of the park. (They ripen in July!)
Walnut Street Park is walkable from Stonehaven, Beaver Pond, Greenwood Acres, Pirates Cove and Hillsdale Forest Subdivisions.
Bond Park
Highlighted Feature: Boating, Fishing, Amphitheater, Community Events
Bond Lake, Bond Park Field, Home of Kite Festival & Winter Wonderland
Bond Park is a favorite for many because it has so many great features. This 310 acre park features a large lake with boathouse where you can purchase bait as well as snacks. There is a ropes challenge course, multiple picnic shelter rentals, and many classes are taught in the on site Bond Park Community Center and Cary Senior Center. In the spring, the large field overlooking the lake is filled with kites during the Kite Festival. And during Winter Wonderland, the biggest sledding hill will be filled with manmade snow since we rarely get snow in the Triangle.
Bond Park Boathouse
Cary Senior Center at Bond Park, Shuffle Board on the lawn
Another cool feature of Bond Park is that is it the central hub for the city-wide greenway system. The tow longest trails in the city, White Oak Greenway and Black Creek Greenway converge here in Bond Park. You can walk practically anywhere from this park, all on greenway trails, sidewalks and under-street tunnels.
One could argue that you can walk to Bond Park from most neighborhoods in Cary, and you would be correct. But the most convenient are Oxxford Hunt, Trappers Run, Ashcroft, Kenilworth, Bond Pointe, Shenandoah, Saratoga Park and The Battery.
