Park Spotlight: Morreene Road Park
With more than 65 parks available for public use and more planned for future development, it's no question that Durham has great places to play! The City's parks serve as sites for many of Durham Parks and Recreation's athletic leagues, activities, and events. With all of those parks, comes the responsibility of continual maintenance and improvements efforts. And we want you to know that Durham Parks and Recreation has responded to the public's request to better maintain City parks and trails. Money from the 1/2 penny for park and trail deferred maintenance, Durham Parks Foundation, as well as money from the capital project planning, have gone into repairs. We hope you take the time to explore all that our parks have to offer!
A document in the Duke University Archives notes that in August, 1922, Ben and Dora Bridgers bought two lots of the former W.T. Redmond farm south of “Hillsboro” Road. They opened a dairy on the site and named it for a combination of Dora Bridgers’ brothers’ middle names: Vester Morris Dorrity and Robert Greene Dorrity—thus the Morreene Dairy. When the City extended that dead end road in the 1930s to connect with Erwin Road, it was officially named the “Morreene Dairy Road.” In September 1958, the City Council changed the name to simply “Morreene Road.”
Durham Parks and Recreation's Morreene Road Park is home to baseball and softball fields, basketball courts, picnic shelters, and tennis courts. The 11.96 acre park is also the site of Durham's very first purpose-built ADA accessible play structure. This playground features safety ramps, a Braille clock and alphabet, and a flat rubber surface that is firm enough for wheelchairs.
In July 2019, the park underwent renovations to the groundscape and athletic courts and improvements to the park including a full reconstruction of the double tennis courts, removal of old asphalt around the playground, the addition of new ADA-accessible pedestrian pathways, and the installation of a signature, permanent public art piece that spans throughout the railing and sidewalks of the park. The total cost of these renovations was approximately $418,000.
The permanent public art piece by artists Muriel Epling includes textured wall showcasing the American Sign Language alphabet and "Play More" spelled out by relief sculptures of hands, design elements along the safety railing, and stamped stencils along the sidewalk pairing with tactile, mosaic figures on the textured wall.
For more information about Morreene Road Park and any of our other parks, visit our website.
Now let's get to know one of our 68 parks! This week, we are highlighting one of our recently updated parks, Morreene Road Park...
A document in the Duke University Archives notes that in August, 1922, Ben and Dora Bridgers bought two lots of the former W.T. Redmond farm south of “Hillsboro” Road. They opened a dairy on the site and named it for a combination of Dora Bridgers’ brothers’ middle names: Vester Morris Dorrity and Robert Greene Dorrity—thus the Morreene Dairy. When the City extended that dead end road in the 1930s to connect with Erwin Road, it was officially named the “Morreene Dairy Road.” In September 1958, the City Council changed the name to simply “Morreene Road.”
Durham Parks and Recreation's Morreene Road Park is home to baseball and softball fields, basketball courts, picnic shelters, and tennis courts. The 11.96 acre park is also the site of Durham's very first purpose-built ADA accessible play structure. This playground features safety ramps, a Braille clock and alphabet, and a flat rubber surface that is firm enough for wheelchairs.
In July 2019, the park underwent renovations to the groundscape and athletic courts and improvements to the park including a full reconstruction of the double tennis courts, removal of old asphalt around the playground, the addition of new ADA-accessible pedestrian pathways, and the installation of a signature, permanent public art piece that spans throughout the railing and sidewalks of the park. The total cost of these renovations was approximately $418,000.The permanent public art piece by artists Muriel Epling includes textured wall showcasing the American Sign Language alphabet and "Play More" spelled out by relief sculptures of hands, design elements along the safety railing, and stamped stencils along the sidewalk pairing with tactile, mosaic figures on the textured wall.
For more information about Morreene Road Park and any of our other parks, visit our website.
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