ELIZABETHTOWN — Greene’s Lake & Conservation Park, a picturesque spot located near the Curtis L. Brown Jr. Field airport and just off the Mac Campbell Jr. Highway, should be completed soon, according to Elizabethtown Assistant Town Manager Pat DeVane.
A ribbon cutting is planned for 3 p.m. on Nov. 17.
The town acquired the roughly 41.39-acre tract of land for the adjoining lake and park from Elizabethtown resident Mary Greene with funding from a $500,000 grant from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund. The town received the grant money in September 2018.
“We’re in the final stages,” DeVane said. “Within the month of October, we’ll have everything buttoned up. But it’s open for use. People are walking the trails. Quite a few people I know are using it. … We’re trying to put some signage on it to let people know this is the starting point and the ending point. Mile markers. We’re installing some benches and trashcans. But nothing major.”
The Mac Campbell Jr. Highway is the N.C. 87 bypass. The passive public park with the 8- to 10-acre pond lies by the Bladen County Emergency Management Services building and backs up to the Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery property in the Elizabethtown Industrial Park.
Former Elizabethtown Town Manager Eddie Madden once called Greene’s Lake “a hidden gem for many generations.” It is one of three Greene’s ponds in the area, and some local residents know it as the Airport Pond.
“In the midst of all the commercial developmental areas,” DeVane said, “you’ve got a tranquil, peaceful park with a walking trail.”
The primary walking trail loop encompasses 1.32 miles of measured trail.
The park, with its natural scenery the main attraction, also features a children’s playground with swings, five or six bird boxes, and such other site furnishings as benches and picnic areas at both parking lots.
“Bathrooms are open now daily,” DeVane said. “Bathrooms are at the two parking lots, but the parking lot on the Aviation Parkway has restrooms and a children’s playground.”
Neither fishing nor swimming are allowed at the park.
Admission is free.
The town, which owns the property, will manage Greene’s Lake & Conservation Park. There will not be a park ranger on the premises, said DeVane.
Sara Burroughs, a landscape architect and owner of StageDesign, echoed DeVane’s remarks by saying the majority of the park has been completed. StageDesign is responsible for designing the park.
“We’re closing this thing out,” she said. “They’re still working on signage and educational signage and site furnishings. We’re adding signage and benches.”
The park will be connected to the winery, offering easy access to food and beverage.
“I’m excited for people to learn that it’s there,” Burroughs said of the park. “It’s intended to be a passive recreation park. It provides an opportunity for people to get outside and walk around a park.”
Hobby Greene, 66, of Elizabethtown estimates that the man-made lake was created just after World War II. It was his grandfather, A.H. “Mack” Greene, and Mack Greene’s brother, C.W. (“Cecil”) Greene, who built the pond, he said. The Greene siblings established Greene Brothers Lumber Company in Elizabethtown.
Hobby Greene is a former owner of Bladen Building Supply.
Bob Beasley, who worked for the brothers as a maintenance superviser at the Greene Brothers Lumber Company, had a lot to do with building the pond, Hobby Greene said.
“Granddaddy and Cecil loved to fish,” Hobby Greene said from his shop behind the San Jose Mexican Restaurant off West Broad Street. “It was private. Nobody was allowed in there but family.”
At the time, he noted, it was all farmland around Greene’s Lake.
“It’s pretty. It’s a very nice project,” Greene said of the park. “My brother wanted to build a house down there so bad he couldn’t see straight.”
When the town purchased the property, DeVane recalled, the dam was covered with big tall pine trees. The dam at the lake was damaged when both hurricanes Matthew and Florence rolled through this part of the state in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
“We had to rebuild the dam,” DeVane said. “The Florence damage was more severe. We actually took the trees out after Florence and did a project there with FEMA assistance to restore the dam. Then we got our PARTF grant” from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
Former Town Manager Madden, DeVane reflected, proved instrumental in getting the dam rebuilt and pushed for the grant money, too.
“It gives us a paved walking trail in a secure area. A very scenic walking trail which we hope the public will use,” DeVane said. “We have a playground there for a family atmosphere. The family can go out and use the playground and also get some exercise in a venue that’s very pretty. And if you want to do lunch while you’re out there, you certainly have a place to eat and be entertained. I think it’s really nice.”
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