SEVEN SPRINGS — On the corner of Spring and New streets, a rainbow of colors has seemingly sprouted from the ground, with fire-engine red, royal blue, lime green, and bright-as-the-sun yellow intertwined in a vivid display designed to appeal to both children and adults. This the town’s fully refurbished Community Park.
The park was established around 2000, but over the years, the equipment had broken, been defaced, and fallen into disrepair. “It was just a disaster over there,” states Town Clerk Patricia Jones. “So we stripped everything that was in there out, and replaced it all brand-new.”
“We went through books and books and books, trying to find the right fit, the right colors, because we really wanted something to pop,” Mayor Ronda Hughes chimes in. “And we wanted to find something that would be large enough to make an impact.”
The result is a park that might very well be the envy of towns much larger than Seven Springs, which boasts just 80 or so residents.
And it’s having the desired effect of bringing in visitors. “We have had so much traffic coming here to the park,” Hughes declares. In fact, on a recent Tuesday morning — a near-perfect fall day — a family from nearby Albertson (too shy for an interview or photographs) was visiting the park for the first time.
The centerpiece of the park is its playground equipment — although “centerpiece” is a misnomer, as there are several different play areas. There are two large assemblages of equipment, one meant for older kids and the other for younger, “but everybody plays on the whole thing, so it doesn’t matter,” allows Hughes. In addition to giving children a chance to expend some of their boundless energy, by climbing, jumping, and sliding, the equipment also “sneaks in” fun learning opportunities — for example, one activity challenges kids to spell a wide range of three-letter words.
Another activity with a learning component is the park’s “storywalk,” which consists of an illustrated children’s book having been taken apart, and the pages then displayed (in order) on podiums spaced at intervals along the sidewalk that encircles the park. In other words, it’s a chance for adults and kids to stroll the park’s perimeter, reading as they go. The story currently being displayed is “Hold This!” written by Carolyn Cory Scoppettone and illustrated by Priscilla Alpaugh, but Jones notes that they intend to display different books from time to time, so the experience will stay fresh for visitors.
One corner at the front of the park, dotted with sculptures of butterflies, flowers and more, appears, at first glance, to simply be an area of peaceful visual interest. But step in amongst the sculptures, and you’ll find that dangling from each one is a black mallet — instantly transforming each from sculpture to musical instrument. This is a chance for everyone (no talent required!) to produce joyful, melodic sounds by simply tapping on a butterfly’s wings or the petals of a flower.
Other special features of the park include aspects that are handicap accessible (for example, a high-backed swing, as well as picnic tables and grills that are located just off the sidewalk, for ease of access) and elements that appeal to adults (including numerous benches; a freestanding, patio-type swing; and three fitness stations — a rower, a sit-up bench, and a leg press).
Directly across the street from the Community Park is another public space, where replicas of the town’s historic pavilion and spring house have been installed. The original spring house served as a source of water (said to have healing powers) from each of seven springs (for which the town was named), while the original pavilion served as a venue for events. The new pavilion, once again, provides a place for people to come together: “We have the picnic tables, we have benches, and we have grills over there,” Hughes notes. “And we’re gonna rent out that pavilion, if you want to rent it for a family reunion or birthday party or whatever.” The picnic tables can be removed if ever there’s a need to accommodate a concert or other similar event.
Unlike the original spring house, the replica isn’t actually a source of water, but is a way to showcase an important part of the town’s history, with labels describing what ailments were supposed to have been treated by each of the seven different springs.
And there’s yet one more area of town that’s being developed as an outdoor space to be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike— and that’s on Main Street, across from Town Hall. It will be called Whitehall Gardens, a nod to the town’s original name.
The Whitehall Gardens project is just getting underway, but Hughes lays out a vision that is impressive: “It’s going to have a big, eight-foot waterwheel in the center of it, and the little pond around it, and then there’ll be walkways coming out from that, and then between all the walkways will be just all kinds of flowers. I’ve spent hours looking up plants and stuff that we want to put in there, ‘cause we’re gonna have some kind of show year-round. We don’t want everything to just bloom in the spring and then be over with.
“When we get through it’s going to be gorgeous,” she adds.
Jones points out that they plan to put a Christmas tree in the center of Whitehall Gardens, noting, “Hopefully, it’ll grow where we can have a Christmas tree lighting every year.”
Now to the “why” and “how” of Seven Springs’ recent prolific development of outdoor spaces: The “why” can best be explained by looking at the town’s history, which, unfortunately, has included numerous floods over the years. Situated on the Neuse River, it was hit particularly hard when Hurricane Matthew struck in 2016. “We lost a lot of our homes during Matthew, so the lots were sold out to FEMA,” Hughes explains. “FEMA then turned them to the county, the county then turned them to us. And we’ve got to figure something out to do recreational with them.”
As to “how” the town has been able to afford these projects, Hughes nods towards Jones: “She’s gotten us all these grants.”
Despite never having applied for a grant before, Jones has become adept at the process since coming to work for the town three years ago, as evidenced by her success: She reports having secured $400,000 from the N.C. Department of Commerce, a $380,000 N.C. Land and Water Grant, and $7,500 from the Korschun Foundation.
As the town moves forward with its development of public spaces, many decisions are made with the past in mind. Because of its flooding history, and thus FEMA’s involvement, certain requirements must be met when it comes to building (for example, the building materials and design for the spring house were chosen with the potential for flooding in mind). Also, when a border is installed around the Community Park, rather than going with a wooden fence, natural materials — trees and shrubs — will be used instead.
Some small towns, if flooded time and again, would eventually roll up the sidewalks and call it a day. But Seven Springs is doing just the opposite: It’s rolling out the welcome mat. So, whether you’re looking for a quiet park bench where you can relax and read or a maze of state-of-the-art playground equipment to entertain your five-year-old, you’ll find it in this most unexpected of places — a very tiny town, in a very rural area, on the banks of the Neuse River.
If you have an idea for a feature/human interest story in southern Wayne or northern Duplin counties, contact Kathy Grant Westbrook at kwestbrook1@nc.rr.com.