Monday, October 3, 2011
Phillips McCabe Park: A Review
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 8:32 AM
Size of Park: smallish-medium for the park itself
Crowds: Lots of kids on the playground
Approximate Age of Patrons: Under 10
Topics of Conversation: "You're peeing again?"
Stray Dogs Seen: None
Types of Vehicles in Parking Lots: All kinds
Perceived Safety: High
Number of Gunshots Heard: None
Dog Friendliness: High
Number of pitbulls sighted: Just mine
Accessibility: While they're doing construction, it's a little difficult to find the accessible parking, otherwise, fine
Incorporation of Local History: Better than most, thanks to a historical marker, which isn't saying much. Good on the greenway, though.
Recommended Patrons: People who like to ogle golfers There's a lot of Metro Parks stuff going on in this area. There's the Richland Creek Greenway, the McCabe Golf Course, the community center, and the park itself. This makes the park seem a lot larger than it is, but the park itself is on the smallish side of a medium city park. There are two ball-fields, ample parking, and a small playground area. there's not a lot of grassy room for freeform play, but there's plenty of seating and the landscaping is beautiful.
I noticed quite a bit of garbage on the ground, but I am hesitant to blame this on human park-goers due to the number of squirrels we startled out of the garbage cans and the crow who got pissed at us when we walked too close to the can he was snacking away in. I didn't know crows could get so livid, but I guess we startled him. So, I think, in general, trash is going in the cans and because they don't have lids, the neighborhood animals have figured out that raiding the garbage makes for an easy meal.
The park is beautiful, which I think everyone who's driven by the stone gate at the corner of 48th and Murphy Road already knows. But the park that I got the biggest kick out of is that this park has some of the funniest signs I've seen in a Nashville park. I've often said that you can tell a lot about what kinds of problems a neighborhood has by the signs at the park telling you what you can and can't do. Some parks tell you that you can't drink beer or do drugs. Some remind you that dogs have to be on leashes.
McCabe Park tells you not to sit on buildings, to be careful sliding into bases, which dugouts belong to which teams, and where fancy-pants environmentally friendly cars can park. If a park's signs tell you about the personality of the neighborhood, Sylvan Park must be filled with Hybrid owners with rambunctious children.
Anyway, as the list of parks left to review grows short, I'll be going to a lot of parks most Nashvillians already know and have opinions of. I'm sure this is one of them. But this is one of my favorite in-town greenways, especially if you take it over to the Dutchman's Curve wreck site. Your enjoyment of the greenway will only be enhanced if you park by the community center and walk around the backside of the golf course, which will take you through the park. Or, if you're golfing, just be sure to glance over towards the ballfields occasionally. Then you can enjoy the park and do what you normally do when you're there at the same time.
