My trip to Hilltop Needmore Town Park & Preserve
It's definitely an old golf course
This week’s trip took me to the Hilltop Needmore Town Park & Preserve in north Fuquay-Varina. The former Crooked Creek Golf Course, features 143 acres with five miles of paved trails, plenty of open green space, and multiple ponds. The golf course closed in 2015 and Wake County began assessing the property as a potential location for a park in 2017. However, that only began the controversy.
In 2018, the Wake County Board of Comissioners voted 4-3 to purchase the land for $4 million for a park. The decision became an election issue as there were political groups that campaigned against the four commissioners who voted yes, saying that the focus should be more on education. Two of them lost their re-election bids and, once the new board was sworn in, the board voted 4-3 to declare the land “surplus property” and begin exploring it’s sale.
Then began a community battle to protect the land and it’s potential as a park that already had paved trails and green space and plenty of natural views. In 2019, Wake County voted to give the property to Fuquay-Varina to develop a park and build a school. Fuquay-Varina opened the park in 2020 and the Master Plan for the future of the park was submitted this fall.
The future plans for the site includes a dog park area, a challenge/obstacle course, a hiking trail, along with more common park amenities like exercise stations, baseball fields, playgrounds, and pickleball courts. There are also an additional land for a school and community center.
The current park has three trails. The 2.2 mile Red trail, the 2.1 mile Yellow trail, and the 0.6 mile Blue trail. I walked the Red trail, mainly because it was the most obvious to where I parked, but I will likely make trips back to explore the other two trails. The Red trail is considered the most challenging trail, since it has the most elevation changes and features the highest point of the park. It loops the Crooked Creek subdivision.
When I visited the park, there were a couple people on bikes and plenty of people out walking their dogs. Enough people to know you’re not alone, but the park is also big enough that it doesn’t intrude on you, at least on a Thursday morning. The clubhouse venue is being used as an early voting site, so, for at least the next few days, it may be difficult to snag a parking spot.
I really enjoyed the park, probably more than I expected. I questioned how well a former golf course would work as a park, but I’m sold. Lots of green spaces, elevation changes, and great views. Because of the scale of the park and the open spaces, there is the opportunity for there to be plenty of wildlife around. I saw some birds, a couple turtles, a few lizards, and a squirrel. The lizard shot below might be my favorite of all my park trips so far. Summer might be a better time to see more variety though.
On my personal rankings, the Carroll Howard Johnson Park may still be my favorite, but this one is a real close second.
