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Yadkin River Park
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Rowan County, like Davidson County, sits along the banks of one of North Carolina's most appealing destinations for family recreation and history: the Yadkin River.
Davidson County has already developed their part of the Yadkin River Park, with walking and hiking trails, canoe and kayak launches, a dog park and picnic tables to name a few amenities.
Now it's Rowan County's turn, and work is already well underway to create a beautiful seating area with benches, parking, lighting, and connections to walking and hiking trails, all just the first phase to what the town of Spencer and the county are hoping will become a sought-after recreational and historic destination.
The whole idea for a park began when the historic landmark, the Wil-Cox Bridge, a 1,300-foot concrete arch being built in 1924, was initially slated for demolition as part of the construction of the I85 bridge replacement project about 10 years ago. Instead of letting it be destroyed, Davidson County accepted the bridge as a recreational and historic amenity, making it a pedestrian bridge, and the idea for building a park around the bridge was born.
The park is also situated adjacent to Fort York, the location of one of the final battles of the Civil War and the Yadkin River is the longest river in North Carolina, with 215 miles that connects to the Pee Dee River, creating the Yadkin Pee-Dee River Basin.
Ronnie Smith, founder of Friends of Rowan County, has been incredibly instrumental in getting the Rowan County side of the park, located in Spencer, up and running.
“This is not going to be a rest area on I-85,” explained Smith.
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“The dream is to make it one of the premier parks in the state.” An artistic rendering by the design firm Benesch shows the trailhead-to-be in colorful detail.
The park, on both sides, include connections to the Piedmont Legacy Trail and the Mountain to Sea Trail.
There is currently a debate ongoing about when to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the bridge — on its inception or its completion. Right now, the majority seems to be leaning toward a 2024 date.
Spencer held the groundbreaking of their side of the park in October, 2022, and the goal is to have the initial part of construction by Hall Contracting completed by early spring. The Davidson County side of the park is an ongoing project that first opened to the public in 2019. It is now drawing more than 600 visitors per day.
Spencer's Mayor Jonathan Williams has said that project, combined with doubling the size of Stanback Educational Forest, opens up the opportunity to connect to Salisbury and create 12.5 miles of continuous greenway in Rowan County, which doesn’t count development on the Davidson side.
“Just think about the amazing recreational amenity that that’s going to provide not only for Rowan and Davidson County citizens, but for folks across North Carolina and beyond,” Williams said.
Williams said partnership and collaboration with people in Davidson County is essential to making the entire stretch an enviable destination.
“We’re looking to connect Yadkin River Park with the Yadkin River Trailhead on the Spencer side,” Williams said, adding one of the first things he did when he was elected was to get involved with the project via Spencer projects planner Joe Morris.
Williams said the town’s goal is to complement the Davidson park, not duplicate it.
"I have a lot of childhood memories here," said Smith. "I hope that future generations will come here, like I did, to fish, go boating or hiking, be out in nature with their family. This is the kind of thing we need to pass down to future generations."✦
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