 |
| From McDaniel Farm... |
In my little mulberry park post, I mentioned that it was not my favorite park. So people have asked what is your favorite?
There is a little park tucked right smack dab in the center of the hustle and bustle of Gwinnett Place Mall area Duluth, which has stands in dramatic contrast to its surroundings, which exudes peace among the chaos that we all live. All the while echoing with a rich history of frontier Gwinnett. If you've been there, you know that I am talking about McDaniel Farm Park. If you haven't been there you ought to go.
This Gwinnett County Park is an 134 acre oasis just moments from the Gwinnett Place Mall, nestled snuggly behind the Land Rover Dealership. There are 2.5 miles of paved path that can be used for a pleasant lunch walk or a friendly weekend bike ride. There are ample places to picnic, both privately and in larger groups. The multiuse path crosses a stream in two places, has gently grades, and takes you through some very nice trees, fields, and flowers. And they are expanding the trails and streams last time I was there.
But there is an additional uniqueness to the park: it is built on land granted to the county by Archie McDaniel. Archie McDaniel and his family lived and farmed this land for generations. It has been kept up as a working subsistence farm and you can stroll among the farm houses, blacksmiths, tenent farmers, and several other buildings. It has an awesome collection of farming equipment. If you guide yourself along the way, there is absolutely no cost. They offer a guided tour for $3 a person Tuesdays through Saturdays. Kids and Adults will enjoy their time here.
The three things that impress me the most about this park are: (1) The dramatic difference between the park and the world two minutes outside of it, (2) the nature of the typical Gwinnett Farmer being small and subsistent, rather than the stereotypical Georgia Plantation, and (3) the astonishing fact that the McDaniel Family was farming this piece of land as recently as 1999.
This is the perfect getaway for when there really is no time to get away in Gwinnett. Go there once, you'll see what I mean.
I agree, McDaniel Farm Park is one of the best kept secrets in Gwinnett County. Come out this weekend, May 14, 2011 for Pioneer Day!
ReplyDeleteMy family once rented a house from mr. Mcdaniel for many years. It was an old house he said it was well over a hundred years old he allowed my family to install a bathroom in one of the closets off from the living room. It had a wood burning stove and all the doors had skeleton key locks i loved that. It also had this 3 ft tall and wide wooden box connected underneath the middle of the house which also had a door with a Skelton key lock on it very creepy. But my point of telling u this story was at night when everyone was supposed to be sleeping u would hear foot steps walking down the hall and our parents would yell at us to go back to bed but it wasn't us because we all shared a room and a bed. And sometimes the doors would shake like crazy it was vary scary. Once there was a crowd of like 6 of us in the living room watching tv when one of the closet door handles started twisting back and forth very loudly like someone trying to get out when my uncle open the door nothing was there. The old record player that didn't work that was already there when we moved in played once in the middle of the night. My family has many stories of that house that was only the ones i experienced there from age 5-8. I'm now 26 But one day Mcdaniel said he was thinking about selling the land and wanted the house to be empty. But later we heard he had that house torn down along with the barns because teenagers were breaking in and doing unholy things and he didn't want that going on on his property. But now that it's a park i wish he didn't tare it down it would have been nice to see the old house and barns of my childhood once again. But i agree it is now a beautiful park. Now that everything is staged very nice to show the history of that land.
ReplyDelete