Jamestown Park adds accessible trails, eco-playground in new 10-acre expansion

Jamestown Park’s 10-acre expansion added accessible trails, an eco-playground and other inclusive features to one of Jamestown’s busiest recreation sites, giving Guilford County families more ways to use the park without leaving the township. Town officials marked the project with a ribbon-cutting today.

The upgrade was financed through the state’s Accessible Parks Grant program, a matching grant that requires $1 in local money for every $5 in state funds and caps awards at $500,000 per application. In 2022, Jamestown said it received $500,000 to update the playground and add accessible pathways throughout the park, money that now shows up in the new universal accessible playground, accessible fitness equipment, pour-in-place surfacing, yard games and sidewalk connections.

The project also reflects a clear equity goal. Jamestown’s park master-plan materials said there was a unique local demand for inclusive playground equipment, and they noted that the town is home to two schools for children with cognitive and/or physical disabilities, including Haynes-Inman Education Center. For families raising children with mobility or sensory needs, the new design is not just a park improvement. It is a chance to use the same space together, with fewer barriers between play, exercise and everyday access.

The expansion builds on an already dense recreation hub at 7041 East Fork Road. Jamestown Park already offered an 18-hole golf course, soccer and baseball fields, picnic shelters, multiple playgrounds, a driving range, a grill and bar, a clubhouse for special events and access to the Bicentennial Greenway trail. A 2024 town newsletter said the park has two rentable shelters, underscoring how often the site is used for weekend gatherings, team sports and small celebrations.

For Guilford County, the project fits into a broader public-space question: where growth brings more families, are parks being designed for everyone who lives nearby? The county parks department maintains about 1,800 acres of passive park land and more than 60 miles of trails, and Jamestown’s latest expansion adds to that quality-of-life network with a focus on inclusive design rather than a standard playground rebuild. In a fast-growing part of the county, that kind of investment changes who can use the park, and how often.