Stuarts Draft Park opens first public pickleball courts in southern Augusta County

Four pickleball courts opened at Stuarts Draft Park on Friday, June 26, giving southern Augusta County its first dedicated public place to play and creating a closer option for residents who had been traveling farther north for court time. The new facility sits just to the left as drivers enter the park off Edgewood Lane along Stuarts Draft Highway, and it is open on a first-come, first-served basis whenever the park is open, from sunrise to sunset.

The project moved from approval to playability over the past seven months. Augusta County signed off on the four-court build in November 2025 with a contract worth $434,470, backed by county recreation money, the Stuarts Draft Ruritan Club and other local support. That investment turned into a permanent amenity rather than a temporary pop-up, which matters in a sport built on repeat play and easy access.

For players in Stuarts Draft and the surrounding southern end of the county, the location changes the math. Instead of making a drive to reach existing courts farther north, casual players, beginners and regulars now have a public site nearby where they can show up, grab a court and play without a membership or set reservation window. The opening should also take some pressure off the county’s other courts, which have absorbed much of the sport’s growth.

Tyler McClure and Nicki McClure were among the voices tied to the opening, talking about their love of pickleball in a video linked to the new courts. Their enthusiasm matches a broader surge that has pushed the sport well beyond its old niche. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association counted 24.3 million Americans playing pickleball in 2025, while USA Pickleball said it had 1,864 ambassadors and sanctioned 144 tournaments that year.

The courts also fit into a longer planning picture in Augusta County. The county’s Stuarts Draft Small Area Plan, adopted in 2020, lays out a 20-year vision for the area, and county planning documents treat recreation as part of the same long-term framework as housing, transportation and economic development. In that context, the new courts read less like an amenity added at the margin and more like the county deciding pickleball belongs in its core recreation infrastructure.