There is not a lot to update on the earlier post about Fletcher Park’s new water park, which remains in a distinctly unlovely stage of construction, but this project is interesting from several angles and seems worth another look. The large cavities being excavated from the red clay are designed to hold the water headed down to Pigeon House Creek, which is the long-suffering waterway that parallels Capital Boulevard as it flows north toward its intersection with Crabtree Creek at Raleigh Swamp. What look like huge pits will allow the water to deposit sediment and be filtered by plant activity before flowing on down the hill.
A nice description of the benefits, which include hopes for “A new ecosystem for this area of the park [with] butterflies, dragonflies, and frogs, among other animal species, ” can be found at The Raleigh Connoiseur. But that post was in May, and the plan was for the water garden to be finished soon after. But there it sits. The upper pool shown below will cascade or slide down to the larger lower pool.
This site was a Methodist orphanage, built in 1900 and still operating well into my lifetime. The City purchased the property in 1982 and named the park for A.J. Fletcher’s recreation-loving son. Fred Fletcher was inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame in 2007.
The outlet seen above is the water’s exit toward Pigeon House Creek. From this point the water dives underground and is piped under the railroad line and across N. West Street. I cannot find a spot to view that intersection yet. Below is a picture of Pigeon House Branch just downstream. We will follow it’s grim journey down Capital sometime soon.
raleighnaturalist
The Raleigh Naturalist 
[…] September 3rd, 2008 […]
Pingback by Fletcher Park Meets Top and Bottom « Raleigh Nature — January 15, 2009 @ 2:44 am
Great postings… thanks. Always wondered where the stream came from and meandered.;
Comment by James Williams — September 5, 2010 @ 9:33 pm