This SC city has one of best parks and recreational trails in the nation, USA Today ranking says
Two Greenville public spaces were named in a list of top 10 in the nation by USA Today.
Falls Park of the Reedy was listed No. 9 in the city parks category and Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail was No. 5 in best recreational trails.
Greenville Mayor Knox White said he still remembers when he first saw someone on Main Street with a camera.
“We have a tourist!” he thought.
“So its remarkable to think that now 7 million people a year are visiting the Greenville area, enjoying our parks and our trails, and spending both their time and their money here,” he said, calling both features “truly unique assets that residents and visitors enjoy.”
No South Carolina city was included in the other categories of best public square, best riverwalk or best Main Street.
Falls Park, which opened in 2004, is Greenville’s signature park, covering 32 acres in the West End section of downtown.
It edges the Reedy River and Reedy River Falls and includes the $4.5 million pedestrian suspension Liberty Bridge, honoring Liberty Corporation founder W. Frank Hipp and his children, Francis M. Hipp, Herman N. Hipp, B. Calhoun Hipp, and Dorothy Hipp Gunter.
USA Today says, “Mayors visit from all over the country to study Greenville’s redeveloped riverfront.”
The newspaper describes the Reedy as “small but scenic.”
The No. 1 city park is Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, along the Arkansas River.
It has “80 tree species, with attractions and amenities like fireplaces, a 5-acre adventure playground, boathouse, a pond, sensory garden, and a reading tree,” USA Today said.
Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail opened in 2009 as a hiking/biking path between downtown Greenville and Travelers Rest, along the abandoned tracks of the Swamp Rabbit Railroad.
In the years since, it has been expanded south to Fountain Inn and now totals 28 miles.
USA Today says, “this trail follows its path along the Reedy River,” connecting picnic areas, parks, schools and businesses and is a popular geocaching spot.
First on the list of best recreational trails is Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama. The area has 26 trails across nine ecosystems.
“You can trek through wildflowers and tall pines on the Rosemary Dunes trail, take in the views from the overlook on the Gulf Oak Ridge trail, and enjoy the abundance of complex amenities, like the Butterfly Garden and the Pavilion,” the newspaper said.
The paper listed Campus Martius Park in Detroit as best public square, Howell, Michigan, best main street and Smale Riverfront Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, along the Ohio River, best riverwalk.
