Work has begun this week on finishing the walking path at Jennie Drake Park. Completion of the path is estimated to take another week. The project is funded by donations and a matching grant from Park Pride. Work on the path is by Ed Castro Landscape.
The first annual Jennie Drake Park Earth Day photo contest for Kids is underway! Participants in the contests will take photos of birds in the Park, and correctly identify the birds they have photographed. Best photo wins a prize! Registration was Saturday, and the winner will be announced on May 20th at Jennie Drake Park.
Registration Day
Jennie Drake Park has been recognized by the Atlanta Audubon Society as a bird sanctuary. As a bird sanctuary, Jennie Drake Park will provide the following:
Shelter – active nesting areas or shelters that attract and protect birds and other wildlife.
Food – feeders and plantings that offer seeds, flowers, and berries to wildlife.
Water – birdbaths, water gardens, or natural features with flowing water.
Nesting Sites – bird boxes, natural cavities, or wood piles and vine tangles.
Part of the obligation is to remove invasive plant species, and provide native plants to support the bird population.
My mother’s belief in community involvement extended beyond her desire to make the community where she lived one in which there was land that could be a viable greenspace. She also believed that children should grow up in a community, a village, which provided input and guidance that would influence and shape their view of the world. My friends remember her as “the mother” who provided them with pamphlets and brochures on all aspects of “growing up” during our pre-teen and teen-age years.
Linda Graves (now Linda Stewart) and I met in first grade and, for the last 2 1/2 years of high school, lived around the corner from each other. Like so many of my childhood friends, we have remained friends throughout the many years since high school graduation. She has known about Jennie Drake Park from its conception and has followed and supported its progress through the official naming, the brick fund-raising, and, most recently, the applcation for wildlife sanctuary status. She will always be a part of “the village” that helped shape her and we thank her, her husband Chet, and her son Lyndon for their generous gifting of the two bird feeders that we could include in our wildlife sanctuary certification application.
Millicent Drake Norman
Daughter of Jennie Drake
Photos by Jane Davis
Saturday, April 16, 2016
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Neighbors, visit Jennie Drake Park between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon on Saturday, April 16. Volunteers will be available to escort you as you explore the park.
Take a little time to:
stroll, walk or run through the park
take the bridge to cross the stream
use the stepping stones to cross the stream
photograph family and friends
find your brick if you ordered one
Or, just sit and relax on a park bench!
Come early and bring your family. Dress comfortably and wear shoes that cover your feet.
We will have a gift for the first 40 families to sign in.
Jennie Drake Park is located at the intersection of Waterford Road and Oldknow Drive, across from 668 Waterford Road.
Dr. Drake with Michael Halicki, Park Pride Executive Director (Park Pride Photo)
Dr. Pauline Drake received Park Pride’s Inspiration Award at the 2016 Parks and Greenspace Conference. Dr. Drake worked for years to bring her mother’s dream for a neighborhood park to become a reality. As the Chairperson of the Jennie Drake Park Steering Committee, she has guided the effort to transform four acres of vacant land into a Park with walking trails, native plants, and a creek. The Friends of Jennie Drake Park are proud of this recognition given to Dr. Drake for her hard work.
2015 was a busy and very productive year for Jennie Drake Park. Our Park Entrance was finally completed, bricks were set and benches in place. In October, the Bennett Thrasher Volunteers completed a large part of our vision by building a bridge across the creek and a path on the other side. We now have walking trails throughout the Park, benches to sit on and, in the spring, lots of new plants to see.
None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for:
January- Entrance to Jennie Drake Park is completed!
February- T-shirts go on sale. Water main break in the Park.
April- Tire Roundup
May- Dedication of the Jennie Drake Park Entrance
June- Department of Corrections builds a path to Oldknow Drive
Looking up the path to Oldknow
July- Grant received from NPU-I for plants and planting materials
August- National Night Out. Jennie Drake Parks brings the King of Pops!
September- Cookout for the volunteers
October- Bennett Thrasher Work Day
November- North Atlanta High School volunteers
Come and join us for the October work session at Jennie Drake Park!
The work session is this Saturday, October 17th, from 9am until noon. We will be planting fall flowers in the beds and spreading our remaining mulch along Waterford Rd.
There will be a cookout at the end of the work session!