Five creeks meet at Greenfield Park, just south of downtown Wilmington, forming Greenfield Lake, a century-old park, natural playground and gathering place for generations of Wilmington residents. Here you’ll find runners running and joggers jogging, cyclists pedaling through the dappled shadows of cypress trees, and kids yelling with the joy of play. Canoes and kayaks and pedal boats ply the waters while anglers cast a line from docks peppered along the shoreline.
Find a comfy place and sit for a while and you’ll see more. An osprey circling overhead, eyeing the lake for a fresh lunch. A hawk preening on a branch. Countless songbirds. Ducks and geese dipping their beaks for a bite. Watch closely and you might see an alligator cruising the shallow water, only its eyes and nose poking above the surface.
Since the early 1900s, Greenfield Lake has been one of Wilmington’s favorite places for recreation and relaxation. In 1925, the powers-that-be decided to name Greenfield Park the city’s first municipal park. After paying a whopping $25,000 for the land and installing a few signs, the park was official.
Greenfield Through the Centuries
Before European settlers arrived in the Cape Fear region, Greenfield Lake wasn’t even a pond. This confluence of five creeks was woods and marshland, a place where local Native Americans could fish, hunt, gather water and leave a few pottery shards as evidence. In 1730, 9 years before the founding of Wilmington, that changed. A string of rice plantations lined the Cape Fear River, and Dr. Samuel Green wanted one of his own. Using enslaved labor, he dammed the creeks, built a millpond and mill and established Greenfields, a 470-acre rice plantation. It operated for generations, but today only the name, the lake and the “waterfall” on Burnett Boulevard – all that remains of the millpond spillway – stand to tell the Greenfields story.
By the mid-1800s, Greenfields had changed hands, first to Edward B. Dudley, former governor and resident of the aptly-named Dudley Mansion on Front Street, then to T. C. McIlhenny. McIlhenny farmed, built an ill-fated distillery (stills were stolen and in 1902 it was raided for producing untaxed whiskey) and eventually sold the land. In the early 1900s, locals called the lake McIlhenny Pond or Greenfield Pond, and entrepreneurial neighbors began renting rowboats and hosting swimming parties. Then, as now, alligators prowled the lake, but since no one had posted “Warning – No Swimming – Alligators” signs, they swam anyway (we do not advise swimming in Greenfield Lake today).
Rowboats and (dangerous) swimming wasn’t enough, and in 1918, there was a carnival on the banks of Greenfield Lake, complete with a roller coaster, performance space and a petting zoo. That petting zoo hung around until the early 1980s, at one time boasting a variety of monkeys, peacocks, deer, a pony and a bear named Petunia. During that era, trolley service ran to Greenfield and a train ringed the petting zoo.
In 1925, the city purchased the lake and surrounding land, establishing Greenfield Park as Wilmington’s first municipal park. More changes were on the way.
First, azaleas; thousands of plants creating banks and rows and bursts of blooms along the lakeshore. Then a road – Community Drive (now East and West Lake Shore Drives) – built by the Works Progress Administration to encircle the park. From 1950 to 1979, a grand carousel hosted tens of thousands of riders, and from 1950 to 1979 the Greenfield Lake “showboat” – a miniature Mississippi steamboat – offered sightseeing cruises.
1967 saw the construction of the Amphitheatre, which used benches from the Outer Banks’ Lost Colony Playhouse as seating.
The 5-mile paved walking loop was next, in 1978. Then playgrounds throughout the 1990s. In the early 2000s, Greenfield Grind, the skatepark, was built, and in 2008 repairs and new construction saw the Hugh Morton Amphitheatre become one of the region’s favorite outdoor performance venues.
Greenfield Today
As a city, we love Greenfield Park. The lake keeps us connected to the past as anglers reel in countless catches, just like the Native American fishers before them. We paddle to the center of the lake to towering trees that were barely head-high when rowboaters visited them in the 1900s. We sing and dance and cheer for more at concerts and plays, as Wilmingtonians have done on these shores for nearly 200 years.
Pay the park a visit and you’ve got options galore.
Bring your tennis racquet or your pickleball paddle and head to the courts for some friendly – or heated – competition.
Strap on your helmet and pads and brave the ramps and rails at the skatepark, Greenfield Grind. Or watch for a few minutes while daredevils do tricks and try to impress one another.
Fill your water bottle and head out for a walk, jog, run or bike ride on the 5-mile trail that loops the lake. Along the way, stop for a breather and take in the view at one of the pocket gardens, the lakeside overlooks, or at any look at the lake that catches your eye. Watch the trees for birds and the waters for turtles and ‘gators, and you might just be surprised at what you spot.
Call your friends and head to the Amphitheatre for a concert or Shakespeare on the Green. Before the show, hang out at Rotary Park – the garden shaped like a massive Rotary Club wheel just outside the entrance – to tailgate, and during the show take a moment to marvel at the music, the venue, the time you’re having.
Or slow down and go for a drive around the lake – Lake Shore Drive is part of the Cape Fear Historic Byway and the North Carolina Scenic Byways program – and scout out the perfect picnic spot.
Greenfield Tomorrow
Greenfield Park may be a fixture in Wilmington, and we may love to fish or jog or play there, but the park’s not finished; improvements, embellishments and redesigns are in the works or on the way. When the city asked residents to chime in on what would make Greenfield Park the ideal version of itself, they offered so many great suggestions we’d need to build a second park to include them all.
Among those changes are small things like new signage and mile markers, much needed repairs to bulkheads and docks, and introducing more native plants to the landscaping. But what if we did more? What if new signs and trail markers converted that simple 5-mile loop into a trio of smaller routes, making it easy to create your ideal stroll, run or ride around the Lake, logging a mile or two or even 15 at a go? What if a Nature Center provided treetop views of the lake and plenty of paths, walkways and gardens let us in on the secrets of the plant and animal life at Greenfield? What if public art placed along the trail gave us moments of year-round beauty to accompany spring’s blooming azaleas?
All this and more is in the works, and over the next decade, we’ll see Greenfield Park mature into something even more delightful.
Celebrating Greenfield Park
You can celebrate Greenfield Park any number of ways. Join volunteers from the Cape Fear Bird Observatory for a Greenfield Lake Family Nature Walk (9 a.m., third Saturday of the month); walks start at the Boathouse and proceed around the lake as you look and listen for birds in the trees and on the water. Pack up the dogs (and their leashes) and the kids (and their bikes) and head out for an evening lap around the lake or a lazy Saturday stroll. Take in a concert – there are two dozen shows at the Amphitheatre between now and mid-November – and a tailgate at the Amphitheatre. Go for a photo safari and look for the unexpected. Get out and enjoy your Greenfield Park and wish it a happy hundredth birthday.
