The Plymouth Veterans Park has been around for many years but few are aware of its existence or could tell you where it is or what’s there! Even fewer are aware of recent efforts by several groups to develop and expand that park into a lasting tribute to our Veterans!
Several groups have come together to design, develop and
construct a Veterans Memorial Park honoring our District 5 Veterans
(Plymouth, Drytown, River Pines, Fiddletown, Up Country and Shenandoah
Valley). It will be located in the
current (expanded) Plymouth Veterans Park along Highway 49. As part of a three phase development plan, we
hope to turn a piece of Plymouth into a Family Friendly Park that will be used
by many and show our support for the men and woman who have given their
service, and in some cases their lives, so we can have the freedoms we enjoy
today! Not just on Memorial or Veterans Day,
but every day!
This idea to create a more significant memorial to our
District 5 Veterans stated within the Plymouth Foothill Rotary when Austin Ford
proposed a Rotary project to clean up the current Plymouth Veterans Park, add
new signage, repair irrigation, lighting and work on a longer term plan with
City of Plymouth to maintain and make improvements in the park.
This “Phase I” park improvement plan was completed in
2016 and set the seed in 2017 for an expanded project committee that is
facilitated by Rotary members and supported by local leaders and groups
including: Brian Oneto, District 5 Supervisor, Terry Sanders, County Veterans
Service Officer, Al Lennox, American Legion Post 108 President, John Colburn,
Mayor of Plymouth, the Plymouth City Manager, along with volunteers from Rotary
Plymouth Foothills Rotary (David Logan, Carl McDanel, Mike Bellamy, Austin
Ford), Architect Steve Swason and Cathy Landgraf from Shenandoah Landscaping
and Nursing.
This committee formally started the project in 2018 and
has developed a vision that has three additional Phases that will include the
design, development and construction of the Plymouth Veterans Memorial
Park. A park that will include a
Memorial to honor past and present Veterans, 2 pavilions for families to
gathering, picnics and barbeques, a dog run, permeate corn toss game area, walking
path, ADA compliant restrooms and a parking area. The committee is working with the City of
Plymouth to potentially expand the park to help support this project.
To make this vision a reality it will take a great deal
of time, effort and funds from our District 5 community. To complete a project of this size and maintain
it in perpetuity, we estimate we will have to raise over $800,000 thousand
dollars with about half of that going into design/development and construction
and the other have to a foundation to maintain the park for generations to
come. We understand this is a bold
vision to pay tribute to our Veterans but we also understand the payment our Veterans
have made to our country to protect our freedoms.
For more information, contact David Logan at: dlogan6724@gmail.com
