Elizabethtown Nature Park
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
The City of Elizabethtown worked with CMW to develop a 100 acre parcel of land situated adjacent to Freeman Lake Park and residential neighborhoods into a Nature Park. Located along Ring Road, the Elizabethtown Nature Park has the potential to attract numerous Elizabethtown residents and visitors from across the state of Kentucky and beyond. The first phase of the Nature Park is the installment the Hardin County Veterans Tribute Monument with its amenities along with the installation of the Park’s infrastructure. Future phases of the Nature Park will include a nature center, an amphitheater, numerous shelters, water features and an extensive pedestrian/bike trail system. The Nature Park is an excellent addition to Elizabethtown’s vibrant park system. The Veterans Tribute includes the design and layout of the vehicular entrance off Ring Road and a parking area serving the Veterans Tribute. Walkways lead from the parking area through areas of extensive planting to the Veterans Tribute. Pervious pavement pedestrian/bike trails connect to the adjacent Freeman Lake Park. Also associated with the Veterans Tribute is a large picnic shelter designed with naturalistic materials. Additional site amenities include benches, trash receptacles, bike racks, drinking fountains in addition to site lighting and other required site utilities. The Veterans Tribute Memorial has been provided by a local sculptor. The entrance off Ring Road into the Nature Park is designed to be a boulevard entrance. The design intent is to create an entrance using native materials typically found in the Elizabethtown area. The entrance sign, located in the boulevard island, is of three 8” wide sedimentary schist stones propped up on their ends and dowelled together with the lettering sand-blasted into t