Overview

Bartley Park is a 50-acre tract that the Town owns on the south side of Penny Road near Holly Springs Road. The Town purchased the property in 2000.

Located in southeastern Cary, the outstanding natural and manmade features of the park site present an opportunity to create a unique facility in the Town’s recreational offerings. The character of the land and its historical use as a working farm suggested a plan that balanced an environmentally-sensitive design with the passive and active recreation needs of the community. With many of the original farm structures intact, the site’s agrarian features serve as a symbol of a rapidly disappearing resource in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.

Schedule

Construction begins: Fall 2008
Construction complete: Summer 2009

Details

View the Site Plan.

Phase 1’s planned improvements include:

    • Playground
    • Sprayground
    • Dog Park
    • Greenway trails
    • Public art
    • Restroom Building
    • Picnic Shelter
    • Parking
    • Road Improvements
    • Utilities
    • Landscaping

    Master Plan

    The firm of Lappas & Havener of Durham prepared the master plan for Bartley Park. The Town Council adopted the plan in September 2004.

    See the layout envisioned for the park.

    See the illustrative master plan or read a text only version of the plan.

    Budget

    Phase 1 was funded in 2007 at $3 million.

    Public Art

    Artists Vollis Simpson from Lucama, N.C. and William Moore from Pittsboro, N.C. will be commissioned to create unique features for the park’s site, drawing their inspiration from the farm’s earlier life. 

    Simpson is best known for his four-story whirligig that stands at the entrance of the Baltimore Visionary Art Museum and his whirligig in the sculpture park at the North Carolina Museum of Art.    His towering sculptures spin in the breeze and are made from cast off machine parts and farm equipment. 

    William Moore is the creator of the much loved Katal Dragon at Kids Together Park, which was commissioned by Cary Visual Art and donated to the Town of Cary. For Bartley Park, Moore will create a flock of Suffolk Sheep, which was a distinctive feature of the working Bartley farm.

    Contact

    Paul A. Kuhn, RLA
    Park Planner
    Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department
    Town of Cary
    (919)469-4360
    paul.kuhn@townofcary.org

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