Zoo Knoxville continues work on the Gibbon Trails and Langur Landing portion of Asian Trek Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel
Knoxville’s Sharp’s Ridge Veterans Memorial Park is expanding thanks to a new gift.
The popular North Knoxville park, which has great overlooks of downtown and the Smoky Mountains beyond, will get an additional 42 acres with the donation of the property from Allen Dick, a former local businessman and member of the Dick Broadcasting family.
The donation will be able to provide a recreational connection to the park for residents on the north side of Sharp’s Ridge.
Carol Evans, Legacy Parks Foundation’s executive director, said the park board has already approved the donation. She said the use of the property has not yet been determined but said the steep terrain lends itself to being used for trails.
“The donation of forested, undeveloped property in the heart of so many neighborhoods is an incredible gift to the community,” Evans said in a news release. “It truly allows us to imagine all the possibilities and needs for the property in that area of our city.”
“As one who enjoys the outdoors, our family is excited to add this property into the recreational master plan of Legacy Parks,” Dick said in a news release. “It brings us joy knowing that all Knoxvillians will have access to this open space in perpetuity.”
Earlier this year, Big Benders LLC, a Hardee’s restaurant franchise, donated $15,000 for a new trail from the top of the outlook down to the bottom of the park. The trail will be used to give quicker medical help to hikers and bikers at the park.
The trail will zig-zag down the hill, crossing existing hiking and biking trails six times. The trail will be named the Big Benders Trail in honor of the group’s donation.