Monuments to Cumberland County’s military stand at the corner of Main and Fourth streets.
In recent years, new monuments have been added, most recently recognizing the service of members of the U.S. Armed Services during Vietnam and the sacrifice of Gold Star families who never welcomed their loved ones home from armed combat.
Behind the monuments is Veterans Park. There, a platform stands with service branch flags waving proudly around the American flag.
“I’ve probably passed that park 1,000 times,” Donnie Moody, county parks and recreation supervisor, told the county’s building and grounds committee in October. “Until recently, I hadn’t really stopped and taken stock of what we have right there.”
The park has been there “for as long as I can remember,” Moody said, though others on the committee said they believed it dated to the 1940s.
“Kids used to go play there when their parents came to town once a week,” Darrell Threet, 3rd District commissioner, said.
The county has had interest from Downtown Crossville Inc. in improving the park. Moody said he had talked with Corey Legare, with DCI, on potential projects.
“I would like to make it feel like a park, maybe make people come to the park and have lunch or just enjoy something this neat in the downtown area,” Moody said.
Landscaping is a top priority.
There are two large oak trees facing Fourth St. Moody said the trees had been looked at by the Crossville Tree Board and others who have agreed: the trees are dying.
“They may last five years. They may last five minutes,” Moody said. “That’s something that probably needs to come down fairly quickly.”
A third tree located close to Main St. is mostly dead at the top, Moody said.
“They’re giving it two-three years before that one’s going to die completely,” he said.
He asked the building and grounds committee to vote on allowing that work to proceed in the near future.
A fourth tree is not dead but serves as a divider between the park and the monuments.
“When people look this way, they’re not seeing everything that’s down here,” Moody said.
Estimated cost of removal is $4,000.
Landscaping was put in at some point in the past, Moody said, but it was never properly maintained. Now, the plants are overgrown.
“We’d like to all these down along this wall and clean it up and make it look nice and pretty,” Moody said.
He’d like to complete some of the work during the winter when his work load at the Cumberland County Community Complex eases up. He can use jail trustees to help with the labor of taking out stumps and trip hazards, he said.
Once that is complete, the platform, which he called the grandstand, also some shrubs and landscaping removed.
“I’d like to take all that out in front and open that up,” Moody said.
Accessibility is another concern.
There is a narrow path to the park from beside the Civil War monument. The field stone on the path is unleveled, making it a trip hazard. He’d like to widen that path and install a walkway that will be level to allow for wheelchair access to the monuments.
An exposed waterline goes to what was once a water fountain, out of service for many years.
“I’d like to go ahead and get rid of that,” Moody said.
Other items include replacing some rocks on the bandstand and paint the railing.
Looking ahead, Moody said he’d love to install a sign that announces the park is Veterans Park.
“And in the center where that spruce tree was, I’d like to concrete that with maybe some stained conctere and put something … that draws attention from Main St., something that is welcoming to our visitors,” Moody said.
There can be picnic tables added to the park and additional steps from the top of the park.
“There is no way right now unless you walk through the grass and around the monuments to get to the bottom side from the other side,” Moody said. “They’re kind of hidden. I didn’t know they were there.”
Moody hopes to find grants to help update and improve the park and work with the city and DCI on the project as well as local veterans organizations.
“So many veterans in this county, I think we need to honor them and do the best that we can — and this would be one of those things,” Moody said.
He proposed a wall where the community could purchase bricks to honor a veteran or service member, and that could help with fundraising for the park.
Tom Isham, 2nd District commissioner, supported the project and thanked Moody for working on it.
“It’s right in the center of town here, and I just think it’s a great thank for the veterans,” Isham said.
Colleen Mall, 9th District commissioner, recommended formalizing partnerships for future plans.
Carolyn Johnson with Downtown Crossville Inc. said, “Veterans Memorial Park is such a beautiful place.”
She pointed to similar parks in Sparta and Dunlap.
“Downtown Crossville will partner with the county to try and help us get forward,” Johnson said.
While the proposal could have been more grand, Johnson said the initial work was to address the small things at the park that need attention.
“We want to start with baby steps first,” she said.
Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster said he wanted to hear feedback on the plan from the panel, but the priority is to move forward with tree removal.
The panel approved moving forward with tree removal.