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Improvements to Tanglewood's facilities moving along
Journal Photo by Walt Unks
Work continues on Shelter 3 at Skilpot Lake, one of two shelters that will replace older ones at Tanglewood Park. The county park’s campground is also being renovated.
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Published: November 5, 2009
Workers are busy at Tanglewood Park building two new shelters and renovating the park's campground.
Come next spring, all should be open and ready to be play host to day visitors and overnight guests at Forsyth County's largest park.
"There's still quite of lot of outdoor work to be done," said Mark Serosky, the director of parks and recreation for the county.
In 2008, the county merged Tanglewood into the parks and recreation department after running it separately since 2000.
When Serosky took a tour of this latest addition to the park system, he found lots of things that were old and dilapidated.
Since that time, he and county officials have embarked on a plan for extensive park updates that may take years to carry out.
Providing new shelters was an important part of the plan. The park had just one shelter, Shelter 4, that was modern and in good condition.
Shelters 2 and 3 are being rebuilt at a cost of close to $1 million, Serosky said.
"We are doing the same theme of shelter construction that we had started at Shelter 4," Serosky said.
"It has laminated beams that are made in such a fashion where they don't have places where the birds can roost underneath them, which is important. They have pretty green metal roofs and that will be a theme throughout the park, and the restrooms will be in the same fashion."
The new Shelter 3, beside Skilpot Lake, will have an octagonal shape and make a good spot for fishermen, Serosky said.
A walkway from the shelter will lead to fishing areas on the lake, and improvements to the lake will make the fishing better.
"We are investing some money into the fish at the pond and putting in an aeration system," Serosky said. "It will have a floating fountain to keep the water oxygenated."
Shelter 3 will also have a sand volleyball area.
The new Shelter 2, closer to the park entrance, will have a larger parking lot to accommodate the shelter's capacity of about 100 people, Serosky said.
The restrooms at the shelters will be heated, allowing them to stay in use longer each season.
Damon Sanders-Pratt, the assistant county manager, said that the county wants to get the two new shelters up and running before deciding how to proceed on two other shelters that need replacement.
Also, work is proceeding on the park's campground, which is undergoing a renovation and possibly could be reopened in the spring.
The campground has been closed since 2000 because it needed plumbing and electrical repairs.
wyoung@wsjournal.com
727-7369
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