Depot Park Gainesville

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After more than twenty years cleaning up a site contaminated with industrial waste, the City of Gainesville has opened a brand new community park. Located across the street from the new Rosa Parks Bus Headquarters, Depot Park is a large area with a playground for children, water features that will attract wildlife, a food market, restored train depot, and enough room to hold events such as concerts and food truck rallys.

The park is connected to numerous area bike trails such as this one. We won't be going down this path today.




Instead we will turn towards the park which was enjoying a large crowd of people on a sunny weekend morning.




Across the lake, a part of the city water treatment system, there's a steel structure I'll need to investigate another day.













There are several large, covered areas where various birthday parties were taking place.







And here's the fun and innovative children's play space.







The splash area was quite a welcome spot on a warm day.

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All the playground surfaces were soft on the feet and cool to the touch.













I thought this slide was very innovative.




Instead of a hot, shiny metal surface it employed plastic rollers.




Years ago the area had been the site of the old train depot located on the edge of downtown.




Thus, the theme of the park.







The general store is located inside the restored depot buildings.

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This is still a work in progress. It will be awhile before there are more trees to provide shade.




I liked the area representing the old railroad tracks.




And the big, open spaces inside the restored depot buildings have a lot of potential for use.







There's some innovative seating outside the market.













The few smatterings of, presumably, native plants are nice.










I'm looking forward to enjoying this park and watching it evolve over time.

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Here's a link to the history of the park and the information website:

DEPOT PARK

[bixaorellana]

That was fun! The park seems to incorporate the wonderful Florida sky just beautifully. I am fascinated by the innovative and very kid-friendly playground equipment. Super photos and I love how much everyone is enjoying everything, especially the splash area.

[Deleted]

This is remarkably reminiscent of the Parc Martin Luther King in Paris, which was also created in place of an old rail yard.

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Why go to Paris when we have this?

[mich64]

Fantastic family fun! I love the play areas and the splash pad.

The City I live in has done a similar Park with our Rail Yards. It also includes two carousels and an operating train ride where you see many adults crammed into the seats enjoying the ride as much as the little ones! We are missing a splash pad but there are a few groups pressing City Hall to add that to an available spot.

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Oh, I wish we had a real train in the park!

I had an opportunity to stop back by Depot Park and take more photos. This time I was by myself, plus the park was almost empty since it was the middle of a school day.







The new building going up across the lake is the Cade Museum for Creativity + Invention










Down in the lake a lone turtle was sunning itself until I interrupted his day.

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While I was photographing the museum a red shouldered hawk landed on one of the light poles.




























There were actually two of them.

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This area is on the south side of the lake.




To the north is downtown.



There are more wetland areas.






















This is a part of the bike trail and heading to the south would lead to Paynes Prairie.

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[bixaorellana]

I don't think I realized how big the park is when I looked at the first installment of this thread. Wonderful new pictures throughout, but the hawk photos really take the cake.
That last shot of the pickerel weed is a real treat, too.

[tod2]

What a great place! Is there an entrance fee? There is bound to be a lot of maintenance so the upkeep would be expensive.
I love the wetland part of the park for people who have older children and want to introduce them to some birds.
The children all seemed so happy having a great fun time- I see a lot of tired little heads when bedtime comes!

[htmb]

Thank you both. Yes, it is a big space, and the area should continue to improve over time as the trees fill out and the museum is completed. No, there is not an entry fee.

[lugg]

What a great example of regeneration . Fab photos , the clarity and colours are superb