Original article by Bill Lewis for The Tennessean>
Durham Farms has parks and green spaces designed to encourage families and neighbors to connect with one another. The Hendersonville neighborhood’s newest park is a place where they can also connect with the service and sacrifice of America’s military veterans.
The neighborhood’s new Veterans Walk was dedicated in a quiet ceremony two days before the Fourth of July. A larger ceremony welcoming city officials and veterans organizations is planned around Veterans Day. Veterans Walk includes a path displaying bricks engraved with the names of individuals who served in the armed forces. Many bricks include the conflict or the branch of service in which the veteran served.
“We have World War II there,” as well as other conflicts including Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, said Karen Poynor, a Durham Farms homeowner who suggested the creation of Veterans Walk.
“You could go there with your children and look at the bricks and go home and teach a complete history lesson,” she said.
Durham Farms residents have so far purchased 66 bricks. Sales will continue until Aug. 2 and reopen for several weeks at the first of each year so new residents can honor veterans of their choosing. Bricks cost $100 each.
The memorial maker at Veterans Walk in Durham Farms. Melanie Grady Photography.
Poynor had the idea for Veterans Walk two years ago after meeting a number of veterans and their families in Durham Farms. Her husband, Brian, is a retired Army officer, and several generations of her family served in the armed forces. The couple purchased five bricks to honor them.
Poynor approached Lacey Edwards, Durham Farms’ marketing manager, who helped her take the idea to the community’s board of directors, which unanimously supported the idea.
Freehold Communities, the developer of Durham Farms, worked closely with a resident committee to develop Veterans Walk. The committee included residents who served in the armed forces and their spouses.
“When Karen brought the idea of the Durham Farms Veterans Walk to the Freehold team, we truly saw the passion she had for the community and for honoring veterans,” said Bill Charles of Freehold Communities. He is the Durham Farms Board president.
“With so many veterans living in the community, we knew this would be a meaningful way to honor them and their loved ones for their service. Veterans Walk will be a place for residents to reflect in solitude and peace, and it will be an important part of Durham Farms for many years to come,” he said.
Freehold set aside space for Veterans Walk and engaged Nashville-based HDLA, a planning and landscape architecture company with international experience, to assist with the design.
“I’m very proud to be on the Durham Farms team because of the neighborly engagement and the passion all of the residents bring to the community,” said Community Manager Kristi Goski.
“To see the way the residents have embraced Veterans Walk has been heartwarming,” she said.
Veterans Walk will be a place for reflection, said Poynor.
“When I come here (and) I look at all these brave men and women and read about when they served, I’m touched by all this history right before my eyes, all the conflicts our country has endured and will continue to endure,” she said.
“My hope for Durham Farms is for our residents to come up here with their children and talk to them about all the stories that each of these bricks represents,” said Poynor.