Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9412010008
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The park on West Main Street at Fourth Street is famous as a fishing spot reserved for children 12 years old and younger. It also is a popular spot to observe and feed a number of wild ducks.
City officials said the renovation will not harm the fish or ducks even though the water level in the ponds will be greatly lowered during the work.
The park, commonly called the "duck pond," will undergo a $400,000 renovation this winter, and one of the improvements will be to make it accessible to the handicapped.
"This means that all of our citizens will be able to enjoy the park," said Charlie Hammersly, director of Salem's Department of Parks and Recreation.
Forest Jones, Salem's assistant city manager, said renovations will include repairs to the stone walls around both the upper and lower ponds, a new footbridge between the ponds, a fountain in the lower pond, repairs to the gazebo, new lighting, new walkways and new plantings.
"It will be a general renovation," Jones said.
The work will be done with city and state funds, Jones said.
Hammersly said the city has been approved for a $25,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation which also granted it a $200,000 loan at 2 percent interest.
The rest of the cost will come from city funds, Jones said.
Jones said the city will receive bids on the project in October and work should begin soon after that.
The three-acre park is one of the more popular ones in Salem. Hammersly said he thinks virtually everyone in the city and surrounding area has visited the spot at one time or another, especially during the annual fishing rodeo.
The park's only other attraction is a small picnic area.
Hammersly said that, when the renovation is completed, the park will have a better appearance from Main Street.
Lake Spring's history goes back to the previous century when a hotel on the slope above the ponds was a popular resort and center of social life for local residents.
But the hotel burned June 15, 1892 when a fire broke out at 2:15 a.m., just as a dance was breaking up.
Departing partygoers, in their tuxedos and evening gowns, joined in a bucket brigade to pass water from the ponds in a vain effort to extinguish the fire. The hotel was so extensively damaged that it never reopened and eventually the charred remains were removed.
by CNB