The Hive Park

The small agricultural community of Lewiston Woodville, NC (pop. 426) faces challenges due to a history of resource extraction and environmental injustices. Amidst a shrinking population, a lack of access to healthy food and spaces to recreate, and high rates of diabetes and heart disease, residents have been advocating for change and seeking to uplift a simple message: our small rural town deserves a park just as much as any other community.

In Summer 2023, spurred on by a local faith leader’s donation of a centrally located, four-acre former school site and a modest grant to catalyze a first phase of development, an internationally diverse project team of student interns came together with a passionate group of community advocates to lead a visioning process for Lewiston Woodville’s first community park.

As a project initiated and ultimately managed by the people of Lewiston Woodville, it was critical that the design team kick off the project by meeting with and interviewing community stakeholders. The intern team had the opportunity to hear personal experiences about the town’s history from its residents. They learned about the development of the town and region from its origins with the Indigenous Tuscarora people, the rise of past and present industries of agriculture, timber, manufacturing, and recent decades of economic challenge following punctuated departures of industry.

During this initial phase, the intern team also undertook a rigorous inventory and analysis process to understand the park site, as well as town and regional context. Mapping and analyses reinforced barriers of access to recreation and healthy lifestyles, and corresponding public health issues. In addition to an absence of parks or open spaces within walking distance, Lewiston Woodville’s residents are faced with a 28-minute drive to the nearest town children attend school and where families can find grocery stores and entertainment destinations.

Throughout the summer the student intern team continued to work closely with the community, hosting a BBQ at the future park and convening listening sessions to hear ideas and community stories. The team was humbled by residents’ simple park programming requests. Above all, the community wanted a place to celebrate their community’s culture and history, a place to gather, and a place to enjoy nature. Additionally, the intern team was very excited to be able to integrate the region and town’s rich history physically within the site, aiming for residents to share and narrate their own stories.

The Vision Plan for The Hive Park provides a diverse array of active and passive programming that celebrate and promote community, health, and the natural environment. Programs include community gardens, outdoor classrooms, sport courts, an open lawn, native meadow, stormwater features, and fitness trails with destinations for relaxation and education. A particularly special series of spaces, the “pocket porches,” are welcoming spaces reminiscent of traditional southern front porches that promote social engagement and uplift stories of the town’s history.

The Hive Park, in addition to representing a community vision in its design, will be built, managed, and maintained by the community. The project team created a step-by-step phasing plan that thoughtfully guides the funding and implementation of the design-build strategy, park upkeep, community programming and stewardship. In the process, the park provides not just a meeting place but also avenues for youth engagement, job creation and a broad sense of shared community ownership.

The Hive Park, in addition to representing a community vision in its design, will be built, managed, and maintained by the community. The project team created a step-by-step phasing plan that thoughtfully guides the funding and implementation of the design-build strategy, park upkeep, community programming and stewardship to create a shared destination that for the people of Lewiston Woodville and all communities of Bertie County. In the process, the park provides not just a meeting place but also avenues for youth engagement, job creation and a broad sense of shared community ownership.

Reflecting on the project team’s close collaboration with community to create a truly sustainable Vision Plan, a member of the student design team expressed, “One of my biggest goals is to make an impact on a community, and this project gave me the chance to do just that. This park will build a sense of community that ties into the history of the place and encourages them to look to a brighter future.”

The Hive Park is an inspiring example of what happens when passionate community leaders and a diverse group of student interns work together to create change in a rural and historically under-resourced community. The Vision Plan is the product of a process of coming together with a small town to understand how its challenges and special qualities can be reflected in a space that serves the entire community. The Hive Park process and plan provides a blueprint for how landscape architecture students and professionals can work with small rural communities to transform unused spaces into healthy public spaces—and in the process come together to reflect on the past and look towards a bright future.