Silver Creek residents now can enjoy an afternoon in a beautifuldowntown setting following the recent opening of Shivers-SandiferPark.

The park originally was dedicated Sept. 11, 2003, the secondanniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trace Center’stwin towers and the Pentagon. It sustained serious damage in anautomobile accident shortly afterward, however, and repairs wereonly completed in the past few weeks.

The park includes an 800-foot nature walking track, pavilion,butterfly gardens, bird nesting boxes, bird bath, benches and twobridges. At the base of a flag pole at the entrance of the park isa memorial to those who died in the terrorist attacks.

“We didn’t know where we were going when we first started,” saidKay Allen, chairwoman of the town’s beautification committee. “Wehad a lot of ideas but no idea how to make them a reality. We areextremely proud of it.”

The park received a big boost when county officials helped themsecure a wildlife grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.County officials, led by then-Supervisor Calvin Fortenberry,started the park’s construction by bringing in truck loads of dirt.Private donations have funded a majority of the park.

Although the park is operational and provides an island ofbeauty in the center of Silver Creek’s downtown area, thebeautification committee has many more plans for it.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Allen said. “We’re going tohave lighting in the pavilion real soon. We have the money forthat. And then we’ll have lamp lighting along the walkingtrack.”

The pavilion was purchased through donations, and a constructioncrew from Georgia Pacific donated the time to build it.

“What we’re trying on now is tables for the pavilion,” saidAlderwoman Catherine Jones, chairwoman of the town’s parkcommittee.

Other plans include adding picnic tables both inside and outsidethe pavilion soon and installing a permanent grill near thepavilion. Carolyn Sandifer Jones, daughter of one of the park’snamesakes, is creating a sign for the park that will detail thehistory of Silver Creek.

The park is named for Mr. and Mrs. N.A. Sandifer and R.B. andErnestine Albin Shivers. The Shiverses donated the land to thetown, while the Sandifers used to own a house that is no longer atthe park site.

One attraction of the park is a large section of petrified wooddonated by Zolan and Celeste Ward that was uncovered on theirproperty in Arm.