A fountain greets visitors inside Glenwood Gardens, a new 335-acre park in Woodlawn. (Dick Swaim photos) | ZOOM |

        WOODLAWN — A great blue heron rises from a pond, a lone deer grazes a field, an indigo bunting flits among the trees, and the surrounding forest and fields muffle the commerce and traffic of Springfield Pike to barely a whisper.

        It will not take visitors to Glenwood Gardens long to immerse themselves in a world just steps away from the workaday world.

        Glenwood Gardens — 335 acres in the heart of Woodlawn — will open Saturday afternoon as the first new park in the Hamilton County Park District in nearly 20 years.

        Almost three years in the making, Glenwood Gardens is a marriage of natural settings and horticulture, combining woodland, prairie, wetlands and meadows with gardens. A paved and gravel trail, totaling almost three miles, loops around the park.

        “The whole idea is to have that combination,” said Ross Hamre, planning supervisor for the park district. “We'll have theme gardens and natural areas.”

Joy Landry (left) and planning supervisor Ross Hamre will see their work finished when the park opens Saturday. | ZOOM |

        There is no golf course, no recreation area, no lake for fishing or boating. Indeed, bicyclists and in-line skaters are not allowed. This park has been designed for contemplation and relaxation, an opportunity to stroll and appreciate.

        A gatehouse welcomes visitors, and the Cotswold Overlook just inside the park offers a clean, sweeping vista across the sprawling acreage. The grounds around the gatehouse have been landscaped in ornamental grasses and pink lemonade honeysuckle. Slabs of red granite — salvaged decades ago from a chamber of commerce building that burned in 1910, and stored at Mitchell Memorial Forest — have been arranged around the landscaped areas.

        Total cost of developing the park was about $3.2 million. Some land was donated.

       A $1 fee for daily parking ($3 for an annual permit) will be charged. For more information on the park, call 521-7275.

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