Yoga, concerts, festivals and sunflowers bring large crowds to Dix Park. Many of the visitors miss the obvious remnants of Dorothea Dix.
As the State of North Carolina began restructuring housing and care for our state’s mentally ill. A door opened to create Raleigh’s Destination park.
Former Governor Beverly Perdue gifted Dix Hill Park after Raleigh’s Mayor Nancy McFarlane requested the vast acreage.
Mayor McFarlane led our city through turmoil when incoming Governor McCrory refused to acknowledge Governor Perdue’s gift. Eventually McCrory declared on Live TV “This 308 acre park will be a great thing for Charlotte.” I blew snot out of my nose. Mayor McFarlane stood stoic.
Dorothea Dix’s landscape is rolling hills with large Oak Trees. Community built to the contour of the land. A factory town with worker’s homes and a vast farm with grazing land for a dairy.
In the 1980’s North Carolina began selling the state owned homes of the residents of Dorothea Dix.
I like the Neighborhood of Oak Trees with city streets and old fire hydrants.
Dix Park opens a window to those institutionalized at Dorothea Dix. Over a century of patient care encourages a thirst for knowledge crossing medical and ethical boundaries. Interesting insight can be found in this article from the UNC Center for Urban and Regional studies. Something to ponder as you wander Dorothea Dix’s remnants on Dix Park’s 308 acres.
Originally posted 2019-11-25 11:41:09.
