Augusta Barnett Park

This popular playground and basketball court are named for Asheville Parks & Recreation’s first department director.

Features

• Basketball
• Playground
• Wheelchair Accessible

Parties & Rentals

Special permits may be required to schedule ongoing use, add elements to the park such as tents and inflatables, or host a special event for more than 50 people

History

When Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) named Augusta Barnett as its first director, she was the first woman to serve as a department head with the City of Asheville and one of the first in the nation to lead a parks and recreation department.

Augusta Barnett

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Augusta Barnett spent most of her life in Asheville. An alumna of Asheville’s public schools, she graduated from Randolph College before earning a master’s degree in administration and supervision of physical education from Teachers College of Columbia University.

She began her career as a physical education teacher at Lee H. Edwards High School (now Asheville High) in 1928. Barnett began her work with APR as a summer playground leader in 1937, supervising arts and crafts, games, and other activities for young Ashevillians. Though Aston and Montford parks date to the 1890s, the City of Asheville only began providing structured recreation services in 1933 as the parks and playground division under the direction of the Public Works department.

After serving in a seasonal capacity as pool manager and supervisor of summer playgrounds, she was promoted to the year-round, part-time position of recreation supervisor of the division in 1944 while still teaching high school physical education. When the parks and playgrounds superintendent left his position in 1956, Barnett assumed much of the department’s administrative responsibilities in addition to supervising recreation and was named APR Director later that year.

Leading in the 1950s and 1960s

As director of the new department, Barnett initially oversaw the operations of thirteen parks, four community centers, two outdoor pools, City Auditorium (now Thomas Wolfe Auditorium), Recreation Amusement Park and Zoo (now Recreation Park and Western North Carolina Nature Center), Asheville Municipal Golf Course, Thomas Wolfe Memorial, McCormick Field, and Memorial Stadium, as well as programs and events at those locations, city-wide festivals, and a number of school playgrounds each summer. She also coordinated annual partnerships with Asheville Art Museum, Colburn Mineral Museum (now Asheville Museum of Science), and Thomas Wolfe Memorial.

Barnett was very successful in improving community recreation programs, even without the luxury of many quality facilities or much of an annual budget. Ever resourceful, she partnered with schools and other community organizations to house activities primarily focused on kids, teens, and older adults. As Congress made federal funding available for cities like Asheville to combat poverty, the foundation Barnett established was used to leverage a major expansion of local parks and recreation spaces in the 1970s.

When she retired in 1971, she said her hobbies, aside from reading and sports, were making it possible for others to enjoy theirs.

Augusta Barnett Park

In 1953, West Asheville Community Center opened on Haywood Road. A pioneering building, it included the recreation center, fire department, and public library. The concept was replicated for North Asheville, East Asheville, and Murphy-Oakley community centers over the following decade.

West Asheville Business Association purchased a lot behind the community center shortly after it opened with intentions to build a playground. In 1969, West Asheville Youth Commission organized a campaign to build the playground and the land was donated to APR with a request to name it Barnett Playground. The playground opened in 1973 with swings, slides, and a basketball court.

Barnett passed away in 1995 at the age of 89 and the park was rededicated in her honor in 1998. As part of the 2016 parks and recreation bond referendum, Augusta Barnett Park received an updated layout with modern playground equipment and a new basketball court.