On a sunny but bitterly cold morning last December we were in the Leone Hall Price Park in west Cobb County doing a Christmas bird count. Despite the numbing cold, I was struck by the beauty of the park’s sprawling, frost-covered meadows that literally sparkled in the light.
The thin films of glistening ice covered dense tangles of fall wildflowers and grasses that had died and shriveled up from the winter cold. I made a point to return to the park during the fall when the wildflowers would be blooming. It should be quite a show, I thought.
I wasn’t quite prepared for the colorful scene that greeted me last weekend when I returned to the preserve during an open-house event sponsored by the Friends of Price Park. Acres of meadow were masses of yellow from the bright blooms of wingstem, or yellow crownbeard. Scattered in the mass of yellow were the deep purple flowers of ironweed and the white blooms of boneset. Goldenrods were starting to bloom.
In the palette of colors, common meadow trees -- hawthorne, crabapple, dogwood, persimmon and others -- dotted the landscape. Countless bees, wasps, butterflies and other nectar-sipping insects buzzed, darted and flitted among the blooms.
“This place is breathtaking; you don’t find much habitat like this left in Cobb County,” said park volunteer Dennis Krusac, an endangered-species specialist with the U.S. Forest Service. We walked to the clean-flowing Allatoona Creek that runs through the park.
Thousands of acres of meadows, old fields and other open spaces like Price Park have been gobbled up in Cobb in recent decades to make way for new subdivisions, shopping malls and other development. Populations of several grassland bird species -- sparrows, meadowlark, bobwhite quail -- have plummeted in the county.
Price Park, however, will be spared from development. Cobb’s government pledges that the preserve’s 126 acres of meadows, old fields, hardwood forest, wetlands and other habitats will be maintained in their natural state. No ball fields, motorized vehicles or mountain bikes in the park, Krusac said. “Kids will be free to run through the wild meadows,” he said.
The Park’s namesake, Leone Hall Price, donated the majority of the land for the park. Cobb County bought the rest. Cobb’s leaders say they envision the park as a place where people can enjoy nature for generations to come. Birders say they expect it to become a popular birdwatching spot.
In the sky: The moon will be new on Tuesday. By Thursday, look for a thin crescent moon low in the west just after dark, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Mercury is low in the east just before sunrise. Venus is low in the west just after sunset and will appear near the moon on Wednesday evening. Mars is low in the east about three hours before sunrise and will appear near the moon Friday morning. Jupiter rises out of the east a few hours after sunset. Saturn is too close to the sun for easy observation.
Leone Hall Price Park
If You Go
Free to public
Open daily sunrise to sunset
Located at 4715 Stilesboro Road, Kennesaw, one mile east of Mars Hill Road and eight-tenths of a mile west of Acworth Due West Road in west Cobb County. A sign "Future Home of Leone Hall Price Park" marks the entrance to the parking lot.
There are no facilities but the park has a good-size parking lot.
More information: friendsofpricepark.org/
Email: friendsofpricepark@gmail.com
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