{"id":15829,"date":"2014-09-02T14:46:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T20:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=15829"},"modified":"2018-02-07T13:48:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T19:48:36","slug":"parks-rec-enjoy-the-great-outdoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/parks-rec-enjoy-the-great-outdoors\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Parks & Recreation: Enjoy the Great Outdoors In and Around Oxford, Mississippi!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Avent Park<\/strong> (located on Park Drive)<\/em>\u00a0 Boasting four lighted tennis courts and a lighted baseball field, a pavilion for picnics, plus a walking trail and quiet areas for contemplation or studying, this is a favorite park for locals to visit. Our favorite part is a kid-size reproduction of the Courthouse and other local buildings (perfect for folks of all ages to play hide-and-seek).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ClearSpringsHikingTrail\"<\/a>Bailey Branch Park at FNC<\/strong> (located on Office Park Drive, off Hwy. 7 South)<\/em>\u00a0 This park features a colorful playground for kids, a pavilion perfect for birthday parties or other gatherings, and is surrounded by a walking path.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s Woods Trail<\/strong> (connects behind University Museum and behind Rowan Oak)<\/em>\u00a0 A National Recreation Trail which stretches a little more than half a mile, this trail only takes about 20 minutes to walk. Locals often call this area \u201cFaulkner\u2019s Woods<\/strong>,\u201d a nod to the fact that the writer was known to walk here often. No bikes are allowed on the trail, but feel free to bring the family and your pets along for the short yet eye-opening walk!<\/span><\/p>\n

FNC Park<\/strong> (located at Oxford-Lafayette Fields on Old Sardis Road)<\/em>\u00a0 Covering over 75 acres, this park features five soccer, eight baseball, and three softball fields, plus a walking track and BMX bike park.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holly Springs National Forest<\/strong> is more than just hardwoods and pine trees. Located on 155,000 acres, it contains more than 40 lakes, plus wetlands\u2014this area is teeming with wildlife to observe and things to do. Most of the HSNF is open to mountain biking and ATVs. And Puskus Lake<\/strong>, which falls in this forest\u2019s bounds, boasts a 2-1\/2 mile hiking trail, one of our favorites (it isn\u2019t paved so it\u2019s easier on your feet!), plus opportunities for swimming and canoeing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lamar Park<\/strong> (located on Country Club Road, off College Hill Road)<\/em>\u00a0 This park was named after Oxford\u2019s first female mayor, \u201cPat\u201d Lamar. It was designed as an arboretum, featuring walking trails, garden features, and a small lake. No outside equipment may be brought into the park including (but not limited to): loudspeakers, commercial entertainment items, tables, chairs, and grills. All dogs must be on a leash at all times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oxford City Pool<\/strong> (on Washington Avenue, across from Stone Park)<\/em>\u00a0 The City Pool is seasonal\u2014open between Memorial Day and Labor Day (closed Monday\u2013Friday as of August 4 of this year, but still open on the weekends). You can pay a small fee to swim each time you visit or you can buy a seasonal pass (remember this next summer). Swim lessons are available for adults and kids. The pool itself is outdoors and measures 50 meters; OPC has recently renovated the restrooms, changing rooms, and showers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oxford Skate Park<\/strong> (located on Bramlett Blvd.)<\/em>\u00a0 This project was completed in 2006 and is comprised of state-of-the-art skating facilities, plus a pavilion and a playground. Oxford is proud of its skate park\u2014take advantage of it!<\/span><\/p>\n

Price Hill Park<\/strong> (located on Price Hill Rd., directly across Jackson Ave. from Hathorn Rd.)<\/em>\u00a0 Featuring a baseball\/softball field, an outdoor basketball court, a spray pool, and a pavilion for cooling off, this just might be the closest park to the Ole Miss campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

River\u2019s Hill Park<\/strong> (located on Pegues Road, off University Ave. just past Kroger)<\/em>\u00a0 This neighborhood park is in the Rivers Hill community and has a playground and a pavilion, plus two outdoor basketball courts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sardis Lake<\/strong> is the closest to Oxford of all the Mississippi waterways. Covering over 98,000 acres and located on the Little Tallahatchie River, there\u2019s plenty to explore at Sardis. With numerous day-use areas, boat ramps, beaches, playgrounds, and trails, this is a favorite place for locals to go when they want to be outside. Since Sardis covers such a large area there are several ways to get there from Oxford, but the two easiest ways are: (1) head down Old Sardis road until it dead-ends at Clear Creek<\/strong> (recreation area), or (2) head west on Highway 6 until you reach the turn for John W. Kyle State Park<\/strong>, and follow Blackjack Rd.\/315 until you reach the lake.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stone Park<\/strong> (located at 423 Washington Avenue, across from City Pool)<\/em>\u00a0 This park features a baseball field, playground area and pavilion, and a recreation center (Stone Center).<\/span><\/p>\n

Whirlpool Trails\/Taylor Trails<\/strong> (located off Coliseum Drive\/Front St.)<\/em>\u00a0 This network of single-track dirt trails is adjacent to the Ole Miss campus, and connects to Oxford\u2019s bike lane system. The main trail follows an old railroad bed, and winding smaller trails branch off to the left and the right. This is the perfect place for walking, running, or biking, and feel free to bring your pooch along!<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 \"The<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Avent Park (located on Park Drive)\u00a0 Boasting four lighted tennis courts and a lighted baseball field, a pavilion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":15830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[4188,4189,4190,4202,4197,4203,4191,4198,4193,4204,4194,4195,4239,4196,4192,4240,4199,4201,4200],"class_list":["post-15829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-avent-park","tag-bailey-branch-park","tag-baileys-woods-trail","tag-biking","tag-clear-creek","tag-hiking","tag-holly-springs-national-forest","tag-john-w-kyle-state-park","tag-lamar-park","tag-outdoors","tag-oxford-city-pool","tag-oxford-skate-park","tag-parks","tag-price-hill-park","tag-puskus-lake","tag-recreation","tag-stone-park","tag-taylor-trails","tag-whirlpool-trails"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/ParkBench.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}