CHARLOTTE — A project to refresh a park in west Charlotte took an unexpected turn into a piece of city history.
L.C. Coleman Park is tucked away just off of Beatties Ford Road in west Charlotte. It sits in a quiet neighborhood and has a baseball field, basketball hoops, walking trails, and a rich history.
“It’s exciting to be a landscape detective,” said Jennifer Brooks with Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation. “You knew something was there, we knew something was there.”
Brooks walked with Channel 9′s Damany Lewis through the woods at L.C. Coleman Park to reveal a story hidden among the brush.
It’s a place where the name alone has meaning for the community.
“If you are talking about the west side, you have to talk about L.C. Coleman,” said Tom Hanchett, a community historian in Charlotte.
Coleman was an activist who dedicated his life to helping the west Charlotte community. From fighting for better streets and sidewalks, to eventually helping to integrate the parks in the county.
“He would have buses and get families together on Sundays and take them from this area to over across the area to SouthPark of Charlotte, and have picnics,” said Lynn Coleman Hudson, Coleman’s daughter.
Hudson is proud of the work her late father accomplished over the years, and she’s happy to hear the county is now taking steps to revitalize the park.
“We owe it to the west side to get this park really going and get the area really going,” Hudson said.
Hanchett says in the 1920s, the park was known as Clinton Beach, where Bishop CM Daddy Grace performed baptisms for thousands.
Now, more untold stories have been uncovered here in the woods.
After performing a survey on the land, county leaders found a wall in the woods. That’s where Brooks and Lewis found “a true ruin.”
The wall was a portion of what historians and county leaders believe is a piece of the Second Street YMCA pool. The swimming center was used by Black neighbors back in the 1940s.
“In the ‘40s, there was a sunset part with a swimming pool,” Hanchett said.
It was just one of a few pools where Black people were allowed to swim in segregated Charlotte.
“I see potential, to literally peel away the layers to reveal this history,” Brooks said.
Along with the pool, the county believes there may be more artifacts hidden here.
“There are some uncomfortable truths that we are starting to uncover about slavery and segregation, and we’re not shying away from that,” said Liz Morrel with Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation.
For Hudson, she says it’s important to preserve the past and to make way for a better future.
“I think that brings a historical perspective to it all, and I hope they keep working,” she said.
County leaders say they’re now working to figure out the next steps after finding the pool. The revitalization work will continue at L.C. Coleman Park.
(WATCH: Woman recognizes father headstone during clean up of historic Black cemetery)
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