Peabody Park

This post was supposed to be about a trail I found in Appleton called the Fox River Trail. This trail is shown on Google Maps to be connected with Peabody Park and running along the north side of the Fox River beneath Riverside Cemetery. However this is an instance where Google does not have the right information.

The property that the Fox River Trail is on is owned by the owners of Riverside Cemetery and they have blocked off the trail. You can still see the remnants of the trail but there are signs indicating that you can no longer access the trail. So instead I will be talking about and displaying pictures from Peabody Park today.

Key Features

• Multi-use facility: The park offers a variety of recreational activities, including sports fields, picnic areas, a disc golf basket for practicing, and a boat ramp(This boat ramp is for emergency vehicles only).
• Waterfront: The park has a beautiful view of the Fox River, with a grassy area for picnicking and relaxing.
• Trails: The park has a network of trails for walking, running, and biking.
• Playground: The park has a playground for children.
• Pavilions: The park has several pavilions that can be rented for events.
• Other amenities: The park also has restrooms, drinking fountains, and parking.

Review

Peabody Park is a ravine on the opposite side of the river from Tellulah Park. This park is not easy to get to but the best way would be from Wisconsin Ave. Find N Leminwah St and turn south on to the street from Wisconsin Ave. Continue heading south until you drive down into the Fox River Valley. At the rim of the valley the street turns in to N Green Bay Rd. At the bottom of the hill is Peabody Park.

Here you can park along the road. Beware to read the parking signs because there are restrictions. Your walk could go from free to a fine pretty quick. And in worse case scenarios you may have a much longer walk if your car gets towed.

Peabody Park runs along the river at the base of the river valley here. There are places to picnic and you can fish from the built up rivers edge. When I was here I could hear the wind pushing and cracking the river ice. This is a spooky sound if you have never heard it before. Everything is quiet and the movement of the ice is almost imperceptible. Then there is a pop, if you’re not expecting you look for the source of the sound but nothing is moving in the area of the sound. Then another pop will happen, and more over the successive minutes. Eventually you should figure out that the ice is making the sound.

The rest of Peabody Park stretches west from Green Bay Rd. The park snakes along the ravine floor beneath the surrounding neighborhoods. Residential homes line the ridges surrounding the park making these homes great places to raise kids.

The trail through this park follows the ravine under E Pacific St bridge. A stair walk way does wind down from Pacific St to join the path. It continues following the ravine as it rises up to N Rankin St. This places you just behind the current Appvion factory complex.

On my walk to day I followed this trail up to Rankin St from Green Bay Road. Then walked the neighborhood streets back to Pacific Street. I crossed the bridge and walked down the stair walkway back to the path. I then returned to my vehicle. It was a brisk late fall day and most of the birds where quietly preparing for a sleet storm that would rain down on the valley that night.

My walk was nice during that day. But I kept thinking about the Fox River Trail being closed off. My mind kept going to the Norway concept of allemannsretten. This is a right to roam concept in Norway that allows people to adventure through the undeveloped country side with restriction. I suggest you follow the link if you want to know more about this concept.

But I wonder if this right would even work in the US. So called Americans often extort about our rights but rarely do we also consider our responsibilities with those rights. As I walked through Peabody Park I observed the beautiful Bricked supports of the Pacific Street bridge. Remnants of graffiti partially cleaned off scarred the stone work. I understand that some graffiti can be beautiful in its own right. But these were just disrespectful junk defacing the beauty the city worked hard to create.

We need to respect the places we roam. Follow the concepts of taking out everything we take in and leaving nature where it belongs. I often wonder if people in the US are even taught this concept. And even if we have, do we have the respect to honor the places that we can go.

Sorry this one got a little preachy but I was not happy that the trail I wanted to walk was closed. And the only thought is that people disrespected the opportunity to walk the trail so we lost the ability to walk it. So please enjoy nature but remember to respect it, other wise more fences and signs will go up.

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