"This park reminds us that the best investments we make aren't in just land," Town of Mint Hill Commissioner Trey Long said at the June ribbon-cutting for Ezell Park. "They're in the quality of life and sense of community we leave for those who come after us." His family owned the land and protected it for years before selling it to Mecklenburg County.
Most of Mint Hill met Ezell Park in its first summer, which meant the sprayground, the playground and four new pickleball courts at the corner of Matthews-Mint Hill Road and Mintwood Drive. The sprayground has been off since Labor Day, so this is the park's first off-season. With the water off, you can see what the park was built for. Ezell is a protected farm and woodland with recreation added on top, and most of its 91 acres have nothing to do with summer.
The sprayground is the newest thing on a very old piece of land
Mecklenburg County bought the property in 2001, when this part of the county was gaining people and losing farmland quickly. The sellers set one condition: the land had to become a park or a school.
For more than two decades, the only part in active use was a community garden that the county and neighbors kept going. The rest of the site was left alone. Funding started in fiscal year 2020, and the county eventually put about $8.5 million into the project. Pandemic delays and rising costs pushed construction back to spring 2024. The park opened on June 11, 2026, which Axios Charlotte covered that day, a quarter century after the county took ownership.
The timeline explains the design. The county's opening announcement says the park sits in the Goose Creek watershed on the site of a former farm, and that the design and architecture were meant to honor the land's farming history, ecology and wildlife. Park and Recreation says it put protecting the sensitive environment first and filling recreation gaps in southeast Mecklenburg second.
What 91 acres looks like without the summer crowd
On the county's list of features, the summer ones stand out. Here is the full park, with what each part looks like going into November.
| Feature | What's there | Going into November |
|---|---|---|
| Woodland | 32 preserved acres | Unchanged by the season |
| Ponds | Two, kept as part of the preservation | Unchanged by the season |
| Trails and multiuse paths | Paths linking the woods, garden and courts | Open trail network |
| Courts | Four pickleball courts and a basketball court | Year-round amenities |
| Play areas | Nature-themed playground and a multiuse field | Year-round amenities |
| Sprayground | Splash pad | Closed for the 2026 season after Labor Day |
| Community garden | Expanded long-running garden at 4155 Mintwood Drive | Plot applications closed until February |
| Public art | "Wings" by Meredith Connelly | Changes with the light all day |
Mecklenburg County's pools and spraygrounds page lists the outdoor spraygrounds as closed for the 2026 season. The regular schedule runs daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. In August, WBTV put Ezell on the county's heat-relief list as a sprayground open through Labor Day.
The woods alone cover more than a third of the park. Add the two ponds, the garden and the trails winding between them, and most of Ezell is a place for walking, not splashing. Stimmel, the landscape architecture firm that planned the site, calls the project "Ezell Farms Community Park," and that name fits what's left once the water is off.
"Wings" was designed around daylight
The park's centerpiece reaches its audience through the same land it celebrates. "Wings," by local artist Meredith Connelly, is three wing-shaped forms inspired by the American painted lady butterfly and other local pollinators. Each form stands for a period in the site's life: past, present and future.
The material is translucent. According to remarks from the Arts and Science Council that Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell read at an Oct. 20 commissioners meeting, sunlight passing through the wings throws shifting patterns on the ground, so the piece never looks the same twice. The Charlotte Weekly covered that monthly Arts & Culture Moment. That makes the sculpture one of the few things at Ezell that changes every hour of every season, whether or not the splash pad is running. A November visit shows a different version of it than a June one did.
At the same meeting, Rodriguez-McDowell pointed to the funding behind the piece. "I think it's something that we have to make sure that we never take it for granted that Mecklenburg County has a 1% for arts ordinance," she said. "That is not something that every community has." Randella Davis, the ASC's program director for public art, said the goal was for children and families to come across the artwork "as part of their everyday experience," not as a separate trip.
The garden was here before the park
The community garden is the oldest working part of Ezell. During the years when the rest of the property sat undeveloped, the county and local residents kept it going, and the new park expanded it instead of replacing it. It is part of the county's Community Garden Program and is listed at 4155 Mintwood Drive.
If you've walked past the beds and wondered how to get one, now is the time to plan. Applications are closed for now. The county's community gardens page gives these dates and expectations for plot holders:
- February 15, 2027. Applications reopen for the spring season.
- August 1, 2027. Applications reopen for the fall season.
- Year-round upkeep. Plot holders are expected to maintain their plots in every season, not only while things are growing.
- Weekly time. The county estimates about two hours a week during the growing season.
- Workdays. Gardeners take part in two workdays each year.
The same page links to the county's volunteer opportunities, which is a way to get involved without waiting for a plot. Since the beds need care all year, the garden doesn't really have an off-season, and it was never a summer feature to begin with.
Before or after, along Matthews-Mint Hill Road
The park sits on Matthews-Mint Hill Road, and several local spots close by make a cool-weather walk an easy afternoon.
- Daphne's Bakery, 7609 Matthews-Mint Hill Road, is family-owned. Its site lists seasonal pumpkin items, online ordering and Tuesday through Saturday hours, so a stop on the way to the trails takes a little planning.
- Vintner's Hill Wine Bar & Bistro, 7427 Matthews-Mint Hill Road, serves lunch and dinner with beer and wine. Check the restaurant's site for current hours and menus before you go.
- The Hill Bar and Grill, 11232 Lawyers Road, has served burgers and sandwiches since 2011. It's open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., for dine-in and pickup.
The corridor also lost a gathering spot this season. The Charlotte Observer reported that Panzú Brewery at 7251 Matthews-Mint Hill Road would close after three years, with a farewell event on Sept. 20. No new tenant for the space has been announced.
Mint Hill gets most of its outdoor calendar from summer splash days and the festival weekends that fill the fall. Ezell Park follows the slower schedule of the farm it used to be. Gardeners keep up their plots through the winter, the woods and ponds stay the same, and the sculpture changes with the sun every day of the year. The next date on the park's calendar is February 15, 2027, when garden plot applications reopen.
Ezell is one of the biggest additions to daily life in southeast Mecklenburg in years. Knowing how new county parks and preserved land shape the streets around them is part of how Sean Rush Jr. and the TrustRush team advise clients across Mint Hill. If you're thinking about a move near Ezell Park, or just want to know how the park and the land around it are changing your part of town, schedule a free consultation and we'll walk through it with you.
