Exploring All This Award-Winning Park Has to Offer
Writer / Andrew Toy
Photography Provided
Oh, hello there. What a beautiful day to meet up here, isn’t it? Were you able to find your free parking spot easily? I assure you, when Christmas comes around, it’ll be harder to find a spot; the city goes out of her way to decorate Brown Park in December.
But right now it’s late summer, several months away from the Christmas light angels and Frosty the Snowmen. And today the sky is clear and blue. The world may seem crazy, but step inside Brown Park in St. Matthews to find a little bit of normalcy, and a break from the chaos happening all around.
Here, on these award-winning 28 silent acres, you can even take a walk into the past. Throughout the park you’ll find trees dedicated to some who have gone before us.
We haven’t walked far, but if you’d like, we can take a rest on those stone blocks underneath the shade of the trees, or we can continue down the path toward the bridge that crosses Beargrass Creek. You’ve probably driven over it as you traveled on Browns Lane to get to the hospital.
The little goslings are a few months old now and they’re waiting for some pieces of bread. The sign says we shouldn’t feed the birds, but that’s not stopping some of the other park-goers.
But I’d definitely abide by the sign that says no swimming in the river, tempting as it may be. When the rainwater gets high enough, the sewage can spill into the river. Definitely don’t want to go in there.
Do you want to see a hidden cemetery? Come this way. We’ll walk along the river until the path veers off to the left. It’ll take us to a brick wall that circles a handful of tombstones. The gothic spear-tipped gate has a lock on it, so we can’t go up to them to read the inscriptions, but if you look closely you can make out the words on one of them: James Brown. You’ll have to use your phone to zoom in and see the rest of the fading markings.
Could it be? Could this be the Mr. Brown of Brown Park? Turns out that yes, this is the resting place of the patriarch of the Brown family. Together, he and his wife, Urath, owned over a thousand acres of land between Shelbyville and Taylorsville roads by 1824. Do you know what that means? That means a big portion of St. Matthews is built on what was once James Brown’s property.
Let’s go back down the path we came up from, since the cemetery is as far as it’ll take us. We’ll wind back down toward the river and stroll underneath the tree canopy. You see those pillars of stone over there? The ones layered with different kinds of rocks? They’re called the Interpretive Stone Columns, works of art that represent the three major geologic periods of limestone formation in Kentucky and Indiana.
There’s also a playground where one can sit and watch children play, or parents barbecuing on the grills provided underneath the pavilion. While we’re here, let’s give a silent thank-you to Kurt, Jeff, Matt, Talley and Cliff, five Boy Scouts who each worked on a section of this park to earn their Eagle Scout badge back in 1982.
As we near the parking lot, let’s not forget to pay our respects to Mr. Bernard Bowling, who served as mayor of St. Matthews from 1958 up until his death in 1984.
And may we end our tour on a rather patriotic note? At the base of the flagpole, you’ll find a plaque that says the park is “dedicated to St. Matthews police officers both past and present.” I think it’s safe to say that we are grateful to the officers who are currently putting their lives on the line to protect every citizen of Louisville, and particularly St. Matthews, no matter the color of their skin or their background.
There is still so much to be grateful for.
The park is located at 1000 Browns Ln, St Matthews, KY 40207
