You may already know that my family likes scavenger hunts! We were drawn to Fred Fletcher Park due to the mini-art scavenger hunt we heard about through the Raleigh Arts Council. There are six tiny artworks scattered throughout the park for you to find. There are clues written on the front of each art piece and the first clue to get you started is below:
📍Park where a feather becomes arrow’s end,
Raleigh Arts Council
in a Red Bird’s shadow your first clue is penned.
Fred Fletcher Park
Fred Fletcher park is a small city park located off St. Mary’s Street near Cameron Village. It’s not a location my family visits frequently so we were excited to try something new!
The Borden Building and gardens are located right near the entrance from the small parking lot. The Borden Building can be rented for events, but it is a non-staffed building and is not open during the day. The rotunda is beautiful and would be a great place for a wedding!
steps leading down to the rotunda 
one of the buildings at Fred Fletcher Park 
part of the garden 
Borden Building at Fred Fletcher Park
We visited the park during stay at home orders and social distancing. However, there were a large number of young people walking in and gathering in groups on the lawn. I guess the park is within walking distance from a lot of apartment buildings so it seemed like a backyard hangout tailgating spot. One group started making gestures and comments towards my family that were not very positive. While there were a lot of people at the park that day, my children were the only kids there. I normally wouldn’t have cared, but the negative interaction left me feeling very out of place. I hope it was all in fun, but I didn’t feel like this was a great place for my kids to be, so we went and walked the path instead of having a picnic like we planned. This was on a Saturday afternoon, so you may have a very different experience during a week day!
As we walked the path, I couldn’t help but notice that the park was in need of some landscaping. The grass hadn’t been mowed in a while and the path was overgrown with weeds in some areas. I’m not sure if we just caught it on a bad day, but the park was in need of some maintenance. As I said previously, this was during the pandemic, so the city may not have been maintaining the park as usual.
Water Garden
The water garden, as listed on the website, is basically an overgrown swamp. There was a nice lookout, but the view wasn’t much. I was hoping to see frogs and dragonflies, but there was too much vegetation to see any animals.
Swings and Tennis Courts
The park does have a nice tennis court and some swings for the kids. There were also a group of spring riders in the sand next to the swings, but I was unable to get a picture. There were a couple benches available so parents can take a rest while the kids play.
Spring riders are located to the right of the swings 
tennis courts
I’m usually a glass half full kind of person, but I have to admit that Fred Fletcher Park was a little disappointing. It has a lot of potential, but needs some maintenance, and our negative interaction with the park patrons left me feeling out of place. I felt safe for the most part, I just didn’t feel like it was a family-friendly environment at the time we were there. Tell me in the comments, have you had a great experience at Fred Fletcher Park?