CityView Magazine

16 June 2022 COVER STORY 'We can work together' Harry Shaw's vision for Cross Creek Linear Park was about more than trails and tributaries. His persistence of more than 12 years leaves a legacy for generations to come BY BILL KIRBY JR. A mid the fragrance of mountain laurel and honeysuckle, Harry Shaw leaned along the railing of the Crescent Overlook and saw in his mind's eye those summer days of yesteryear, when he splashed in the gentle waters below what is now Cross Creek Linear Park not far from his childhood home on Hawley Lane. e moment was poignant. Shaw's work of more than 12 years on this long and winding park was all but finished, and this was Shaw's moment for reflection. e year was 2016. "We used to walk out there when nothing was there," says Anthony Ramsey, 62, the landscape architect for Fayetteville- Cumberland Parks & Recreation who worked with Shaw on the park. Ramsey was there from day one of the 2.7- mile park that begins at Festival Park, runs past Maiden Lane, across Green Street and Cross Creek Park, behind and around Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church, through Cross Creek Cemetery No. 1 near Hawley Lane, under Grove Street and toward U.S. 301. e work was hard, and the days were long. Ramsey remembers Shaw's feeling of accomplishment as the final phase of the park was nearing completion. "You could see he was at home. And he knew one day people would use this trail for years to come. He was so excited to make it happen. He would give me a vision, and we would put it on paper, and we were a good team. We were buddies. He was so kind. He respected me for what I knew." 'What we make it' Shaw, who died in May 2018, was humble and appreciative on a summer aernoon in 2017 at the ribbon-cutting to mark Linear Park 's completion. He reminded those in attendance that the park was about more than the trails and tributaries. "Finishing it proves to us that we can work together," Shaw said. "It proves to us that we can accomplish good things for our city, even though it might take a while. It proves to us that we can give of ourselves. And it proves to me that we have some of the most unselfish people. is is our town — our town. What it is is what we make it.'' Today you'll find couples pushing baby strollers along the winding walkways and Harry Shaw PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

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