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For me, parks are the glue that holds a community together.
As a parent, I spent years in parks with my kids, coaching organized baseball and football. Feeling the cool breeze on a bright October day as it flowed through the oaks of a South Dade park as my boys faced a worthy opponent was my heaven. In that natural backdrop, I taught my kids the essentials of life: play hard, do your best and shake the hands of the opponents whether you win or lose. I want the same for all residents of Miami-Dade County, to have access to the best parks in South Florida.
For me, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is on another level, a shangri-la east of Old Cutler Road that offers a wide variety of experiences in the colorful natural world, including a 2-acre rain forest shrouded in mist, featuring stunning waterfalls, streams, and hundreds of orchids, aroids, palms, ferns, bromeliads, and other plants. Fairchild Botanic Garden has cracked the code on making the natural world a must-do in Miami that is unrivaled in terms of its beauty and magnetism.
Adjacent is Matheson Hammock Park, 630 acres that surround the northern and western sides of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. The park, bisected by Old Cutler Road, Matheson Hammock East features a man-made atoll pool, coral stone buildings and parking and picnic facilities. There is also a full-service marina with boat ramps.
Matheson Hammock West, on the other hand, sits on the opposite side of Old Cutler Road with no identity. It has no marked entrance from Old Cutler and includes a narrow parking lot across from the main entrance to Fairchild Botanic Park.
The best thing I can say about the “pipeline trail” into West Matheson, accessed off the Old Cutler parking lot, is that it looks like a secret pedestrian path, a path allowing you to see nature in its undisturbed form.
Containing 98.67 acres, West Matheson has been relatively unknown for decades to the general public because it is largely undeveloped with no facilities for visitors and no vision for its future. In addition to the pedestrian entrances from Old Cutler and Banyan Drive there is an entrance from School House Road that is accessible on foot or by vehicles with handicapped decals. To be clear, vehicular parking is restricted from Matheson West.
Today, West Matheson has become a favorite of local and distant dog owners, who arrive from all over to let their furry children loose, with no leash, to roam wild amid the native habitat. It’s quiet and peaceful until you step in it, so to speak.
Matheson East serves a purpose, offering rich memories for residents of all ages. Matheson West, on the other hand, needs to be transformed into a natural wonderland, with year round programming that can teach and inspire our community to compliment what Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden provides. Matheson Hammock West’s transformation into a botanical park can be part of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s legacy, a worthy investment of Miami-Dade Parks dollars that would generate real excitement and purpose for the underutilized park.
Our community would benefit from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden becoming the steward of Matheson Hammock West, shaping it into an even more extensive and more beautiful paradise for all residents of Miami-Dade County.
Any questions, ideas or comments email grant@cnews.net or call 305.323.8206
