Blue Heron Park & Wetland

This is a very nice park. It has an adequate parking lot, but it could be a bit bigger though. The park is 55 acres and the wetlands is 300 acres. The park was created to filter municipal runoff water. Talk about a good use for a wonderful place. The park has two playgrounds. The one near the front of the park has more modern equipment that includes a merry go round, a saucer swing, a percussion play set, traditional swings, expression swings, a roller slide, a spinning chair, a Sway fun glider and a huge jungle gym with monkey bars and slides. The ground is lined with the rubber matting found at most newer playgrounds and it is accessible. There are some glider swings around the perimeter of the playground area, along with two picnic pavilions with picnic tables under them.The other playground area has an older jungle gym with slides. That area is prone to flooding and the walkway leading to it was flooded during my visit.You will find picnic tables under nearby trees to sit, relax, and or eat. The park does not have a shortage of green space to do field activities like play catch, fly a kite, have a picnic, lay out, or run around. You will also find a decent full basketball court back by the older playground area. There is a large pavilion in the center of the park with picnic tables under it and overlooks a decent sized lake. The pavilion and the shelters can be reserved and rented.The park is home to a 25-hole disk golf course. It is a nice course, but can get a little soggy/muddy in some areas, so, I recommend you don't wear your favorite shoes.The park is also part of the Historic Greenway Trails system which is 17 miles. It is an awesome trail that is well maintained. My only gripe is that it is prone to flooding and water can really pool up in some areas. Once again, I would not were my favorite shoes here.I did not spend much time in the wetlands area, but it is home to numerous birds and wildlife, including sandhill cranes, herons, egrets, otters and alligators.This is a very nice park. It blends the best of a nature park with the best of a modern park. I was not a fan of the flooding though. My shoes were a muddy mess. But my little enjoyed herself, so it was worth the visit.

Took the kids here yesterday to play and they had so much fun! Love that the ground is a different material and not mulch or grass and mud haha

Pleasantly surprised by this park as we don't often make it down to Franklin, but heard good things about the new (at the time) park. Plenty of things for kids to do, the sweet spot probably starting at about 4 or 5 years old - my 2-year-old wasn't quite as engaged as maybe we would have liked, but that's certainly no fault to the playground. We unfortunately didn't make it further into the park when we went - mostly because the heat was driving us to something either inside or covered. This is probably the only downside of the Blue Heron playground--without any shade, the equipment gets hot pretty quickly.

This park has a lot of cool features for parents and small children. First, there is a large parking lot near the main playground (note that the second entrance on the road is inbound, while the first is one way exiting the park.) There is also a large shelter with numerous tables near the parking area too.The best feature of the park is an accessible playground with new equipment designed to be more inclusive of all kids. There are a variety of swings including paired sets that allow the parents to sit facing their toddler and swing together. There are ramps and slides and a giggle machine that laughs when you turn the crank.The trees near the playground have been planted to form a shaded passage along the connected Franklin Greenway Trail. Other features of the park are a large fishing pond, a full sized disc golf course, a bike repair station, and a prairie wetland that has plenty of blooming plants.Not far to the west along the trail can be found another playground, a workout station, a basketball court, and a remote shelter that seems somewhat impractical because of its distance from the parking lot and lack of tables.The park was clean during my visit, but because of its closeness to the wetlands, there is a definite lack of drainage. I visited after a light rain and several of the pathways were flooded over. Another park visitor says that heavy rains bring debris from the nearby creek to the lawn areas of the park. So, plan your visit for a dry period when you will have full access to the park without getting your feet wet.Review #991

It was OK not a lot of parking considering the crowd.. tried fishing no luck catching anything but grad of the bottom...