The North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund has awarded the Town of Jefferson a large grant to improve a local recreation area.

The $235,000 grant for Foster-Tyson Park is earmarked for several enhancements. They include restrooms, picnic pavilions and parking improvements. The town of Jefferson will provide matching funds, bringing the total to nearly a half-million dollars.

Northern Peaks State Trail Director Jordan Sellers with the Blue Ridge Conservancy says the 5-acre park has an ideal location for a trailhead: adjacent to downtown, near the hospital and courthouse. 

"A lot of folks use that park because it also happens to have one of the only flat paved trails in the area, because of course that's hard to find in the High Country mountains," he says. "But a big prohibitive factor for some folks to get outside and enjoy the outdoors and get exercise is a lack of facilities and restrooms."  

Sellers credits local and state government officials for investing in the project. He says long-term, they hope to connect the new trailhead to a hiking path stretching to Mount Jefferson and Boone.