Carpenter Creek Planning Process Culminates With Final Recommendation for the Restoration of Jennie’s Swimming Hole
Final recommendations for the restoration of Carpenter Creek, one of the sites featured in Landslide 2021: Race and Space, were presented in mid-November to a packed audience of Pensacola residents, elected officials and environmental and community advocates.
Environmental consulting firm Wood (recently acquired by WSP) and SCAPE landscape architects unveiled an ambitious conceptual plan for the five-mile waterway with a focal point on the restoration of the swimming hole site.
Describing the plans as centering on the “heart of the Creek,” SCAPE designer Sophie Riedel narrated the vision for restoring three contiguous sections of the waterway from Davis Highway to 12th Avenue with the central portion of the plan focused on the transformation of “The Creek at Jennie’s Swimming Hole” into an amenity-rich public space.
Framing the effort as three separate “Catalytic Projects”, the consulting team recommended the urgent prioritization of the northernmost section of the Creek at Davis Highway where extensive erosion is being temporarily mitigated. Engineer and creek restoration expert John Kiefer from WSP explained that focusing initial efforts upstream to repair the most urgent environmental damage is mission critical to ensure that the rest of the restoration effort is viable.
The proposed second phase of work includes “The Creek at Jennie’s Swimming Hole,” which would not only restore 2,950 feet of the stream, but also transform a section of current woodland into a public park accessible from Bayou Boulevard and extending south. Reflecting community feedback, the plan identified the “Swimming Hole” restoration as a “resounding priority” with design elements clearly nodding to the rich history of the location as a community gathering space.
Angela Kyle and Ora Wills, direct descendants of Jennie Hudgins, namesake of the “Swimming Hole”, were in the audience at the presentation and expressed their sentiments about the final plans.
“After a year of collaborating with The Cultural Landscape Foundation, of securing the support of the Trust for Public Land and of organizing the members of New Hope Baptist Church and other local residents to lift up this history, it is inspiring to see this effort translated into an ambitious design vision with the potential to re-shape part of Pensacola,” said Kyle.
“Our family owned this land for over five decades during a time when the community was extremely racially divided, yet Jennie created a space that was inclusive and beloved by all. Seeing this legacy reimagined should be a call to action for local leadership to prioritize returning this place to the community to lift up the values that it represents: diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Kyle.
