Right now, with Madison Phillips, assistant director of the John Chavis Memorial Park in Raleigh.

Madison, thank you so much for having us out here.

It is so beautiful.

What all is there for people to enjoy?

- First of all, thank you so much for coming, but here at John Chavis Memorial Park, we have a splash pad, a playground, a historic carousel, an indoor and outdoor track, as well as art features and historic exhibits.

So this place just is absolutely gorgeous and has so much to offer.

- Well, Madison, tell me about the person who this park is named after.

- So John Chavis was a American Revolutionary War veteran, a preacher and a teacher to both Black and white students back in the 1700s and 1800s.

He was a free Black man, which back in the day, he had everything going against him, so the fact that he was able to be a teacher and a preacher, one of the first Presbyterian ministers in North Carolina, as well as a graduate, unofficial graduate of Princeton University.

- Wow, that's pretty amazing.

Now, tell me about another historical element, the carousel here.

- So the carousel is very cool.

It was built by the Allan Herschel Company from Tonawanda, New York, in 1916.

And it traveled a little bit, was bought by the city of Raleigh in 1937, and it has stayed at this park ever since, moving a couple locations, but we're so glad that it is still the same carousel that operates today.

- And about how big is the park?

About how many people come through here maybe throughout the year?

- Yeah, so the park is 28 acres.

It's a very large park, we have thousands and thousands of visitors every single year.

- [Deborah] And then I saw a bunch of children running around.

[Deborah laughing] - Yes, absolutely.

So we have the playground that is brand new as of 2021, as well as our splash pad, which is on from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., April through October.

So this place is full of activity.

- [Deborah] So right now we're standing in front of this gorgeous mural, tell me a little bit about the mural and the history of this site.

- Yes, so I wanna take you back 85 years to 1938, May 10th to be exact.

That is the grand opening of John Chavis Memorial Park.

And there were 3,000 visitors from all over the country here in attendance.

So the park had its boom time in the 1950s and '60s, where there was a F9F-6 Cougar Marine Corps jet here with a slide attached to it for the kids to play on, as well as a grandstand, an amphitheater.

- Now, this was once a segregated park?

- Yes.

- Or has it been open to everyone?

- So it was once a segregated park, and that's why visitors came from all over the country for the grand opening, because they wanted to see the park that African-Americans could attend.

And it was a gorgeous, beautiful, amazing park, and everybody held it so deeply in their hearts.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 integrated all public facilities.

And that's why I say the boom time was before the '70s, because with that act, everybody was able to attend whatever park they wished and the population attending this park went down.

- Interesting.

- Yes, so we are working now on getting that population back up, showing that this park is for everyone and we want everyone to enjoy it.

- Well, Madison, this is truly an amazing park.

I have enjoyed some personal events here myself, but I've still learned a lot, so thank you so much.

- And thank you so much for coming, we love and appreciate everybody that comes out to this park, so we're so grateful to have you out here.

- John Chavis Memorial Park is at 505 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Raleigh, and it's open daily.

To find out more, go to raleighnc.gov and look under Parks.