Martin Marietta Park — Attraction in New Bern

Update: the road is open now that the park has had its grand opening! I still think they could use a sign at the entrance directing cars to the playground or the boat launch, but the amazing park is easily accessible now. Upping my rating to 5 starts accordingly.

A review that I hope will help all the frustrated parents like myself who have come to Martin Marietta after hearing of an awesome new playground, and then seeing no playground nor any signage indicating where it might be: the playground here IS open, but it is NOT currently accessible by car! The trick is to park in the lot off to the left from the entrance, and then follow either the road past the gate or the Explorer trail to the park. The road is far more direct, perhaps a quarter mile, but the walking trail has nicer footing and is very lovely. The playground and picnic area is amazing! 5/5 stars for the playground and what the park is going to become, but they lost a star for making me carry a heavy toddler both ways because there is no warning that you need to bring a wagon or stroller that can...

Edit: Update: 2/3/23. I backed the stars down to 2 from 3. Could of been an amazing family Park but nothing has changed in over a year. Nothing new has come to the park. Phase 2 which included an amphitheater was suppose to begin construction Winter of 2022 but nothing new has been built. Can't find any current information about anything. Nothing keeping anyone up-to-date about the status of the park in regards to development. The impression I get is the park appears to have been abandoned for now. Money is coming into the state and going towards other parks. One park which is in new development. Not sure why you would start a new park and not finish a park under development. I briefly drove around the park a few days ago and access to safe areas to fish are still limited to a few areas. 800+ acres of water and less than 5% of that is accessible from land to fish. Guess the city of New Bern thinks everyone can afford boats during inflation. I will continue to update this when and if...

The trail goes on for like 3 miles and it's really fun and there's a big playground and they are Constucring a massive area with a zip line so your kids can have a lot of fun there it's right by the water and nature so it's really fun to look for deer, bear, duck prints but don't worry because the bears and deer only come out late at night. And if your kids like catching small wildlife like turtles and they are soon adding a lot more fish in the river and theres canoes there for renting. And there is benches every about 0.5 of a mile so you can rest. Be aware that there is a lot of people there on the weekends. It's a lot of fun for the whole family. I hope you go and have a...