McCutchanville residents are dreaming big. Noting the spiking population and increasingly congested traffic on their rural roads, a small group wanted to preserve the green space smack dab in the middle of the community. The concern, residents explained, was that the lush, rolling land — a former golf course — could someday all be swallowed up in new suburban housing or other construction.
The residents approached the land’s owner, the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation, about two years ago, to inquire about buying about 60 acres of the former 18-hole Eagle Valley Golf Course off Petersburg Road just south of Boonville-New Harmony Road. The nonprofit McCutchanville Greenway was born, and a campaign to raise $5 million for the McCutchanville Greenway Park and Nature Preserve is underway. Board members on April 21 donned plastic hats with the nonprofit’s green logo and turned dirt at the site with golden shovels — a ceremonial celebration of what they seek to accomplish.
“We have the opportunity to save this unique piece of land, to (have it) stay green and become the center of McCutchanville,” says McCutchanville Community Alliance secretary Jingle Igleheart Hagey, who moved to the area in 1951. “We want it to be a place for connection, for recreation, for meditation, and for gathering.”
The nonprofit’s most immediate target is $1.7 million by December 2027. That’s the sum that’s needed to pay EVSC for the land, with the remaining $3.3 million going toward establishing the park and its amenities. A fundraising event is planned for Oct. 17 at Oak Meadow Country Club.
“For about the next year or so, people won’t see a whole lot of change around the property,” says Neil Woods, president of the MCA board. “We’re in a capital campaign, and the No. 1 thing is, we’ve got to raise the money to make this a real project because we are 100 percent funded by local donors, businesses, and just people here in our community.”
Speakers at the groundbreaking said they want to encourage McCuthanville’s growth while maintaining the community’s rural feel, and the park can help achieve that. The plan includes trails for cyclists and pedestrians (including children going to school), native plants, pollinator gardens, outdoor learning opportunities, and new athletic fields for use by schools and the community.
MCA vice president and McCutchanville Garden Club member Joyce Donaldson said she would ponder the green space’s future while on walks with her goldendoodle, Baxter, and decided to join efforts to preserve it. She recalled early conversations that pulled in philanthropists, county government officials, and others before the school corporation was approached with an offer. The completed park, Donaldson said, “is going to become a jewel in the heart of our community.”
“As someone who lives here, this park is personal,” MCA treasurer Kathy Briscoe said. “This will be a place where families step outside, and immediately connect with something bigger: nature, neighbors, and community. We are blessed to have had a golf course that could merge into what we’re going to have — a greenway park and nature center. We could not be happier about the development or more excited about our new neighbor. For McCutchanville, this will be a real gem.”
Woods noted the dollars that still need to be raised, but he said many residents are enthusiastic. “We want this to be a community-led ordeal and we’re so happy how many neighbors and people in our community have already been willing to open up their wallets,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
