Marshall Park

What a beautiful city park! Almost a mini-​Central Parkesque feel to it with its foliaged landscape, integrated concrete bridges, man-​made lakes, fountains, and partially obstructed views of uptown Clt’s architecturally stunning skyline (the BoA tower is not visible, but the Duke Energy bldg is).
The aesthetic of the park is pretty spectacular and the photo opps abound along w/​enough green space to actually use this park as a park.
Enjoyed my visit to this uptown gem.

Next to Independence Park this is another favorite. This park is another good place from which to take pictures of Charlotte’s cityscape.

Marshall Park is a nice place to spend an afternoon in Charlotte. It is walking distance from right in the heart of Uptown. Great place to take a stroll through.

A rather sterile, utilitarian «park», mostly concrete, a fountain and a path, set in the midst of parking lots and uninterestingoffice buildings on the edge of downtown. probably a good place for local office workers to eat lunch, but not really much more than that. this park nedds some statuary, some modern art, and more vegetation. maybe a bonsai garden??? a park like this in the middle of downtown would seem much cooler than this, perhaps it was an afterthought in city planning.

Marshall Park is an urban park. There’s a man-​made lake with a cement bottom, a large grassy area that ends at McDowell Street and a smaller grassy area on the other side of the lake.
There’s a fountain as the centerpiece and the concrete in front of the fountain is often used for festival stages. The viewing area is on a hill which has 3 concrete levels for people to sit and view anything going on below.
It is a good park for a small festival or for an afternoon picnic on the grass. Just watch out for the geese! During mating season they are mean and that doesn’t include the poop.

This park would be greatly improved if it were not sandwiched between (and exposed to) a road and a parking lot. And filled with geese. Aren’t geese migratory? Why are they always here? You should be in Florida, goose!
Cars and geese aside, the park is nice enough. You wouldn’t spend the day here, but it is tolerable in small doses. The water feature, especially, is quite unlike anything else in Charlotte. There’s a bridge-​ish thing and fountain-​ish thing. That’s charming.

A noble looking stone bridge, a quick walking path, some benches and lots of geese.
If you are the kind of person who can just sorta zone out, this is a nice setting. Because although the park itself looks extremely tranquil, the busy roads surrounding it kind of ruin any zen moments you might attempt.
Still, given the proximity of the park to the courthouse and jail, its nice to play the «make up a story» game here. That guy in the suit — is he the tireless prosecutor, crusading against crime? A slimy defense lawyer, in the pocket of the mob? The ex-​con with a newfound purpose, determined to make things right? Or the good hearted dad, fighting for custody from his ex of questionable morals? I could go on all day.

Marshall Park is the redheaded stepchild of parks in Charlotte.
But it’s actually not a bad place. Other than the location. And the trash. And the crap in the water. And the homeless people. And that there really isn’t anything to do. And because of all the asphalt it can get really hot, and since there is like one bench, you can’t sit back and just enjoy the park. In fact, with all the parking lots, I’m not sure if it is really a park.
Unless you park your car, but that is not what most people think of when they think of «park». It’s not a «car park», after all. At least, I don’t think it is. If that’s what you are after, Charlotte is the capital of parks. We have a bunch of car parks you know. We just don’t usually call them that, since we live in the US.
Still, if you have a few minutes, and don’t have time to get all the way to Freedom Park, maybe don’t want to fight crowds or are on break from the courthouse, and want to take a quick stroll through the park on the one loop road, and squint through one eye so that you don’t look very quickly or very closely at anything or anyone, just so that they don’t knife you while you’re walking by, and don’t mind the traffic on the surrounding roads interrupting an otherwise serene setting?
In that case, it’s the bees knees.
There also used to be semi-​regular music festivals that used part of the park (the parking lots really) to hold people and stages, which is probably better than doing it in the center of the city where people get made when you block off places people really want to go — as opposed to the courthouse.
Charlotte CarParkFestStock FTW!
I saw Isaac Hayes at one of these events. I think this happened before he died. But it may have been from a South Park soundtrack. He sounded cool. I cannot for the life of me remember a single other performer. Now that I think about it, maybe it was just someone watching South Park, because if you go to Marshall Park now, it’s difficult to imagine there being anyone else there. Ever.