Foley paves parts of Graham Creek Nature Preserve Road
Foley paves parts of Graham Creek Nature Preserve Road
The City of Foley will pave parts of Philomene Holmes Blvd. to provide better access through Foley’s Graham Creek Nature Preserve. The road is about 1.4 miles long. The work includes paving part of the boulevard, but leaving some of the route through the park as a gravel road. The gravel section of the road would be bordered by concrete to keep the rocks from being washed into the woods. The road extends through the Graham Creek Nature Preserve from the park’s Interpretive Center to Roscoe Road. The project is expected to take about six months to complete. The Preserve is located on Wolf Bay Drive, south of Baldwin County 12 South. t 600 acres, it is the largest municipal nature preserve in Alabama. The preserve includes a canoe/kayak launch, a 5-mile hiking trail, a 7.5-mile bicycling trail, a 3-mile cross country trail, a nine-basket disc golf course, picnic area and bird watching. The facility also includes habitats where visitors can see rare carnivorous plants and a variety of wildflowers year-round. Hours at the preserve are from dawn to dusk each day.
The boulevard is named for Philomene Holmes, a longtime Foley nurse. She and her husband, Dr. W.C. “Buddy” Holmes, operated Baldwin County’s first hospital, the Sibley Holmes Memorial Hospital, in Foley from 1936 until 1958. The hospital is now the Holmes Medical Museum on East Laurel Avenue.