Amenities

Amenities

Parks visitors will enjoy:

• Five (5) lighted Little League baseball fields
• Four (4) lighted youth and adult softball/baseball fields
• Field house with concessions
• Observation and eating area
• Team meeting room
• Umpires and coaches meeting room
• Athletic merchandise center
• Batting cages
• Handicapped accessible restrooms.
• Three (3) 100-person corporate picnic shelters
  
  • 1 Shelter: $100.00 for four hours
  • $50.00 for an additional shelter
  • $25.00 for an addition hour
  • Call 438-5350 to reserve
• ADA accessible restrooms
• Two (2) regulation sand Volleyball Courts
• 18-hole Disc Golf Course
• Festival Area
• Adventure Playground
• More than half a mile of additional greenway trail

Disc Golf Course

Disc Golf Course

Ready for a game of disc golf? Catawba Meadows Park offers an 18-hole course that weaves through the former seed orchard at Catawba Meadows.

The 18-hole course at Catawba Meadows Park starts to the left of the corporate picnic shelters. Players will complete three holes before crossing a creek to finish the course in the former seed orchard. Players can throw from the amateur or professional tee boxes marked by red or blue, respectively.

From Downtown Morganton, take N. Green Street north. Turn right on Sanford Drive. Turn left into Catawba Meadows. Turn left at the intersection and turn left into the parking area.

Catawba Meadows Park DGC Map
Catawba Meadows Park DCG Scorecard

History

History

In the early 1990's, the City of Morganton acquired large amounts of property along one of western North Carolina's most cherished natural resources, the Catawba River, which meanders nearly 8 miles through the corporate limits of the city. Through aggressive grant writing campaigns the City was able to acquire nearly 6 miles of river front in the early 1990s.

One of the properties acquired by the City during its Greenway development process, consisted of a very large 230 acre tract of land. The land was situated adjacent to 2.5 miles of river front approximately eighth tenths of a mile from the center city. The City had initially anticipated developing an active public park on the property, but the faltering economy caused the park's development to be delayed.

The City was approached by a local sports promoter with the idea of utilizing the delayed 230 acre planned park facility as a regional and national amateur baseball and softball event facility. The City was intrigued by the idea but also skeptical. The promoter was asked to develop a business plan to help local officials better understand how amateur athletics could bring people and dollars to our area.

In April of 2006, the City of Morganton opened the first phase – five little league fields – to a huge crowd of local citizens and as well as local little league teams. Following the opening of the park, the sports promoter hosted his first regional tournament event which brought 93 baseball teams to our area.

In the spring of 2007, the City opened the second phase of the complex – four softball/baseball fields.

In the fall of 2009, the City completed Phase 3 of the park, which added 3 corporate picnic shelters, an 18-hole disc golf course, a festival area, bathrooms and more greenway path.

Traveling Amateur Athletics is now big business. It generates new business in the United States and offers a tremendous economic development opportunity for Morganton and Western North Carolina. The Catawba Meadows project is modeled after similar facilities in Southaven, Miss., Atlanta Ga., and Cooperstown, Penn. Public and private sponsorship made the Southaven facility one of the States largest tourism regions and it recently won a State Economic Development Award.