Caroline Freeland Urban Park will reopen early next month with a larger playground and central lawn plus other amenities after closing in July 2023 for renovations partly aimed at improving accessibility, according to Montgomery Parks officials.
The county department is planning to hold an opening celebration on Nov. 9 at the park at 7200 Arlington Road. The celebration will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and include free activities such as pumpkin decorating, an instructor-led barre workout class and refreshments.
After more than a year of construction, the park’s improvements also include the addition of bench swings; accessible pathways; bicycle parking; five picnic tables, two of which are wheelchair accessible; and a variety of seating areas and benches.
Lucas Bonney, project manager for the park renovation, said Monday it was originally built in the 1980s when wooden materials were commonly used for park infrastructure, such as playgrounds. The park’s wooden infrastructure had deteriorated over time and needed to be replaced, he said.
“Design practice gets better over time and so we felt like [the park] needed an update from that perspective and to meet the needs of our current society,” Bonney said.
The 1-acre urban park is named after Caroline Freeland, the first female chair of The Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). It is located next to the Connie Morella Library and blocks away from the Bethesda Row shopping and dining district.
Bonney said planners hope the newly refreshed park will be a destination for play as well as lunchtime meetings, yoga classes and community gatherings.
He said he is most excited about the new playground, which has separate play structures for younger and older children.
“My daughters are now 10 and 12, so they’ll be able to play in the playground. It is always in the back of my mind that we need to deliver these projects [the best that we can] so kids can enjoy them,” Bonney said. “I think they’ll love this playground.”
New older kids playground at Caroline Freeland Urban Park in Bethesda. 
Bench swings 
Planners relocated the park’s sculpture, “Bethesda Walkaround” by George Greenamyer, closer to the main entrance. 
Smooth concrete benches underneath trees that were originally in the park. 
Planners hope the new park will be a destination for play as well as lunchtime meetings, yoga classes and community gatherings.
Other improvements to the park included redesigning pedestrian pathways, Bonney said. “We essentially took the elements of the original design and made them a little bit more functional,” he said.
Parkgoers can enter the rectangular-shaped park from paths that start in each of its four corners and the pathways and entrances are wheelchair accessible, Bonney said. The main entrance is at the corner of Elm Street and Arlington Road.
Planners also relocated the park’s sculpture, “Bethesda Walkaround” by George Greenamyer, closer to the main entrance. The metal sculpture, which depicts 14 brightly colored characters of the community walking on a circle, was installed in 1989. It has been professionally restored, according to department officials.
Montgomery Parks has been planning to redesign the park since 2013, when the department held its first community meeting to gather input from residents in the area, according to the department. In July 2015, the Planning Board approved the facility plan for the park, which has since changed slightly due to budget adjustments, according to Bonney.
As construction workers added the final touches to the park Thursday, Bonney said there is still some work to do, such as planting more trees and installing handrails and benches.
In addition to the new recreation areas, the park now has two stormwater management facilities – consisting of areas filled with plants and boulders and designed to absorb runoff — along its border on Arlington Road.
While stormwater facilities are a functional necessity, Bonney said they will also act as a protective barrier between the park and the roadway. As time passes, the stormwater facilities will eventually create a green edge along the park, he noted.
Another element of the renovation was the redesign of the streetscape along Arlington Road and Elm Avenue. Bonney said the sidewalk was widened and moved farther from the roadway. Later, planners will add trees in the grass buffer between the street and the sidewalk, according to Bonney.
