Southern Community Park

What it is:
Southern Community Park is a park with a large playground, trails, picnic facilities, basketball courts, inline hockey court, art components and soccer fields. These are located at the northern entrance of the park. At the southern entrance of the park there is a dog park, meadow area and disk golf course. The park is located right near Southern Village.

What we like:
The playground has excellent play equipment with several climbing walls, swings and slides. There is a toddler play area and a children's play area.

To access the children's play area there is a difficult bridge/step structure to cross over or a large climbing wall to climb. This is good for keeping smaller toddlers from using this larger play equipment. There are also several trails and wide open spaces to explore at the park.

Finally, since it is right next to Southern Village you can head over to one of their restaurants for an early lunch. We tried Pazzo! Tratorria and Pizzeria. They have delicious pizza by the slice and a nice outdoor area for seating.

What we would change:
The play area is in a wide open space with no shade making it very sunny and hot after an extended time period. It is better to get there early if the weather is hot.

Additional Information:
http://www.ci.chapel-hill.nc.us/index.aspx?page=1116
1300 US Highway 15-501 South (northern entrance)
Chapel Hill, NC

Directions From Hwy 40:
Take exit 273 (NC Highway 54)
Turn left onto Hwy 54 West
Take the ramp onto Hwy 15-501 South going towards Pittsboro
Exit right onto Hwy 15-501South
After Market Street entrance to Southern Village (traffic light)

For the Northern Entrance: Take the first right after the Market Street traffic light

For the Southern Entrance (Dogwood Acres Drive): Continue south to the next traffic light; turn right onto Dogwood Acres Drive