Descendants and relatives, Rockdale officials and others gathered Friday to rededicate and reopen a park named for a man born into slavery in South Carolina who became a Rockdale businessman.
Moultry Park on the city’s east side was recently refurbished with the basketball court getting a new surface complete with hopscotch and four square areas
Paul Moultry was born in South Carolina in 1853. He was freed when he was 12 and traveled to Texas with the son of the man who freed him. In 1882 he came to the area now known as Rockdale after first settling in Georgetown.
In the new location, he opened a blacksmith shop and later bought land for two farms.
The park was named for him in 1980 and it was upgraded in 2016.
“I was taught to work hard and to do your best at anything you do,” said Tamara Powell, a descendant of Paul Moultry, the park’s namesake. “She (her grandmother, the late Susie Sansom Piper) never did let me forget about Aycock. I see this as a step forward in bringing the community together.”
Another descendant was glad to see the park’s new look and hoped more children would use the park to exercise their bodies.
“I think it is wonderful that they have some place to get outdoors away from the video games,” said Barbara Sansom Holsome. “Now they can get outside and exercise their limbs.”
Mayor John King also spoke at the ceremony recalling that his son played basketball at the park’s court back in the 1980s when they moved to Rockdale. He said he was proud of
He said he was proud of the work the ceremony was recognizing, but there is more work to be done.
“It is wonderful for me to see the court in this condition, but I want to see lights in the future,” he said.
In addition to redoing the basketball court’s surface, there is a court for pickleball and new fencing at the ball field. The city also added tables and seats, added new seats to the swings, and repainted the play stations.
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