The nonprofit Memorial Park Conservancy, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and the city’s parks department are working on the park’s long-term master plan. Some of the most significant upgrades are coming in 2022.
Houston’s most popular park has added a prairie and land bridge over Memorial Drive as part of a broader effort to bolster its ecological resilience. The projects have been under way for years and are now approaching completion.
Personalized Tribute
When you walk through the park, it feels like a place where people truly enjoy their lives. You can play with your children on the tree-house themed playgrounds and basketball courts or cool off in the Family Aquatic Center in the summer. Come fall, you can run through our 1.1 mile fitness loop under the shade of the thick canopy of trees and see how beautiful the leaves turn.
Memorial Park offers a variety of ways to honor your loved one. Choose a bronze plaque with your endearment phrase wording and up to five words (proper names included). We also offer Emblems, which represent hobbies, organizations, and pastimes. Our Emblem database is extensive and includes almost every organization and hobby you can think of. If you wish, you can also add your own pictures to your monument with Photo Expressions picture etchings. These are an additional cost, but the results are stunning and one-of-a-kind. These are perfect for memorials where your loved one had a unique passion in their life.
Tranquil Setting
Memorial parks offer a serene setting that contrasts with the somber feeling often associated with traditional cemeteries. The landscape is manicured and offers a variety of unique statuary. For example, the Garden of Love is dedicated to a couple holding hands and looking upward. Other areas include a serene lake, religious art and uniquely titled gardens. There is also a Masonic area, Fireman and Law Enforcement Officers’ memorials and tree-lined driveways.
The park’s lush landscaping is also home to a wide variety of wildlife. This can add a peaceful feel to your walk or run around the park’s 1.1 mile fitness loop.
Families can plant trees and plants that represent the memories of their departed loved ones, creating a living tribute. These gardens can help ease grief, promote healing and provide a connection to the departed. In addition, memorial parks have many benefits for the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide, improving air quality and providing habitats for a variety of species.
Ecologically Friendly
With an increasing awareness of environmental issues, families are choosing eco-friendly funeral options. Memorial parks offer a wide variety of sustainable choices, including biodegradable caskets and urns, memorial gardens, and tree planting programs. The reforestation initiatives also help mitigate climate change, improve air quality, and provide habitats for local species.
Unlike traditional cemeteries, memorial parks are designed to be beautiful and inviting. The landscapes focus on greenery and are reminiscent of parks and natural settings, making them more comforting than cemetery rows of headstones.
Memorial Park is a testament to the dedication and collaboration of our community. Our goal is to keep our park a peaceful sanctuary where people of all ages can connect with nature and find healing. Whether you are looking for a place to play, exercise, or just relax, you can do it all here. Our 1.1 mile fitness loop offers shaded paths, perfect for your next workout. You can also try out the playgrounds and basketball courts, or take a break from it all at one of our covered picnic tables.
Changing Attitudes to Death
A memorial park offers a serene and beautiful environment to honor the departed. This peaceful setting can also promote healing and encourage families to visit their loved ones more often, which is especially beneficial for those with young children.
Unlike traditional cemeteries, memorial parks are designed with an aesthetic appeal and focus on greenery, making them more inviting to guests. In addition, memorial parks can reduce their environmental footprint by reducing the amount of materials used, such as wood and metal for monuments, concrete for caskets and vaults, and toxic embalming fluids.
In addition, many high-end memorial parks offer a variety of unique and memorable themes that can add to the overall experience for guests. These themes can help to create a more personalized memorial for your loved one, and can also be a good choice if you are looking for something more unique than the typical cemetery options available.