WEST REDDING NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPED AROUND HISTORIC MARY LAKE
REDDING LIFESTYLES, SHASTA COUNTY
August 7th, 2008
The Mary Lake subdivision is located at the western edge of Redding, just south of Eureka Way. The first phase of homes were built in 1984 and the last phase, known as Kildara Ridge, are still being built today. Mary Lake Park is owned and maintained by the City of Redding. In the late 1980’s, the McConnell Foundation made a generous donation that allowed the city to pour a concrete walkway around the perimeter of the 17-acre lake. The trail is nearly a mile long. (Visit Mary Lake Visual Tour) :http://vt.realbiz360.com/Listing-62707.html
Mary Dudley, whom the lake is named after, married Frank Falk and they resided in a home overlooking the lake. Some older maps actually identify the lake as Falks Lake. The home was torn down in the middle of the twentieth century but remnants of the home, patio and landscaping exist to this day. An old rusted pipe near the home was likely used to draw water from the reservoir to irrigate several acres of farmland northwest of the lake.
Today, Mary Lake is rich with wildlife including turtles, otters, beaver and water fowl. A beaver den is readily visible just off the western shoreline. The City of Redding met with Mary Lake residents in the Fall of 200o, offering to spend $75,000 toward landscaping the park with grass and installing lights along the lakeside trail. Neighbors squelched the ideas and asked the city to leave the park in as natural a state as possible. Picnic tables, park benches, water fountains and trash receptacles were installed and some of the dead and dying trees were removed for safety purposes.
The city at one point wanted to eradicate the beavers that made Mary Lake their home because they were gnawing on trees as beavers like to do. Residents spoke in favor of leaving the beavers alone and protecting some of the younger trees that border the lake with chain mesh. The beavers have lived in peace ever since and can be seen playing in the water after the sun goes down. The city must periodically breach the dam the beavers build across the lake’s outlet. Otherwise the water level rises and swamps the trail. The lake is formed by an earth filled dam that has weathered the times very well. The city installed a modern spillway at the east edge of the dam.
The latest addition to Mary Lake Park is a connection route to the newly built Westside Trail. This hiking and biking trail connects to a network of beautiful single-track that can take you to Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, a trail system south of Placer Road and north to a new connector to the Sacramento River Trail. Mountain bikers commonly meet at Mary Lake Park to begin their rides that take them along the rolling ridge tops that dominate the westside of Redding.
(View virtual tour of current listing near Beautiful Mary Lake) http://vt.realbiz360.com/Listing-33158.html
As a Mary Lake resident since 1985, I would be happy to answer any questions about the park or trail system that has made Redding a destination hot spot for hikers and bikers. My friend and neighbor, Max Walter, has published a book about mountain bike trails in and around the Redding area that can be found at the following link: www.geocities.com/mtbikewhiskeytown
530-224-6767 or 530-941-7492
BRAD GARBUTT
REALTOR/BROKER
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS GMAC
TWENTY FIVE YEARS REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE
