The Quarry at Grant Park

The Quarry at Grant Park is a 228-acre park on the east side of Winston-Salem, NC built around the flooded remains of the historic Piedmont Quarry — an active granite operation from the mid-1920s until the early 1970s, whose crushed stone went into the roadbeds and construction projects that built much of the modern city. After the quarry shut down, the deep pit filled with water, and the site sat unused for roughly 25 years before the city began transforming it into what is now one of the more distinctive parks anywhere in the Piedmont Triad.

The park opened in 2017, named for longtime Winston-Salem recreation and parks director Tim Grant, and it has since become the second-most-visited destination in the city’s 82-park system — trailing only Salem Lake. The signature feature is “The Boom,” an iron observation pier that extends out over the eastern edge of the quarry, delivering a view across the deep turquoise water, the flooded treetops rising from it, and the downtown Winston-Salem skyline beyond.

Be sure to check out the YouTube video and pictures below to get a feel for The Quarry at Grant Park before you go — or to relive the visit after.

The Piedmont Quarry — Granite Under the Streets of Winston-Salem

The Piedmont Quarry operated from the mid-1920s until the early 1970s, extracting granite from the Winston-Salem bedrock for roughly half a century. The crushed stone it produced went into an enormous amount of local infrastructure — including the roadbed of nearby Business I-40 — which means a substantial share of the gravel that this quarry produced is quite literally underneath the streets of Winston-Salem today.

When the operation shut down in the early 1970s, groundwater and rainfall did what they do to any abandoned pit that deep: the quarry flooded. The result is the striking dark blue-green body of water at the center of the park today, with drowned treetops still visible breaking the surface in places — a genuinely uncommon landscape feature that gives the site its character.

The property sat largely untouched for about 25 years before the city began planning its reuse. Because Winston-Salem already owned the land, bond money approved by voters could go directly into park features rather than acquisition — funding the iron overlook pier, picnic shelters, and the amphitheater. A second bond round approved in 2018 added roughly $3.1 million for greenway connections and the playground and splash pad complex.

The reclamation approach kept the industrial history visible rather than hiding it. Interpretive displays along the trails explain the quarry’s operation, exposed rock faces remain part of the landscape, and even the restroom building beneath the observation platform is finished in crushed stone — a quiet nod to what the site produced for fifty years.

The Boom, the Playground, and the Trails

“The Boom” is the park’s headline feature — an iron observation pier cantilevered out over the eastern side of the quarry. From the deck, the view takes in the deep blue-green water directly below, the flooded treetops, the surrounding rock walls, and the downtown Winston-Salem skyline in the distance. Sunset is the standout time to be out there, and the pier is wheelchair accessible.

The playground is one of the more inventive in the city, and it leans into the quarry theme rather than ignoring it. The centerpiece is a 42-foot climbing tower, joined by in-ground trampolines, swings, a slide complex, and a gravel pit built for digging. A splash pad rounds out the complex during warmer months. It’s substantial enough that families regularly make the playground the whole reason for the trip.

For walking and biking, the park offers a 1.25-mile greenway path that weaves past overlooks and picnic areas, with interpretive signage about the quarry’s history along the way. The Quarry connects into Winston-Salem’s broader greenway network via the Waughtown Connector, which runs to the Waughtown neighborhood on one end and the Peachtree Greenway on the other — with further connections reaching toward the Salem Creek Greenway and Salem Lake.

Beyond the trails and playground, the park includes an amphitheater that hosts community events, live music, yoga classes, food truck gatherings, and seasonal celebrations throughout the year, plus picnic shelters and a sculpture installation. Note that swimming and boating are not permitted on the quarry water outside of special city-sanctioned events.

Good to Know

• Location: 1790 Quarry Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27107
• Park entrance: Enter off Reynolds Park Road, next to the tennis courts at the William R. Anderson Recreation Center and across from Reynolds Park Golf Course
• Hours: Open daily, approximately 6:00 a.m.–10:30 p.m. (check the City of Winston-Salem website for current seasonal hours)
• Admission: FREE; parking is also free
• Park size: 228 acres
• Opened: 2017; named for longtime Winston-Salem recreation and parks director Tim Grant
• History: Built around the former Piedmont Quarry, an active granite operation from the mid-1920s to the early 1970s; the pit flooded after closure, and the site sat unused for about 25 years before redevelopment
• The Boom: Iron observation pier extending over the eastern edge of the quarry; views of the quarry water, flooded treetops, and the downtown Winston-Salem skyline; wheelchair accessible
• Playground: Quarry-themed complex with a 42-foot climbing tower, in-ground trampolines, swings, slides, a gravel digging pit, and a splash pad
• Trails: 1.25-mile greenway path with overlooks, picnic spots, and interpretive quarry history signage; connects to the Waughtown Connector greenway (linking to the Waughtown neighborhood and the Peachtree Greenway)
• Amenities: Amphitheater, picnic shelters, restrooms, sculpture installation
• Water access: No swimming or boating permitted outside of special city-sanctioned events
• Best for: Families with children (the playground alone is worth the trip), photographers (the overlook at sunset), walkers and cyclists, industrial-history and adaptive-reuse enthusiasts, and picnickers
• Pair with: The full Winston-Salem attractions cluster; Salem Lake via the connecting greenway network for a much longer trail day; Kaleideum for another strong family destination; or the Bailey Power Plant for a second Winston-Salem adaptive-reuse story on the industrial side

A Winston-Salem Highlight

Winston-Salem has more than one great adaptive-reuse story, but The Quarry at Grant Park may be the most dramatic. A granite pit that ran for fifty years, closed, flooded, and sat forgotten for a quarter century is now the city’s second-most-visited park — and the transformation didn’t erase the industrial past so much as frame it. The rock walls, the interpretive signage, the crushed-stone restroom, the drowned treetops still poking out of the water: it all reads as history left legible on purpose.

The Boom earns its reputation. Standing on an iron pier suspended over deep turquoise water, with the downtown skyline stacked in the background, is not a view most cities can offer, and it’s free to walk out and take it in any day of the week. Go near sunset if you can.

Bring kids if you have them. The 42-foot climbing tower, in-ground trampolines, gravel digging pit, and splash pad make this one of the more genuinely fun playgrounds in the region — and the fact that it sits a short walk from an overlook this good means everyone in the group gets something out of the trip.

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Resources

The Quarry at Grant Park Website

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