Richmond Hill park to feature splash pads, explorer playground

Stephen Nottingham is bringing his vision for an interactive park to Richmond Hill.

CEO and founder of the FREN Foundation, Nottingham plans to develop a $27 million park to promote traditional play, STEM activities and more. The 46,000-square foot facility will be located just off the Great Ogeechee Parkway on 22 acres in the Heartwood district. Nottingham hopes to begin construction in the fall of 2026 and open the park in 2028.

His vision stems from his experience in developing murals and interactive spaces at hospitals for children being treated for various illnesses. The FREN Foundation developed a playroom for patients at the University of Virginia's Children's Hospital undergoing treatment for bone marrow transplants and an ocean-themed room in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Studer Family Children’s Hospital in Pensacola, Fl.

Now, Nottingham wants to bring those play spaces to children outside of hospital rooms. The park in Richmond Hill will feature an adventure playground, splash pad and more.

The foundation’s work can also be found at the Telfair Children’s Art Museum in Savannah where the creation of various digital exhibits, a play area for toddlers and educational themes can be seen throughout.

“We started working in healthcare, designing pediatric healing environments inside of children's hospitals,” said Nottingham. “A lot of the work was on private property and not a place where you would want to go see it, but it was really important work. We started understanding that kids are going to learn instinctively if they can actively play while having fun.”

That forward thinking led Nottingham to bring traditional and interactive play to Bryan County. The Sandbox, as it’s called, is an area of the park that will feature interactive projection technology to help create images centered around things like space or the North Pole.

Nottingham said development of the park will be funded through grants, as well as private, local, state and federal funding.

“We have specialized contractors all lined up,” said Nottingham. “They're actively engaged and ready to bring this project to fruition.”

The public will be able to buy a monthly membership for $30. A general admission fee will be available.

“We knew it was going to be important to make this accessible to families and provide a quality facility for that,” said Nottingham. “On top of that, there’s a lot of managerial components to a facility like this for us to manage the space and keep everything in great condition.”

Nottingham hopes to create additional programs that will help children expand on certain activities, such as connecting young people with collegiate golf players through mentorship programs as the site will feature a mini golf course. The facility will also be designed to foster a sense of community as young children can come together with others their age and develop friendships.

A portion of the FREN project overview reads, “The facility is designed for flexibility to accommodate a variety of events, from birthday parties to performances by local youth orchestras…it will also support educational programs such as field trips, art classes, game creation workshops, adventure camps and more.”

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at [email protected].