Central Park gets new hammock stands

There’s a new way to hang out at Homewood Central Park.

Homewood resident J.W. Bird installed six posts, each of them spread about 10 feet apart, which allow visitors to clip in an Eagles Nest Outfitters or similar brand hammock without using any hammock straps and without needing to use any trees. Up to six hammocks can be clipped into the posts at one time.

“I love using my hammock whenever we go camping with the Boy Scouts or when my family goes up to the lake,” Bird said. “Just relaxing there is comfortable.”

Bird lives near Central Park, and he said he noticed there haven’t been any projects there lately. He found a shady area in the back and decided it would be the perfect place for a hammock setup.

“There were trees where I did the project, but they were kind of far apart,” he said. One of the drawbacks to using an ENO hammock is that the user needs to find two trees spaced closely together enough to hang a hammock in between. Bird also said the Park Board discourages using the park’s trees for hammocking.

Bird said he’s had many people say they’ve used the new stands, and people so far have enjoyed them. Bird himself has used them “quite a bit” with his friends, he said.

Bird is a student at Homewood High School and will start 11th grade this year. He’s a member of Boy Scout Troop No. 79.