Origin as a park name is audacious, thematic, and aspirational.  We didn’t arrive at this name accidentally. The name Origin comes from the landscape upon which the park will be built. Our first learning about this place came from the people that know it best. They shared with us their stories. Stories of beginnings. Stories of pain. Stories of hope. What may look to some at first glance as “the Bajas” comprised of dump sites, junkyards, abandoned rail lines, and overgrown fields is actually one of the most interesting parts of the entire Ohio River Valley. These 430 acres were the home of First Nations for over 10,000 years.

This forgotten landscape is being restored for the over 1.2 million people within a twenty-minute drive can come to, relax, explore and enjoy its raw beauty of the Ohio River landscape.

The Idea:

Origin Park is an evolving masterwork of urban ecological design, providing excellent amenities and meaningful visitor experiences while healing a disturbed landscape.

As Origin grows, it is our mission to create, steward and manage a place that: 

• Celebrates the Ohio River, the shoreline, the views to and from the cities, the natural landscape, and the navigational features as the design vocabulary of the park;

• Offers and unparalleled regional recreational opportunity serving all people—all ages, all socio-economic categories, all origins, and all stages of mobility;

• Inspires the populace to embrace it, use it, maintain it, support it and continue to enhance and expand it.

• Knits together the existing natural environment with the new improvements in a way that visitors perceive as unique, and that results in a place of unity and harmony;

• Creates connectivity and unifies the Ohio River Greenway, the Falls of the Ohio, and other parks in our metropolitan area's greenspace system;

• Provides a destination for the Metro community and also enhances the quality of life and health of people in the region.

• Provides economic benefit for the communities of Clarksville, New Albany, Jeffersonville, and the entire Louisville Metro area: and helps to positively re-shape land and transportation development in southern Indiana for decades to come.

Programming:

Origin Park is a place where everyone is free to learn, discover, and experience.

Our facilities, programs and events are designed to:

• Provide easy public access, welcoming gateways, and multi-modal circulation;

• Offer diverse opportunities for recreation, observation, contemplation, research, education and interpretation;

• Offer year-round use even during flood events so visitors can experience the park in all its seasons;

• Provide good access to the features and benefits of Origin Park, and segregating roads and trail types appropriately for hikers, walkers, runners, casual pedestrian sightseers, paddlers, bikers and motor vehicles.

• Give visitors places both for quiet contemplation and group gatherings like picnics or family reunions.

• Build visitor's connection with nature and support the joy of discovery in the park.

Ecological Restoration & Stewardship:

Origin Park nurtures and protects both natural and human history and is committed to:

• Preserving and enhancing unique landscapes, historic stories, and cultural resources

• Restoring and stewarding diverse native wildlife habitats, including creating meadows and riparian buffers, and restoring the rive shoreline, tributary streams, and upland forest

• Improving water quality, remediating environmental abuses, controlling erosion and addressing bank destabilization within the Ohio River watershed

• Facilitating on-going partnerships in the region.

Operations:

Origin Park will be a safe, effectively maintained and economical to operate, through:

• Promoting uses and programs that are sustainable and financially supporting;

• Using resilient and durable components and materials in the design, using life-cycle cost and environmental sustainability as criteria for material and systems selection, and employing affordable and environmentally responsible maintenance techniques;

• Incorporating appropriate safety, security and emergency considerations into the design to minimize hazards and provide a park environment that meets or exceeds contemporary standards for public places.