Tanglewood Park

Tanglewood Park is a very popular county recreation center and park in Clemmons, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It opened in 1954 and is still in operation.

Tanglewood Park

Tanglewood Park is located on Highway 158/Clemmons Road beside the Yadkin River between Clemmons and Bermuda Run. 

Tanglewood Park location on Google Maps

The land Tanglewood Park sits on was part of the land claimed by Sir. Walter Raleigh for Queen Elizabeth on March 25, 1584. In 1753, Lord William Linville deeded the land on which the park is located to the Ellis family who leased the land for a short time. In 1757, just four years after the Moravian settlement of the Wachovia Tract in the nearby communities of Bethabara and Salem, they sold the mile-square central portion of the present property to William Johnson, an immigrant from Wales. 

He built a fort overlooking the Yadkin River to protect his family and neighbors from attacks during the French and Indian War. Currently, this spot is marked by a monument just south of the Manor House. In 1765, he died and is now buried on the highest hill in the area called Mount Pleasant. The property stayed within the Johnson family until 1921.

In 1809, a simple frame church, Mount Pleasant Church, was erected next to his grave and remains today as one of the park's architectural attractions. Although services are no longer conducted in the church, many people are married at the church each year.

In 1859, James Johnson had the 18-room Manor House built on a hill in the center of the estate as a wedding present to his daughter, Emily. 

After R.J. Reynolds died in 1918, his younger brother Will Neal Reynolds took the helm of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company but soon turned his attention to his other interests including racing, raising horses, and philanthropy projects. 

In 1921, the Johnson heirs sold their property to Will. Later, the Tanglewood tract was enlarged to over 1,100 acres and two wings were added to the Manor House, expanding to 28 rooms. Mr. Will, as he was called, raised and raced Standardbred harness horses and established Tanglewood Farm as a home to some of the country's finest pacers. In the Manor House, Mr. Will had a special room dedicated to his trophies, called the Trophy Room, it was surrounded by plaques and horse photographs. In 1980, a mysterious fire in a trophy room display case did considerable damage, but the room was restored. Mr. Will was a horse lover, and this tradition is carried on with the current  Tanglewood Stables where rail rides, hayrides, and carriage rides are available by reservation.

After R.J. Reynolds died in 1918, his younger brother Will Neal Reynolds took the helm of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company but soon turned his attention to his other interests including racing, raising horses, and philanthropy projects. 

In 1921, the Johnson heirs sold their property to Will. Later, the Tanglewood tract was enlarged to over 1,100 acres and two wings were added to the Manor House, expanding to 28 rooms. Mr. Will, as he was called, raised and raced Standardbred harness horses and established Tanglewood Farm as a home to some of the country's finest pacers. In the Manor House, Mr. Will had a special room dedicated to his trophies, called the Trophy Room, it was surrounded by plaques and horse photographs. In 1980, a mysterious fire in a trophy room display case did considerable damage, but the room was restored. Mr. Will was a horse lover, and this tradition is carried on with the current  Tanglewood Stables where rail rides, hayrides, and carriage rides are available by reservation.

There have been many stories of how Tanglewood got its name, but there are two stories that have prevailed. 

The first story is that Kate Reynolds was strolling through tangled underbrush where timber had been cleared and the tangled wood she saw made her think of the name.

The second story is that Kate Reynolds read “Tanglewood Tales” by Nathaniel Hawthorne frequently to her children, so she chose to name the family farm “Tanglewood.” 

In their will, Will and Kate asked if the name could be passed on after their death and the heirs to the farm honored their request. 

Kate Reynolds wrote this poem about Tanglewood:

"The seat of creeks and mighty trees,

Of fertile soil and balmy breeze…

Twould fill a page, had I a book,         

To tell the joys of Tanglewood!"

Will left R.J.R. Tobacco shortly before a sit-down strike, led mostly by Black women, led to the formation of the Local 22 union that spent the 1940s fighting economic exploitation, racial segregation, and political disenfranchisement. Will Reynolds made gifts and bequests to North Carolina universities and created a hospital for the Black citizens of Winston-Salem, but his philanthropy also helped maintain a system of racism. 

In 1951, since he had no children, Will left his Tanglewood estate as a public recreational park “for the good of the white race.” The will specified it was to be used only for the benefit of white citizens or its ownership would revert to his heirs. So in 1954, it opened as a segregated Tanglewood Park.

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it difficult to continue operating under those terms. Tanglewood scaled back many of its activities. The Manor House, motel, theater, cottages, and swimming pool closed in 1964. The steeplechase was canceled in 1965. For over a decade, the future of Tanglewood was in doubt. In 1971, a federal court case forced the desegregation of the park, which reverted its ownership to the Reynolds family, who leased it to a nonprofit 

Finally, in 1976, the trust that Will Reynolds established to oversee Tanglewood agreed to sell the property to Forsyth County. Buying the property outright was expensive. Forsyth County gave $2.05 million and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation contributed $3.2 million, plus $200,000 a year, for five years for the park’s upkeep and betterment. In 1977 Tanglewood re-opened as a county-owned park, dedicated to serving all county residents irrespective of race.

On May 28, 1955, the Tanglewood Park Swimming Pool officially opened in the heart of Tanglewood Park. The pool had four sections: a deep-water diving area, a large chest-deep swimming area, a shallow-water pool for children, and a separate wading pool for toddlers. It had a pool-side terrace with a soda fountain and tables for bathers to rest and enjoy their snacks and a large, near grassy area was located next to the pool for swimmers to sunbathe or just socialize. The pool could accommodate 1,000 people. This was the Tanglewood Park pool most local baby boomers remember from their childhood.

Now the pool is now part of the Peter S. Brunstetter Aquatic Center, which features four areas for all members of the family to enjoy: a zero-depth entry wading pool with 3 large water features, a splash pad featuring water features for the little ones to enjoy, a large main pool with 2 diving boards and 2 slides (48” height requirement), and a winding tubing river which includes 2 more slides.

It is home to the annual "Tanglewood Festival of Lights," a display of lights, an outside drive-thru light show open to the public every winter. Visitors can drive their own vehicles through the course or take a hayride for a fee. The light show started in 1992. Currently, the route is approximately 4 miles long and adorned with about 180 displays, 70 of which are animated, with over a million lights. The festival has been recognized as a "Top 20 Event in the Southeast" and a "Top 100 Event in North America" and has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Additional attractions include the Tanglewood Park Arboretum and Rose Garden, a public pool, a dog park, horse stables, horseback riding, an RV campground, arboretum, tennis, BMX racing, off-trail bicycle trails, and Mallard Lake for fishing and paddle boat renting. Tanglewood has a  Softgolf course and two regulation golf courses, the Reynolds Course and the Championship Course, which hosted the PGA Championship in 1974.

As a teenager, I've been to Tanglewood Park many times. My high school graduation party was held there.