Before the 1800s, this valley was native habitat. In 1909, W.A. Smith, founder of Laurel Park, built an earthen dam at the valley’s north end and turned the native forest into a 10-acre recreational lake. For the next 60-plus years, Rhododendron Lake was Henderson County’s premier place for swimming and entertainment. After the Laurel Park Inn and Lake were sold in the early 1970s for construction of Phase I of the Laurel Park Villas, the earthen dam was breached for safety and the lake was drained. Following years of overgrowth, the Town bought the lake bed property in 2009 and began restoration plans. In 2011, a stream and wildlife habitat project moved the channelized stream away from Lake Drive and created a new meandering stream to Primrose Lane, restoring functions of this tributary to the Mud Creek watershed, planting native vegetation for stabilization and wildlife habitat, and protecting the stream and buffers with a conservation easement. In 2013, a matching grant supported improvement of water quality in the remaining lake through creation of a forebay to capture silt from stormwater runoff, dredging to remove decades of accumulated silt and assure appropriate cold water releases downstream, addition of riparian buffers and a wetlands area to create microhabitats for fish and small wildlife sanctuaries, and planting of 28 more native trees. In 2016, another matching grant helped complete the nature park with walking trails, a bridge, benches, a boardwalk over the wetland area, an exercise station trail, picnic and fishing spaces, donor recognition, and parking on Lake Drive and Primrose Lane, while the park remained an ongoing work in progress.