For years, a worn footpath ran from the back of Town Creek Park toward Creekview Drive in MillBridge. Nobody had officially built it. The Town of Waxhaw closed that path in April, rebuilt it over the summer, reopened it in September and held a ribbon-cutting at the Town Creek Park trailhead on Oct. 16, 2026.
The new segment is nearly 2,870 feet long, a little over half a mile. It now counts as part of the Carolina Thread Trail network. It also sits in the middle of a longer line the town has been building along Twelve Mile Creek. In its grant announcement, the town describes that finished line as a "nearly 4-mile continuous route from the NC/SC Suspension Bridge to NC-16." The pieces at either end of the new segment already exist, and one more is funded. That makes this half mile the most useful one to understand this fall.
A Path People Already Walked, Rebuilt for Wet Weather
The town built the trail on top of the informal path. The upgrades go after the problems that made the old path hard to use after a rain. Union County Weekly's report on the ribbon-cutting lists the work:
- The full trail was regraded and resurfaced with geoweb and a compacted crushed-concrete tread, which the town describes as all-weather and slip-resistant.
- A new 16-foot bridge crosses a secondary drainage channel on the west side.
- Raised, causeway-style sections cover low spots that tend to flood, with boardwalks that let water flow through underneath.
- New drainage pipe moves stormwater across the trail corridor.
Blue Ridge Trail Works built the segment. A $60,000 Carolina Thread Trail Implementation Grant helped pay for it, and the town credits the MillBridge Homeowners Association as a partner. The segment also had support from Waxhaw's own planning. It was a top-priority greenway project in the town's pedestrian and greenway planning, the Waxhaw Connectivity Fund and the Capital Improvement Plan.
At the ceremony, Mayor Robert Murray described the trail as "another connection to Waxhaw's growing trail network." Parks and Recreation Director Dena Sabinske framed it as a model for how the town picks its projects. Here is how she put it, as Union County Weekly reported:
"This trail is a great example of what can happen when we identify community priorities and work together to turn those priorities into reality."
Carolina Thread Trail Director Bret Baronak also spoke. He said the organization "has long recognized the town as a leader" in creating public trail opportunities.
Three Trailheads Along One Creek
The new link connects to trails that already exist, and they are worth knowing on their own terms. For a weekend walk, the first question is where to park, because each piece has its own trailhead.
| Trail piece | Where to start | Length as listed | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town Creek Park meadow trail | Town Creek Park, 4240 Waxhaw-Marvin Road | 0.9 mile, per Carolina Thread Trail | Paved |
| New Town Creek to MillBridge link | Town Creek Park trailhead | Nearly 2,870 feet, per the town | Crushed concrete over geoweb |
| Path to the Cross-State Suspension Bridge | Kiosk at the back of H.C. Nesbit Park, 1304 H.C. Nesbit Park Drive | About 1/4 mile to the bridge, per the town | Natural surface |
| Walnut Creek Park segment, Lancaster, SC | Across the suspension bridge | 3.7 miles one way, per Carolina Thread Trail | Natural surface, boardwalks, sidewalks |
| Downtown Waxhaw Greenway | South Main Street parking | 1.4 miles one way | Sidewalks and pavement |
Town Creek Park covers 19 acres and has a playground, a pavilion, a butterfly garden and rentable green space. The town lists its hours as sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset. According to the Carolina Thread Trail map, the paved trail loops around a grassy meadow with large trees on two sides and a log cabin to the south, and it connects to existing paths in Prescot. The same listing shows 36 parking spaces at the trailhead, no restrooms and leashed pets permitted. The pavement suits strollers, road bikes and mobility devices, which makes this the easiest end of the corridor.
The H.C. Nesbit Park end is a different kind of outing. On its Greenways and Trails page, the town describes a quarter-mile hike from the kiosk to the 170-foot Cross-State Suspension Bridge, which crosses into South Carolina. From there, the town says, about 3 1/2 miles of natural-surface trail continue on the other side. The trail is open to hikers and also serves as an advanced mountain biking venue. The Thread Trail map lists the South Carolina side at 3.7 miles one way. H.C. Nesbit Park also has baseball, softball and multipurpose fields. The town lists parking at the park and in two lots at Kensington Elementary School, reached from H.C. Nesbit Park Road and Kensington Drive, and notes that space is limited.
Where the Pieces Meet, and Where They Don't Yet
The town says the new segment contributes "to a corridor that extends from Waxhaw into South Carolina." The full corridor is still being assembled. The town's own Greenways and Trails page still calls the link between H.C. Nesbit Park and the back of the Town Creek Park trailhead "a future connection" that is "planned soon."
The Carolina Thread Trail's map page for this greenway also predates the opening. It still says construction is underway, that the Town Creek and MillBridge sections don't connect, and that the suspension bridge can't be reached from the Town Creek Park parking area. The new segment took care of the construction part. Until both the town and the Thread Trail update their pages, the practical plan is simple. Start at Town Creek Park for the paved meadow loop and the new link toward Creekview Drive. Start at H.C. Nesbit Park for the bridge.
The Next Piece Runs Toward Prescot
The new link goes north toward MillBridge. The next funded project goes the other way, from Town Creek Park toward the Prescot neighborhood and Prescot Village.
In August 2025, Waxhaw announced a $250,000 matching grant from the state's Great Trails State Program for the Twelve Mile Creek Greenway–Prescot Connector. In the town's words, the connector will "trace the path of Twelve Mile Creek and connect Town Creek Park to the Prescot neighborhood and Prescot Village commercial district." The plan includes a 120-foot bridge over Twelve Mile Creek built to ADA standards. Waxhaw expected the project to cost $500,000 in total and planned an informal request for proposals during the 2026-2027 budget year to pick a design-build contractor.
Comparing the amounts shows how much bigger this next step is. The MillBridge link was rebuilt with help from a $60,000 grant. The Prescot work is budgeted at roughly eight times that. When the Board of Commissioners adopted the FY2026-27 budget on June 9, 2026, it created a $500,000 Great Trails Grant Fund for a 12-Mile Creek pedestrian bridge through Prescot Glen. The fund pairs $250,000 in grant money with a $250,000 town match. The same budget lists a separate 12-Mile Creek pedestrian greenway at Prescot Village as a Priority 3 project in the FY2027–2031 plan, at $286,000. The Prescot Glen bridge has money assigned for this fiscal year. The Prescot Village greenway is on the longer list.
Put together, the state-line-to-NC-16 route from the grant announcement comes into focus. It runs from the suspension bridge at H.C. Nesbit Park through MillBridge, past Town Creek Park and over a new bridge toward Prescot. The town called the connector "a missing link in the Carolina Thread Trail, bringing together key segments across county lines." As of this fall, the half mile behind Town Creek Park is the most recent piece to open, and the piece toward Prescot is the one with money behind it.
A Fall Walk, Then Downtown
With the shorter days, it helps to remember that Town Creek Park closes 30 minutes after sunset. For a full afternoon in town, the 1.4-mile Downtown Waxhaw Greenway starts near the South Main Street parking. Two downtown dates are coming up. The Downtown Waxhaw Association calendar lists the Waxhaw Tree Lighting for Saturday, Nov. 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. The town's Christmas Parade steps off downtown on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 3 p.m.
At Carolina Living & Estates, we follow projects like the Twelve Mile Creek greenway because they change how Waxhaw works day to day, from which park is the closest walk to how the town's neighborhoods connect. If you'd like help understanding how trail access fits into your plans in western Union County, Alyson and Ann are glad to talk it through. Contact Us.
