Grading work started this week on the park. More than 10,000 Cherokee County military veterans will one day have their names enshrined on a park monument recognizing their service to our country.

Grading work started this week on a $500,000 Cherokee County Veterans Appreciation Park next to the Cherokee County Veterans Museum and Irene Park.

The facility will have walkways, benches and walls engraved with the names of local veterans who have been honorably discharged. Granite walls on which those names will be etched have already been ordered.

Limited room on the veteran park site has already required some minor design changes since the project started this week. For example, a 200 foot retaining wall will be added so the park is handicapaccessible.

"We have changed how the grading is done at the park so there is more of a slope to the site and the sidewalks are farther away from the road," Cherokee County Veterans Affairs Officer Todd Humphries said. "We have added a retaining wall and a fence to the project's plans. We think this will make the veterans park look nicer when it is completed."

While there is no timetable for finishing the project, Humphries said he hopes the veterans park will have walkways and benches in place by the end of the year.

Fundraising will determine when veteran groups can place monuments in the park listing the names of county veterans.

Veterans groups have raised $300,000 toward the project's estimated $500,000 cost. A $200,000 state competitive grant has provided the lion's share of funding.

The veterans groups will continue to raise money for the park through donations and merchandise sales such as T-shirts, hats and booklets, project cochairperson Linda Brown said.

"We will need to raise additional money to pay for the lettering to put the veterans' names on the monument," Brown said. "We think once county residents see what the park is going to look like, the donations will come in so we can go ahead and complete the project."