Inclusive Travel in Gwinnett
Explore Gwinnett prides itself on promoting inclusive travel within our destination.
PlayTown Suwanee: The design for this new Suwanee playground, PlayTown Suwanee, began with playground experts: kids! The project team hosted design brainstorming sessions with local elementary school classrooms. The resulting custom-designed playground includes elements reminiscent of the original while meeting modern inclusivity, safety, and sustainability standards.
More than 1,200 moms, dads, grandparents, students, and community members came together in October 2023 to build PlayTown Suwanee 2.0. Using earth-friendly, recycled materials that are long-lasting and virtually maintenance-free, the volunteers worked for over 10,000 hours, making lifelong memories, new friends, and creating a lasting gift to the community. The new playground will open families beginning in July 2024.
Sensory Treehouse at Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center: The $4.5 million Sensory Treehouse at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center (Buford, GA) was recently unveiled. The 20-foot tall treehouse allows visitors with disabilities to experience the sensation of being in a canopy of trees while in a controlled environment. The treehouse is designed to accommodate all ages and abilities.
In the treehouse building, visitors will be immersed in an indoor sensory exhibit that uses video, audio and scents to allow visitors to experience 24 hours in a piedmont forest. These sensory features provide the perception of all the elements that one would experience climbing into a tree canopy.
The 20-foot-tall treehouse sits central to the 340-foot-long accessible steel walkway with three nodes, surrounded by a viewing and activity platform and a high-hanging hammock. Inside the treehouse, visitors can enjoy a circular audio-visual experience with a domed ceiling, used for various teaching and entertainment experiences.
The entire structure is ADA-accessible, allowing for those in a wheelchair to reach an area in the forest that wouldn’t be possible with conventional footpaths. In addition to its existing activities, collaborations with the Gwinnett County Public School System will offer exhibits displayed along the forest trail, providing multisensory environmental experiences for all ages with a focus on habitat, pollinators, animal adaptations, and more. The structure includes a wide range of materials and textures, ranging from rough to smooth, hard to soft, warm to cool, and light to dark. The Sensory Treehouse resembles a giant American chestnut tree of Georgia’s historic forests.
While users are close to the ground, the sloping landscape will create the illusion of height, so they feel as if they are soaring among the trees.
Other local inclusive playgrounds: Autism Spectrum Support Center, Bay Creek Park, Duncan Creek Park, George Pierce Park, Maple Creek Park, Peachtree Ridge Park, Rossie Brundage Park