Broadway Zoological Park is a 90-acre hidden gem along the Cape Fear River, built with conservation, accessibility and family fun in mind
By Billy Liggett | billy@rantnc.com
Broadway Zoological Park isn’t necessarily “new.” The 90-acre zoo nestled among the tall oaks and loblolly pines just east of Broadway and south of the Cape Fear River officially opened in April 2025 and has been in the works for over roughly six years. The park has more than 13,000 followers on Facebook and a growing legion of fans who have publicly praised its size, breadth of animals on display, cleanliness, affordability and accessibility.
Yet, according to Park Manager Haley Jernigan, Broadway Zoological Park has done little to “get its name out” in its 15 months of existence.
They’re ready to change that.
tamanduas, small anteaters native to South Africa.
Built with conservation, accessibility and family fun in mind, the zoo is a “labor of love, through and through,” says Jernigan, who oversees 171 different species and nearly 700 individual animals on the site, from the large giraffes that greet visitors near the entrance to the hundreds of small parakeets you can feed or pet by hand in the aviary.
The zoological park — in its look and feel — is reminiscent of the popular Greensboro Science Center a little over an hour northwest. It’s a comparison Jernigan welcomes.
“We’re thrilled with that comparison,” she says. “We are constantly trying to push and grow here. Constantly revamping our animal enclosures. Pretty much every time you come here, we’re hopeful that you see renovation happening. It’s literally 365, 24-7 for us. It’s always, ‘How can we make the lives of these animals better?’ and ‘How can we make this park more interactive?’ It’s our life.”
As it is, Broadway Zoological Park is impressive. Families can take a tractor ride through the 50-acre safari and get up close to buffalo, zebras, ostriches and more. A walk-through reptile building features massive snakes, lizards, crocodiles and more. Marmosets, tamarins and bushbabies populate the small primate area, and goats can be heard climbing overhead towers near the entrance and the aforementioned safari area.
As one young girl and her grandparents craned their necks near the Eurasian lynx display to catch one napping, Jernigan used her special access to approach the enclosure and called for the giant kitty — roughly three times the size of your typical house cat — by name. When the lynx approached, Jernigan scratched its ear, much to its delight.
“I really could not imagine doing anything else,” says Jernigan, a native of the tiny town of Bear Grass, North Carolina, population 89, just outside of Greenville. Her mother was an animal rescuer, so Jernigan remembers growing up in a home with owls and other wild animals taken in for rehabilitation. “My one constant has always been animals. I always had a wonderful dog or three — when I needed somebody, I had them. So, I feel like it’s literally woven into my DNA to be with [animals] and to help them as much as they’ve helped me. It doesn’t matter if it’s a snake, a tarantula or a giraffe. I got their back.”
Jernigan met Kurt Smith and his wife six years ago when the couple decided to clear the land along Patterson Road near the Harnett-Lee county line and build a park with conservation and education in mind. Also important to Smith was accessibility — the father of a daughter with special needs, Smith wants a park that anybody can enjoy. He recently announced a partnership with KultureCity to improve the park’s ability to assist and accommodate sensory processing needs — sensory bags, weighted lap pads, noise-cancelling headphones and designated quiet zones are just a few of the steps they’ve taken in recent months.
“We’ve taken our daughter to zoos before, and we didn’t know if we would be there for five minutes or five hours,” Smith says. “And I’ve seen her bond with animals, a lot of times better than she does with people. The animals seem to understand her more. So it was important to us to have a place where anybody with a disability can come out, feel welcome and just be involved. We want to have a place that is safe for the animals and a safe place for everybody.”
Jernigan also has a little sister with several health issues, and in addition to saving animals, her mother taught exceptional children for several years. The marriage of conservation and accessibility made Broadway Zoological Park the perfect fit for her. When she first got on board with Smith in 2019, the park was little more than the quarantine building (usually used for new arrivals or for animals that need to be isolated from the others).
“They had a few animals on site, but mostly, everything was under construction when I got here,” she says. “This property was little more than open fields, trees and an old farm. There were debris piles where the giraffes are today.”
Jernigan says her initial meetings with the owners put her at ease — she could sense they were also passionate about conservation, education and community. She joined knowing that nothing would be immediate — construction at the privately funded park took more than five years before the first paying guest was allowed to walk the paved roads that weave through the animal habitats. The process that led to now included several long and stressful days, she says, but in the end, the initial staff at the park were there for the same reasons.
“We’re here to improve the welfare of these animals and to make an impact on our community,” she says.
The park has done little in the form of marketing, yet the number of guests they receive is steadily growing. This past spring was surprisingly busy, Jernigan says, and summer has remained steady so far despite the heat. The slow burn, word-of-mouth approach has been intentional — not only does the park want the community to acclimate to the zoo, they want the animals to acclimate to visits by strangers holding cameras and small children.
Clean facilities, well-manicured grounds and a strong animal lineup are big reasons for the growing popularity. Affordability is another. Beginning in July, an adult ticket to the zoo is $15, and children ages 4-15 get in at a reduced rate. Ages 3 and under are free. The zoo is open Wednesdays through Mondays (Tuesdays are the lone off day), and hours run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through September and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the fall and winter months.
The zoo also offers several free events and free field trips for organizations that serve people with special needs (reservations required).
Jernigan says she wants guests to come away from their visit to Broadway Zoological Park to learn something new about animals and conservation, but just as importantly, she wants adults and children both to feel like “they got to see something cool.”
“If they don’t, I feel like that’s a failure on my part,” she says. “Then after that, we want them to understand why these animals are here. About 60 percent of these animals on site — specifically our primates, parrots and reptiles — are almost all exclusively rescues or re-homes. We get them from pet trade facilities or from private owners who no longer can take care of them. And we want to raise awareness of that. We want everyone to know you can make a difference.”
Fifteen months in, Smith, Jernigan and the staff at Broadway Zoological Park are pleased with the progress, but they insist there’s always room for improvement. According to Jernigan, one big step toward that would be accreditation. She says paperwork is complete, and the zoo is hoping to push for accreditation within the next year.
“Accreditation is a higher standard, and it’s federally required for facilities like ours,” she says. “And it’s important because it shows our guests and our community that we care about the animals we receive.”
LEARN MORE | VOLUNTEER
Visit broadwayzoologicalpark.com to learn more about the zoo, its mission, special events and what to expect upon your visit. Click “support” to learn about donating “tools, toys and supplies” to the animals or to learn about volunteeer opportunities.
