A century-old cottage tucked into Raleigh's Dix Park is about to serve its first round of espresso shots and draft beers. Flowers Cottage, a historic structure near the park's sunflower field and downtown skyline views, opens to the public Thursday as a two-in-one coffee shop and bar.
The Dix Park Conservancy reported that the cottage will open Thursday, according to Axios. The upstairs coffee shop will serve coffee, tea, Italian-style sodas, ice cream and snacks, while the downstairs Park Bar pours draft beer and wine. A portion of the venue's revenue will go toward supporting the Conservancy's mission, and the Conservancy itself funded the cottage's renovation.
Flowers Cottage is run by Justin Pasfield and Jeff Clarke, who also operate Person Street Bar and Natural Science in Raleigh, per the same report. The pair partnered with Dillon Myrick and Sarah Sugg on the project, a team that draws from Raleigh hospitality mainstays including Person Street Bar, Natural Science Bar, and Boulted Bread, according to Jai & Company Realty. It marks the group's first foray into running a daytime coffee shop.
A Southern Porch and a Stone Amphitheater
The renovation, designed by Maurer Architecture and Northgate Construction, added a classic Southern front porch along with a flagstone patio that includes a stone amphitheater seating 25 to 45 people, as detailed by Raleigh Magazine. The project also doubled the size of a covered back deck that shelters the lower-level Park Bar, giving patrons a sheltered vantage point overlooking Flowers Field. That expansive outdoor patio for eating and drinking was central to the redesign, the Axios report notes.
The building itself dates to around 1910, when it served as staff housing for Dorothea Dix Hospital. It was later repurposed into a therapeutic space where psychiatric patients made flower arrangements, according to the Dix Park Conservancy. The Conservancy first restored the cottage as its own office space in 2018, long before this latest commercial upfit.
Second Food and Beverage Spot Inside the Park
Flowers Cottage becomes the second permanent food and beverage venue inside Dix Park, joining the House of Many Porches Market, a grab-and-go concession housed in a restored 1898 Victorian cottage at Gipson Play Plaza that once housed hospital senior staff and nurses. Dix Park saw the opening of Gipson Play Plaza, an 18.5-acre space that debuted in June 2025 as the $69 million Phase 1 anchor of the Dix Park Master Plan. That project was funded by $37 million from Raleigh's 2022 Parks Bond, $12 million in city capital reserves, and $26.5 million in private donations.
The park has also seen a recent surge in foot traffic tied to the unveiling of Danish artist Thomas Dambo's troll statues, a family of five giant sculptures built from recycled materials and installed across the park's trails in late 2025. The private installation, which includes a troll with a 600-foot wooden tail, has proven to be a popular attraction drawing visitors to the west side of the park.
A Former Psychiatric Hospital Becomes a Regional Park
The City of Raleigh acquired the 308-acre Dorothea Dix Hospital grounds from the State of North Carolina in 2015 for $52 million, ending decades of debate over the future of the property near downtown, according to the News & Observer. The site carries deep historical weight: it spans 14,000 years of Indigenous activity, 150 years as the enslaved-worked Spring Hill Plantation, and 160 years as North Carolina's first state psychiatric hospital, which operated from 1856 until its 2012 closure. That layered history has earned Dix Park membership in the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.
Capital projects across the park are supported by Raleigh's 2022 Parks Bond, which passed with 73 percent voter approval and allocates funding toward 20 major public park capital projects citywide through 2029. Hoodline previously reported on the demolition of four non-historic buildings at Dix Park to clear ground for future park spaces, part of the same broader transformation now bringing Flowers Cottage online.
Growth Inside the Park and Along Its Edges
The activation inside Dix Park is unfolding alongside private commercial growth along the park's eastern boundary on South Saunders Street, where a new retail strip features local concepts including Sunflower's Cafe, Benchwarmers Bagels, and Campo Taco Co., according to a report from Jai & Company Realty. That corridor is also experiencing a broader apartment boom connecting downtown Raleigh directly to the park, a trend Hoodline covered in its report on the West End apartment surge.
Together, the internal concession hubs and the perimeter development are turning Dix Park into a connector between downtown Raleigh and the neighborhoods around it. How the city manages increased traffic and parking demand as the park shifts from passive open space into a hospitality destination remains an open question for future planning.
