Burke Lake Park BURKE LAKE PARK is located at 7315 Ox Road in Fairfax Station. Its 888 acres feature a 218-acre lake with fishing, boating, rowboat rental, tourboat rides, camping, a miniature train, a carousel, outdoor volleyball courts, an 18-hole par 3 golf course, an ice cream parlor and snack bar, picnic areas with grills, and playgrounds. The new fishing pier is accessible to persons with disabilities. Privately owned boats with electric motors are permitted on the lake. No gasoline powered water-craft are permitted. Swimming is prohibited. Nominal fees are required for boat rentals, camping, carousel, train and other activities.
Caledon Natural Area A designated National Natural Landmark, Caledon provides visitors the unique opportunity of viewing bald eagles in their natural habitat. Caledon and the surrounding areas are the summer home for one of the largest concentrations of bald eagles on the East Coast. As many as 60 eagles have been spotted on the bluffs overlooking the Potomac River in King George County. Preservation of the national bird's habitat is the primary focus of the natural area. Visitors can enjoy the beauty of Caledon by hiking and picnicking in a mature forest. They can learn more about the natural history of Caledon by touring the visitor center.
Cape Henry National Memorial After four and a half months crossing storm swept seas 144 weary Englishmen made land-fall in April 1607. They anchored their ships in the protected waters of the bay and landed a small party upon the shore. They built a wooden cross and planted it in the sand naming the place Cape Henry.
This is the first landing site of those adventurous Englishmen who, some three weeks later, established the first permanent English Colony in North America at Jamestown.
From this same site some 174 years later, citizens of a soon to be free and independant United States of America watched as a British fleet commanded by Admiral Graves engaged the Frech fleet of Admiral Comte de Grasse in a sea battle know as the Battle of the Capes. This French naval victory sealed the fate of General Cornwallis at Yorktown leading to his surrender with one third of the British contingent in America and the eventural end of the American Revolutionary War.
Today this quarter acre of beach front is commemorated with waysides, a granite memorial cross, a statue of Admiral Comte de Grasse and a walkway ramp up the dunes to a magnificant view of where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay.
Today Cape Henry Memorial is located on Fort Story Military Reservation in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Be prepared to be stopped at the guarded entrance station.
Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park will work in partnership to commemorate a nationally significant Civil War landscape and antebellum plantation by sharing the story of Shenandoah Valley history from early settlement through the Civil War and beyond. Throughout the area there are historic, natural, cultural, military, and scenic resources. In addition, the park will serve as a focal point to recognize and interpret important events and geographic locations within the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District.
Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park was created on December 19, 2002. The park encompasses approximately 3,000 acres across 3 counties and includes the key partner sites of Belle Grove Plantation, Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation Visitor Center, and a developing Shenandoah County Park. The partner sites will continue to be owned and operated independently allowing such activities as the annual Battle of Cedar Creek Reenactment to continue within the park boundary. Overtime, the park may protect the remaining historic and natural landscape by working with willing seller landowners to buy property at fair market value.
The park?s enabling legislation stresses the importance of working in partnership as families, businesses and others will continue to live, work, and play within the park boundary. Strong community involvement will be critical to plan the new park over the next several years.
Chesapeake Bay (VA) National Estuarine Research Reserve The Chesapeake Bay (VA) National Estuarine Research Reserve features four components that are all within the York River basin--Goodwin Islands, Catlett Islands, Taskinas Creek and Sweet Hall Marsh. Like most of the reserves in the national system, Chesapeake Bay-VA is diverse. The source of its diversity is its range of salinity gradient.Salinity is an important determinate of what species can live in an area. Located on the freshwater Pamunkey River, northern wild rice grows easily in the Sweet Hall Marsh component of the reserve. However, salinity is too high for it to grow at the Catlett Island component. Conversely, plants like saltwort thrive at the salty Goodwin Island component that would die if transplanted to Sweet Hall Marsh.
Chincoteague NWR Chincoteague NWR consists of over 14,000 acres the majority of which is located on the Virginia portion of Assateague Island. Additional refuge lands are found on the north end of Chincoteague Island, Morris Island, Assawoman Island, and the northern end of Metompkin Island. The largest collection of near pristine barrier islands in the country is found here. The interspersion of fresh and salt water marshes, open water, barrier beach, and loblolly pine forest provide habitat for a variety of species. Refuge management programs actively enhance habitat to benefit migratory and nesting birds and indigenous wildlife, including threatened and endangered species such as Delmarva fox squirrel, peregrine falcon, bald eagle and piping plover. The bayside marshes provide wintering, migration, and breeding habitat for a variety of waterfowl species, particularly black ducks. Fourteen moist soil management units comprising over 2600 acres are managed for wintering waterfowl and shorebirds during migration. White-tailed deer and sika elk inhabit the pine forests, scrub shrub zone, and fresh water marsh edges of the island's interior. The famous Chincoteague ponies graze in two fenced compartments on the refuge. The Visitor Contact Station has scheduled guided walks and interpretive talks. A concessionaire operates an interpretive wildlife tour. Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge hosts approximately 1.5 million visits per year. This number makes the refuge one of the most visited in the nation. A 7-day pass is $5/vehicle; there is no fee for pedestrians and bicyclists. An Interagency Agreement exists with the National Park Service which allows Assateague Island National Seashore to administer public use on a five-mile portion of the refuge beach.
