Widewater State Park

Widewater State Park is a state park in Virginia, located in Stafford County. Land for Widewater State Park was purchased in 2006 from Dominion Resources, but the Great Recession prevented the development of the property. The ground-breaking for the new park was held in 2018[1] after money was appropriated by the Virginia General Assembly with a bond referendum that year.[2] Current facilities at Widewater State Park include a Visitor Center and staff buildings along the shores of Aquia Creek , soft boat launches, and picnic shelters along both the Potomac River and Aquia Creek.[3] A formal opening of the grounds had been set for fall 2018.[2] The park officially opened to the public in the fall of 2019.[4] The park is set to open a motorboat launch in late 2022 to early 2023. Widewater also offers two trails that are open to hiking, Holly Marsh and Long Pond trails. Both of these trails are about 1 mile in length. Long Pond (Blaze Color Red) trail is located on the Aquia Creek side of the park. Long Pond is a loop trail around the Aquia Creek Picnic Area, holding the park's Visitor Center. The Holly Marsh (Blaze Color Orange) trail is a linear trail that connects the Potomac Picnic area to the Aquia Creek Picnic area. Holly Marsh is also 1 mile long and has become the more popular of the two trails at the park currently. Holly Marsh follows along the shores of Holly Marsh, an area of water that beavers have naturally damned. This marsh connects Long Pond to the Potomac River. Holly Marsh also sports some good wildlife watching opportunities and has a popular view of the Potomac River. Park staff are currently looking to expand the trail offerings in the coming future.

The park is divided into five parcels, separated by private property along the Widewater peninsula. The park has an acreage total of 1,200-acres situated between Aquia Creek and the Potomac River and is near the site of early flight experiments by Samuel P. Langley.[1]

See also[]

• List of Virginia state parks
• List of Virginia state forests

References[]

Coordinates: 38°24′30″N 77°19′37″W / 38.4083628°N 77.3270435°W / 38.4083628; -77.3270435