We visited Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, Virginia on a cold Saturday in February. It is located at 10301 State Park Rd, Chesterfield, VA and boasts a 2,000 seat amphitheater, aquatic center, over 90 miles of trails and 225 acre Swift Creek Lake for fishing and boating.
Having lived in central Virginia for a long time, this park seemed really familiar to me but I was surprised about all it had to offer that I wasn’t aware of. When we arrived we quickly found some hiking trails and got to exploring. We started on the forest exploration trail – today was challenging as it was muddy after some storms and our youngest is in a walking boot due to a broken foot.
We have been so anxious to be able to get “on the move” again since our kids are growing up. When you have young children, it’s often hard to cover any sort of mileage – so for us, hiking has been limited for years. Babywearing saved us many times when they are small, but once over 30 pounds, it is less fun. Strollers simply don’t exist that allow us to cover the mud and roots I need them to. So when our youngest completed a 2.5-mile hike in the fall, I felt like we had finally “made it”. Also, we survived a week in Disney last year without a stroller (so liberating!!)
But after breaking her foot randomly at dance class (you didn’t know dance was a contact sport?) we had to get creative once again to be able to get out and explore while she healed. Since we got rid of strollers and she now outweighs baby carriers, we had to go with the wagon! These trails were super interesting and there were lots of logs across trials, and even creek crossings that would have been much easier without the wagon. But where there’s a will, there’s a way and we were just thankful to be able to get outdoors on a sunny day.
Lots of trails were closed due to muddy conditions and I was excited to see lots of trails that were just for biking! It made me want to go buy a mountain bike, I think they would be super fun.
We went to the visitors center and the park rangers offered to show us the animals, which included turtles, snakes, and some stuffed mammals. The park rangers were so great in answering the kid’s questions and went above and beyond making us feel welcome! We mentioned going to visit the CCC museum but found out it was closed that day. The park ranger offered to open it for us and we got a personal tour of that, we learned so much!
The CCC stands for Civilian Conservation Corp that helped build Pocahontas state park. President Roosevelt responded to high unemployment rates by creating the CCC to employ Americans in the 1930s. The purpose of the CCC was to “both to build men and to build trees”. I just love that they employed these depression-struck young men, that were probably pretty down and out after years of struggle. The hope of working in the outdoors and preservation had to have built so much character and morale that helped build our nation! I highly recommend visiting the CCC museum and memorial when you visit this park, I’m so glad they recognize this group of young people.
My kids really enjoyed putting on performances on the stage of the amphitheater. There is ample parking and I could see some really great shows happening here (in non-covid times). We did not visit the water park area as it was the wintertime, but we have always heard wonderful things – we definitely plan to go back this summer.
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