Editor’s note: We’re making every effort to provide you with the most up-to-date information. However, there may be last minute closures due to Covid-19. We highly recommend that you call ahead or check the park’s website before you pack your kids (and all those snacks, and diapers…) and haul them across town. Stay safe!
Want a quick day trip to the beach, but don’t want to fight Ocean City traffic? Try Aquia Landing Park, northern Virginia’s best kept little secret just 40 miles south of DC. You’ll not only beat the heat, but you’ll also get a little history lesson at the same time. Check it out!
This is not the place to nap.
This beautiful spot on a peninsula where the Potomac River and Aquia Creek meet features a quarter mile of riverside beach where you can sunbathe and swim, fish, picnic, and kayak. You’ll enjoy regular sightings of Blue Heron and other marsh birds, and maybe even a Bald Eagle if you’re lucky. You can also watch the parade of colorful boats passing by on their way up and down the Potomac.
Steeped in history.
The park and adjacent bluff is an important heritage area to the Patawomack Native American Tribe, the famous home clan of Pocahontas. In the 1800s it was the end of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad line, a key transportation point between DC and Richmond, VA. Here, passengers took steamboats up the Potomac to Washington, D.C. It was the first place to see naval fire during the Civil War, and was an important stop on the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Henry “Box” Brown, Ellen and William Craft, and John Washington were among the 10,000 enslaved people who traveled through Aquia Landing on their escape route to freedom.
FYI
The park has two picnic shelters for rent along with clean restrooms and free parking. While you can enjoy plenty of swimming here, there is no lifeguard on duty.
Open: 8 a.m. to dusk
2846 Brooke Rd.
Stafford, VA
Online: va-staffordcountyparksandrec.civicplus.com
—Meghan Yudes Meyers and Jamy Bond
featured photo: iStock
RELATED STORIES:
Jump Right In! 15 Places to Cool Off This Summer Near DC
The Best New Outdoor Toys & Games for Summer
35 Outdoor Boredom-Busters for Summer Play
