Orient Yourself to the Great Outdoors at First Landing State Park
Ribbon-cutting Ceremony Officially Opens New Trail Center
After four long years of meetings, planning, sketches, and design reviews, the new Trail Center atFirst Landing State Park is officially open. A ribbon-cutting ceremony, featuring former CCC-member, Norman Claiborne,who helped build Seashore/First Landing State Park in 1940, was held on Thursday, January 3, 2013.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Thursday, January3, 2013. (Pictured from left to right: David Johnson, Director of Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation; Doug Domenech,Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources;Bruce Widener, First Landing State Park Manager; Nancy Dickerson, Princess Ann Garden Club; Joe Elton, Director of Virginia State Parks Norman Claiborne, 1940s Civilian Conservation Corps Member; Williams Sessons, May of Virginia Beach; Fred Hazelwood, Virginia State Parks District One Manager)
The new museum-quality exhibits the park are a MUST-SEE for locals, Virginians, out-of-state, or international visitors. Whether you are just visiting for the day or staying in one of our cabins or campground, you must make time to walk through the exhibits and explore the park's trail system during your stay.
Visitors get their first look at the new exhibits.
Made possible through a vigorous fund-raising campaign by the Princess Anne Garden Club that raised over $225,000, the exhibits orient visitors to the parks natural, cultural, and historical resources. Here you can find out why Blackbeard favored the park's natural area as a hideout, how Virginia Indians harvested fish and oysters, what it takes to become a Chesapeake Bay pilot, about the daunting task young African-American men from the Civilian Conservation Corps faced building cabins and laying out trails in what was historically known as "the Desert" of Princess Anne County, and why the modern recreation movement is so important to our health and well-being in our high-tech world.
A three-screen media panel features the park in all four seaons.
Also located in the new Trail Center is a gift shop, information desk, and three-panel video screen that invites you to discover all the park has to offer in all four seasons. esigned to orient visitors to all they can see and do in the park and give visitors a sense of perspective on the importance of preserving and conserving public lands, the Trail Center should only be the first stop in your exploration of the park.
After seeing the Trail Center, head outdoors onto some of the park's 19 miles of trails.
Located on the southside of Shore Drive, follow the park road until it dead ends at the Trail Center parking lot in the maritime forest orpark on the northside near the Chesapeake Bay Center and take the Live OakTrail to the Cape Henry Trail, a 1/2 mile hike to the Trail Center. After walking through the exhibits, take a hike on some of the park's 19 miles of interior trails.
The Chesapeake Bay Center on the north side of the park also features museum-quality exhibits about the park's colonial history.
Then head across Shore Drive to the north side of the park and stop into the Chesapeake Bay Center for a tour of the First Landing Museum featuring exhibits about the Virginia Company and their settlement of Jamestown.
First Landing State Park is open year-round. Parking is only $4 weekdays and $5 weekends. Be sure to pay honor parking and put the tagon your mirror if the contact station is not staffed. Twenty housekeeping cabins featuring heating/air conditioning, fireplaces, hot showers, full kitchen, and two bedrooms are also open year-round. The campground opens March 1 for the 2013 camping season. Reservations are being taken now!Call our reservation center at 1-800-933-PARK (7275).
First Landing State Park is located on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach.