Pocahontas State Park

It’s amazing how quickly time passes. It recently occurred to me that I had never written about my extended family’s visit to Pocahontas State Park. When I sat down to sort through photos for this post, I discovered they were taken nearly TEN MONTHS AGO. It feels like only weeks have gone by. In any case, I’m excited to (finally) describe this beautiful location.

Pocahontas State Park spans nearly 8,000 acres and is located in Chesterfield County, 20 miles southwest of Richmond. In addition to its 90 miles of trails, the park is home to two lakes, camping facilities, two playgrounds, an amphitheater, an aquatic center with slides and water activities, a horse complex, and a museum (more about that later). We visited while we were spending the weekend at my cousins’ home in nearby Midlothian, so we were a group of eight for this trip. Our first stop was the Visitor’s Center to pick up a map and ask for directions. The Visitor Center is also home to several nature exhibits that provide information about the park’s flora, fauna, and natural habitats.

A very friendly park ranger pointed us in the direction of the Beaver Lake Trail, the 2.5-mile loop around the lake of the same name. I had first read about the Beaver Lake Trail in the guidebook Hiking With Kids: Virginia by Erin Gifford, who identified it as a good hike for little people. Since we were toting Daughter #2 along in the Ergo, we decided to give it a try. We began our hike at the trail marker across from a historic kiln.

From this point, you can go right or left. Left takes you toward the spillway and we had decided to save that for the end, so we headed right. We followed the wide path through the trees and down to the water. I couldn’t help but think how spectacular this hike must be in the fall.

When we reached a clearing, we were taken aback by the gorgeous view of the lake. Lily pads and other aquatic plants dotted the edges of the water, while the trees and clouds mirrored themselves in Beaver Lake’s sparkling surface.

After taking in the scenery for a bit, we continued on our way. The trail makes a big loop around the lake while frequently straying from the shoreline. It often meanders through the woods and along small tributaries.

Although the hike is kid friendly, there are some small changes in elevation along the way. That’s just something to keep in mind if anyone in your party requires a completely flat trail. The position of the lake in the photo below highlights how much we climbed since visiting the pier earlier in the hike. It’s not a huge incline, but it’s not flat either.

Be sure to keep an eye out for wildlife as you’re wandering through the woods! We heard multiple bird calls, observed small fish darting through the water, and came upon several little toads along the trail.

As we continued through the trees and neared closer to our starting point, we were once again greeted with sweeping views of Beaver Lake.

Near the end of the trail, we came across the spillway. We were in the midst of a dry spell at the time of visiting, so there wasn’t as much water cascading over it as I had seen in photos. It was still quite picturesque. As I said earlier, the spillway can be reached quickly if you go left instead of right when starting the trail. The path from the trailhead to the spillway and back is only about .5 miles round trip, so it’s a nice option if you’re short on time or have a little walker that tires easily.

Shortly after passing the spillway, we returned to our starting point. The trailhead was right next to the park’s Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, which I had been excited to explore. The fact that we were there on a hot day made the museum’s air conditioning appealing to the rest of my crew, so we all piled inside.

As I mentioned in my blog post about Douthat State Park, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Initiatives. This program provided support to unemployed American men by offering them valuable skills, education programs, and a fair wage as they created parks across the nation. In turn, these parks provided the infrastructure necessary to protect the country’s most precious natural resources.

Interestingly enough, though Pocahontas State Park is home to the CCC Museum, it is actually not one of the six original Virginia State Parks that were built by the CCC. Of the six parks, my family has visited two: Douthat and Westmoreland State Park (see the Westmoreland blog post here). The remaining four are Hungry Mother, Fairy Stone, Staunton River, and First Landing. One of those four is on my list for a potential visit this summer – stay tuned to find out which one!

While exploring the museum’s exhibits, we learned about how a typical day might be structured for a CCC employee, and what camp life was like. We also read about reasons beyond a salary and new skillset that drew many corps members to enlist, including the opportunity to travel and the promise of three square meals a day (a luxury during the Great Depression). There were many authentic artifacts and photos to examine, and a wonderful volunteer docent was present to answer all of our questions.

All in all, we really enjoyed our first visit to Pocahontas State Park. Daughter #1 hopes to return to swim at the aquatic center some day, and I’d love to explore the park again during peak fall foliage. Our list of places to revisit is getting quite long at this point, which of course is not the worst problem to have. I still consider myself lucky to live in a state that is so varied in geography and rich in natural beauty. Until next time, Pocahontas State Park, whenever that may be!