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Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area
The Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) offers 13.4 miles of hiking trails, 7 miles of horseback riding trails and 6.6 miles of mountain biking trails. It is the site of 2 fishing ponds, (one of which is universally accessible), 800 acres of forest and meadows, environmental education programs, equestrian facilities, geocaching, and bird watching.
This landscape mosaic contains a variety of terrains and vegetation types. These include gently sloping open meadows, mature hardwood forests along steep slopes and floodplains, and riparian areas, freshwater ponds and streams. Red and white oak, beech, sweet gum, Virginia pine, and persimmon, which are common sights in mid-Atlantic woodlands, appear throughout the forests at Meadowood. The ponds, streams and riparian areas in the SRMA host a wide variety of insects, fish and other wildlife.
BLM and the State of Virginia survey the population in the fishing ponds periodically, and restock them when needed. Grass-eating carp are among the species stocked in the ponds; they cannot reproduce, and they eat invasive aquatic weeds, which would otherwise overwhelm small ponds. In addition to stocked species, the American eel appears in the area’s ponds and streams and serves as attractants to the local Bald eagles. Migrating waterfowl such as various ducks species, Canada geese, and herons commonly occur at water features. Dragonflies and butterflies are abundant at near not only the ponds and meadows, but within the myriad acres of edge habitat. Whitetail deer, Fox squirrels, and even Red fox abound throughout Meadowood. Moreover, the North American beaver makes the occasional appearance in the floodplains of Thompson Creek, Giles Run and South Branch as well as at Enchanted Pond.
RecAreaDirections
From Interstate 95 South: Exit 163 to Lorton. Turn left onto Lorton Rd, continue under second overpass and turn right onto Lorton Market St. Continue approximately 1.5 mile U.S. Route 1. Proceed straight through intersection with Route 1, when the road name changes to Gunston Rd. Continue for 1 mile; entrance to the Meadowood SRMA is on the right.
From Interstate 95 North: Take exit 161 to Lorton, U.S. Route 1 North. Proceed about 1.5 miles to first stop light. Turn right onto Gunston Rd. Go about 1 mile entrance on right.
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Permits info
Facilities
Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail Facility
The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail is a network of locally managed trails in a corridor through the many contrasting landscapes in the region between the mouth of the Potomac River and the Allegheny Highlands. Over 830 miles of existing and planned trails are recognized as segments of this National Scenic Trail. The BLM Eastern States manages sections of the trail as it crosses Douglas Point in St. Charles County, Maryland, and the Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA) on the historic Mason Neck Peninsula in Northern Virginia. These areas located near to the Maryland and Virginia shorelines of the Potomac River, and host diverse plant and animal populations among historic sites dating back to the 18th century. The trail itself is a history lesson. A boundary between northern and southern states, the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail also pierced the west into the North American interior. This trail has been a crossroads of opportunity, diversity, and conflict, including portions of the Underground Railroad, which carried escaped slaves across the Potomac River into freedom.
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail Facility
Journey through early American history and walk in the footsteps of our nation’s founding fathers as you explore the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route. This National Historic Trail commemorates over 680 miles of land and water trails followed by the allied armies of General George Washington and the French Lieutenant General Comte Jean de Rochambeau. During their 1781 march from Newport, Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia, the French army established an encampment on what is now the Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA). A segment of this trail connects with a BLM system of trails crossing the SRMA on the historic Mason Neck Peninsula, just a short drive from the nation’s capital. At Meadowood, the trail transects open meadows, enters into mature hardwood forests, and crosses riparian wetlands. While in the area, visit Gunston Hall, the home of Founding Father George Mason, a strong supporter of individual liberties and the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Many of the concepts in that document found embodiment in the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
