Huntley Meadows Park, the largest park operated by the

Fairfax County Park Authority The Fairfax County Park Authority is a department of the Fairfax County, Virginia county government responsible for developing and maintaining the various parks, historical sites, and recreational areas owned or administered by Fairfax County. Figu ...

(), is located in the

Hybla Valley Hybla Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of Alexandria. The population was 15,801 at the 2010 census, down from 16,721 in 2000 due to a reduction in area, resulting from some of the eastward ...

area of

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

, south of the city of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. The park features a visitor center, a beaver-created wetland with boardwalk, wildlife observation platforms, and an interpretative trail system. The park is home to abundant wildlife and is known for attracting many birds, amphibians, and plants that are considered less common in the region. Secondary-growth forest, sprinkled with several small, native-grass and wildflower meadows surround much of the wetland habitat. The main bodies of water that flow through the park are

Dogue Creek Dogue Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, named for the Tauxenent Indigenous Native ...

at the western border of the park,

Barnyard Run A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard adjoining a barn,Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Barn. n. and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse. Enclosed ...

, the source of the park's Central Wetland, and the headwaters of

Little Hunting Creek Little Hunting Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 primarily tidal tributary of the Potomac River located in Fairfax County, Virginia, not to be c ...

.Huntley Meadows Park
Fairfax County Park Authority. Accessed March 22, 2011.

History

In 1757 the land was purchased by

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...

. About 1825 his grandson built Huntley, on a hill overlooking the property. Huntley is now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Another grandson held

Okeley Manor Okeley Manor was an early 19th-century plantation in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Okeley, the residence of prominent Alexandria physician Richard Chichester Mason (1793–1869), was one of the principal Mason family estates in Norther ...

which is now the northwest portion of the park. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the area was used for dairy farming. In colonial times, this land was part of the extensive property holdings of George Mason IV.

Thomson Francis Mason Thomson Francis Mason (1785 – 21 December 1838) was an American lawyer, planter and politician who served as the mayor of Alexandria (then in the District of Columbia, but now Virginia) between 1827 and 1830, and as a justice of the peace for m ...

, a grandson of George Mason, built a summer residence on the property in 1825. The house, now known as Historic Huntley, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the

Virginia Landmarks Register The Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) is a list of historic properties in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The state's official list of important historic sites, it was created in 1966. The Register serves the same purpose as the National Registe ...

, and the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites. Mason family ownership lasted into the early 1900s, with sections of the land being sold for family farms. In the late 1920s, entrepreneur Henry Woodhouse reassembled the parcels, purchasing from 10 landowners. He dreamed of transforming Hybla Valley's dairy farms into the

George Washington Air Junction George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

, which he claimed would be the largest airport in the world. After he lost nearly all of the property, the federal government acquired the land. The land was bought by the federal government in 1941. From 1943 to 1953, the

Bureau of Public Roads The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

tested asphalt road surfaces. The

Virginia National Guard The Virginia National Guard consists of the Virginia Army National Guard and the Virginia Air National Guard. It is part of the Government of Virginia though the National Guard across the United States is mostly funded by the federal government ...

's Battery D, 125th Gun Battalion provided anti-aircraft protection for the nation's capital from 1950 to 1959. And the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

conducted highly classified radio communication research from 1958 to 1971, before declaring the land surplus around 1971. In 1975, President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

signed papers authorizing the donation of to the citizens of Fairfax County, "exclusively for public park or public recreation purposes in perpetuity." Under the Federal Legacy of Parks Program, the County paid only one dollar for the land. In 1992 the

, with financial assistance from

Ducks Unlimited Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013. ...

, purchased an additional of adjacent wetland and upland.

Huntley Meadows today

After the federal government turned the land over to Fairfax County in 1975, beavers quickly returned to the area and began to change how water flowed through the land. Biodiversity in what is now referred to as the Central Wetland rapidly increased and a boardwalk was opened in 1982 to allow visitors the opportunity to closely observe the largest habitat of its kind in the region. Over 200,000 people now visit the park every year, seeking wildlife observation, exercise, and relaxation. The staffed visitor center offers many exhibits on the park's human and natural history as well as educational programs for all ages. A nonprofit organization, Friends of Huntley Meadows Park, provides significant support to the park. In addition to its dedication to the protection of park resources, the organization also helps provides funding for programs, internships, and equipment.

Wetland restoration

A wetland restoration project for the Central Wetland has been in the design phase for several years. The restoration is meant to manage and preserve the wetland structure and biodiversity through various natural resource challenges. Major components include: a small concrete dam, access road, shallow wetland pools, dead tree placement within the wetland, and expansion of nearby park meadows with soil excavated from the project. Nearly three million dollars from voter approved bonds will be spent by the County on these improvements.

Activities

Huntley Meadows Park has over of maintained and informal trails. Near the wetland areas these trails are over boardwalks. There are many watch areas and benches along the maintained Heron, Deer and Cedar trails. Bird and wildlife watching is the main activity. There are multiple observation towers and stations along the trails. The park is well known in the region for

nature photography Nature photography is a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures. Nature photography tends to put a stronger emphasis o ...

by professionals and hobbyists. Photos taken at the park have won awards including the grand prize for the 2019 Audubon Photography Awards and judges choice for the North American Nature Photography Association Showcase 2020. The public

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

group Huntley Meadows Park Photography has over 6,400 members as of January 2022. Various naturalist talks, school education programs, self-guided tours and even artistic performances are part of the park.

Geology

About 100,000 years ago the land was on a western meander of the Potomac River. About 30,000 years ago the river straightened to its present course leaving an

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

. The lake filled in creating Huntley Meadows and

Flora and fauna

Many plant and flower species are in Huntley Meadows—over 600 species have been identified—including 300 species of wildflowers. There are over 200 species of birds, 30 of mammals, 50 of reptiles and amphibians, 50 of dragonflies and damselflies.Friends of Huntley Meadows Park
Friends of Huntley Meadows Park. Accessed March 22, 2011. Like many parks, Huntley Meadows is dealing with non-native invasive plant species.

Japanese stiltgrass ''Microstegium vimineum'', commonly known as Japanese stiltgrass, packing grass, or Nepalese browntop, is an annual grass that is common in a wide variety of habitats and is well adapted to low light levels. Despite being non-native in the Unite ...

is a continuing concern as it grows well and covers the forest floor. The park has undertaken initiatives, such as boot cleaning sites at trailheads to limit seeds being spread, to attempt to combat it.

References

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