Isle Rd, Lancaster; weekdays/
weekends $2/3; hsunrise to
sunset) beckons travelers
who want a full menu
of outdoor activities
to pick from. This is a
small state park, yet it
boasts picnic areas, boat
launches, hiking and
biking trails and a host
of other well-maintained
amenities. Keep an
eye out for numerous
bald eagles patrolling
this marsh and forest
habitat.
The entire park is
built around a Georgian
mansion – the Belle Isle
Mansion – that feels like
a dictionary illustration
that hangs next to the
word ‘mansion.’ It wasbuilt around 1760 by
Raleigh Downman and
restored in the 1940s
by Thomas Tileston
Waterman, the first
director of the Historic
American Buildings
Survey; today the
mansion can be admired
from afar, but the big
building itself is owned
by a private family.
Another onsite historic
property, the Bel Air
House (no fresh princes,
sadly), is available for
overnight rentals ($284 to
$316). It’s almost always
booked every weekend
in summer for weddings
months in advance, but
if you’re interested, call% 800-933-7275, or go to
http://www.reserveamerica.com.The Drive » Take Belle Isle Rd
(VA-354S) for 3 miles to VA-201.
Turn left onto 201 and take it
to VA-3E. Follow VA-3E through
hills and woodlands for 42 miles
until it runs into US 17 S. Take US
17 south for 25 miles to reach
Newport News.3 Newport News
Newport News is
the first town you’ll
come across in the
Hampton Roads.
Almost everything you
encounter in these parts
is either tied to the
water or the military in
some way (and often,TRIP HIGHLIGHTStart: 4 Norfolk
About 30 miles southwest of Norfolk, straddling the Virginia and North Carolina
border, is over 1 million acres of morass, rivers, lakes, flooded forests and mud flats.
Here, the water runs red, brown and black as it leaches highly concentrated tannins
from a veritable jungle’s worth of vegetation, including bald cypress, tupelo and
pine trees.
This is the Great Dismal Swamp, and here on the Virginia side of the border one
can find the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (%757-986-3705; http://www.
fws.gov/refuge/great_dismal_swamp/; 3100 Desert Rd, Suffolk; hsunrise-sunset; #). There are
some 112,000 acres of protected land here, a wet home for bobcats, black bears,
red foxes, coyotes and over 200 species of birds. In late April, the refuge hosts an
annual birding festival (see website for details) that coincides with the biggest
migratory period of the year; during past festivals, birders have seen the extremely
secretive Wayne’s warbler. Disclosure: we’re not sure how big a deal this is, but when
we told a birding friend, they practically cried.
The Great Dismal Swamp is not just a home for animals. Native Americans may
have first settled here a full 13,000 years ago, and for centuries, escaped African
slaves known as maroons hid in the swamp’s shadowy depths.
There are miles of hiking trails within the swamp, almost all of which are quite
flat. Contact the park headquarters to speak with rangers about local fishing and
hunting opportunities.THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP
DETOUR:
VIRGINIA.TRIPS.27
(^) BRACKETING THE BAY