Prince William Forest Park

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Triangle, VA
Prince William Forest Park

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Welcome to the official page for Prince William Forest Park. The park is the largest preserved green space in the Washington, D.C. area.
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Founded in 1936 as Chopawamsic Recreation Demonstration Area by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), these woods and streams welcome campers, hikers, bikers and nature lovers. Prince William Forest Park offers 4 campgrounds, 5 cabin camps, 37 miles of hiking trails, and 21 miles of bicycle-accessible trails. The park also offers a rich history spanning from the American Revolution to present day and intersects with two national trails. More information about the park's history and recreational opportunities can be found on our official website. Prince William Forest Park is managed by the National Park Service (NPS) under the Department of the Interior (DOI). While this is an open forum, it is also meant to be one in which individuals of all ages, life stages, and backgrounds are encouraged to participate in a respectful manner. The National Park Service and the Department of the Interior encourage inclusion, respect, and comfort in all aspects of visitor enjoyment, including their virtual experience. The administrators of this page will strictly enforce the National Park Service’s social media policy which can be found at www.nps.gov/subjects/digital/social-media.htm

10/28/2026

What should you do if you find an artifact in the park?

Once an object is 50 years old (that’s now as recent as 1976!) – it becomes eligible for protection as an archeological resource. These protections mean that the object should be left in place, and there can be penalties for removing (or moving) it.

If you do think it looks old enough to be an artifact, please simply leave it where you found it and tell a ranger about it. Being able to see an artifact right where it was found and its relationship to the landscape and other objects can tell an archeologist a lot about the artifact. Feel free to take a photo, but please don’t post where you found it! Finding artifacts can be very exciting, so just remember that the best way to help protect them is to leave them alone.

If Virginia Archaeology Month has you excited to learn more about archeology in the National Park Service, check out https://www.nps.gov/subjects/archeology/index.htm!

10/27/2026

In honor of President Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, entry into all national parks, including Prince William Forest Park, is free today. What trail in the park do you plan to hike today?

10/23/2026

World War II Across America's National Parks: Prince William Forest Park

Like Catoctin Mountain Park, Prince William Forest Park also served as a training area for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. The park’s cabin camps served as classrooms for students learning the secrets of spycraft, and the park landscape provided them an area to test their skills.

While few traces of the OSS training grounds outside of the cabin camps survive in the park today, one building that does remain is an am******on storage building near an old OSS r***e range. While it is no longer used to store am******on, the building still has several features common to 1940s era magazine storage, including its terracotta block siding, heavy steel door, corrugated metal sheet roof, lightning grounding rods, concrete slab floor, and venting. Keep an ear to the ground to learn more about World War II secrets from Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site!

To learn more about OSS training in Prince William Forest Park, visit https://www.nps.gov/prwi/learn/historyculture/oss.htm. Please note that the fi****ms range where the am******on building is located is closed to the public as it is still actively used by the park's rangers.

📷: NPS Photos/MW of an OSS Am******on Building

10/21/2026

What happens if a park archeologist finds an artifact?

Like most things, it depends! If the artifact comes from the shovel test pit that the park archeologist is digging, they will collect it and bring it back to the lab. From there, it will be cleaned up, identified, and added to the park museum collection. If the artifact is just on the ground surface, and it’s in a safe and stable location, it will likely be left in place. Artifacts can tell future archeologist a lot more information in their original location than in a bag in the museum. In this case, the archeologist will take photos, GPS points, and notes to record what they’re leaving in place.

If enough artifacts are found (in Virginia, that magic number is three), that area will be recorded as an archeological site. Park staff will work with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to assign a site number and enter information into a state database, so knowledge of that site will be available for future researchers. Park staff will then add the new site to a monitoring schedule and keep an eye out for any projects that may impact it.

📷: NPS Photos of artifacts found in Prince William Forest Park

10/16/2026

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, stop by CCC Living History Days at Cabin Camp 3 in Prince William Forest Park!

At the event, visitors can learn more about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and watch living history reenactors demonstrate the use of some of the tools that the CCC would have used in the construction of the cabin camps in the 1930s. Drop in to the event anytime between 9:00am and 5:00pm on Saturday or Sunday to see the cabins set up like a 1930s era CCC work camp and see exhibits of CCC era tools and uniforms. This is a great opportunity to step back in time and learn more about the young men who built Prince William Forest Park.

To learn more about the event, visit https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/event-details.htm?id=E90E074A-AF84-FC8E-A80C5B3494F6257C.

📷: NPS Photos/MW

10/14/2026

So what does a park archeologist do? Lots of things! Fieldwork, yes, but also research, writing, artifact analysis, and communication.

Often, fieldwork in northern Virginia looks like digging shovel test pits (STPs) in a grid in a project area, to see if there are any buried archeological resources. The hole goes as deep as it needs to get below human-modified layers (or until you hit a big rock!). The dirt that comes out of the hole is then put through a screen, to catch any small artifacts. This way, park staff will know if a project needs to be moved to avoid an archeological site.

Information about the dirt, including color and texture, is captured on a form so future archeologists can learn about what’s under the ground in that area. A GPS point is also taken at each STP, whether or not artifacts were found. All of this information helps park staff take care of the resources in the park!

📷: NPS Photos

10/09/2026

If you are interested in a paid yearlong internship starting in November 2026, check out the Chesapeake Gateways Ambassador applications for Prince William Forest Park before applications close this weekend on October 11th!

The Chesapeake Gateways Ambassador will work with park interpretation and visitor services staff on all aspects of our park's public communications, education, and community outreach with a focus on science communications. A partnership with Americorps and Conservation Legacy, this 50 week internship will run from November 30, 2026 through November 2,2027.

To apply by October 11th, visit https://secure8.entertimeonline.com/ta/conservationlegacy.careers?ShowJob=738760644&lang=en-US

📷: Conservation Legacy

10/07/2026

So you think you want to be an archeologist?

Maybe you’ve seen Indiana Jones or played Tomb Raider and feel inspired. We’re here to tell you that it’s a lot less b***y traps and gold relics and a lot more spiderwebs to the face and paperwork. (However, we do actually have the snakes...)

October is Virginia Archaeology Month, so join us to learn more about archeology in the park and some of what archeologists actually do! Here’s a fun fact to start with:

The two different spellings of “archaeology” in this post are not a typo – in the 1890s, the US Government Printing Office decided to get rid of the “ae” diphthong, and so “archeology” became the new US Government spelling of the word.

📷: NPS Photo/AMM of a screen near a lake

10/03/2026

Building a trail bridge 101!

We would like to give a big shout out to Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) volunteers for their awesome work on National Public Lands Day last week. They worked with park staff to replace an aging, saggy trail bridge at the intersection of the Little Run Loop and High Meadows Trail and also cleared fallen trees from across the Chopawamsic Trail. Thank you all for your hard work keeping our trails looking good!

📷: NPS Photos/MC

Address

18170 Park Entrance Road
Triangle, VA
22172

Telephone

+17032217181

Website

http://www.nps.gov/prwi/index.htm

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