Description

NOTICE: This site is under renovation and closed to the public. However, special arrangements to visit the site may be made by contacting the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge office. Or, alternatively, you may wish to visit the Refuge’s nearby Wilna Unit, which is open to the public during normal Refuge hours.

The 243-acre former Heritage Park Resort Unit is a remnant of a several thousand-acre plantation. The entrance road rapidly ascends a steep hill. Its grassy crest offers a breathtaking view of the surrounding landscape that gently descends to the Rappahannock River a few miles away and to the shores of Cat Point Creek. Native Americans camped along the creek’s bank to harvest the water’s abundant fish and clams. The creek remains an important spot for spawning fish, which offer an abundant food source to bald eagles, osprey, wading birds, and waterfowl. The eclectic site offers a mix of old camp sites from when it was still in operation as a resort, deciduous forest, mowed fields, scrub habitat, as well as a pond and tidal freshwater wetlands. The woods are alive in summer with breeding birds, deer, and other wildlife, and a beaver occasionally shows off for visitors at the small pond.

Directions

Physical Address: 2570 Newland Road, Warsaw, VA 22572

From the Previous Site on the Northern Neck Loop of VBWT:

From the Wilna Unit of Rappahannock River NWR, return to Rt. 640/Sandy Lane and Rt. 636/Strangeway Road, turn left on Strangeway Road, and proceed 0.3 miles to the Rt. 624/Newland Road intersection. Turn right, travel 1.7 miles, and turn left into the resort’s entrance.

To return to the interstate, follow Rt. 624 south for several miles to US 360. Turn right and follow US 360 across the Rappahannock River Bridge. In Tappahannock you can take US 17 47 miles to I-95 or follow US 360 South for approximately 90 miles to I-295.