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Virginia State Parks
Fun Things
- Virginia Living Museum
- The Mariners’ Museum
- James City County Parks & Recreation
- Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex
- Colonial Williamsburg
- Jamestown Settlement
- Yorktown Victory Center
- Norfolk Botanical Gardens
- Nauticus
- Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center
- Peninsula Fine Arts Center
- The Children’s Museum of Richmond
- Science Museum of Virginia
- Metro Richmond Zoo
- Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation
- Virginia Museum of Fine Art
- Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
- Morefield Gem Mine
View endangered red wolves. Get up close to a loggerhead turtle and moon jellies. See fish with no eyes and frogs that change colors. Touch live spider crabs and fossilized dinosaur tracks. It’s all at the Virginia Living Museum, Newport News, where living exhibits depict Virginia’s natural heritage from the mountains to the sea. The Museum introduces visitors to more than 250 living species native to Virginia through exhibits, discovery centers and interactive hands-on exhibits.
The Museum’s collection totals approximately 35,000 artifacts, of which approximately one-third are paintings and two-thirds are three-dimensional objects. This vast collection of maritime objects had to be aggressively acquired by Museum agents. On August 1, 1933, regular collectors were inaugurated. The first purchases of artifacts in any quantity were made in New York and New England. Since the scope of the Museum would be international, contacts were made in lands such as Holland, England, China, and the South Sea Islands. In 1935, its was deemed desirable to extend the Museum’s collecting expedition to the West Indies and the Spanish Main. In January 1936, a 9,200-mile trip southward touched Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. The Museum even commissioned a yachtsman embarking on a round-the-world voyage to acquire maritime material.
James City County Parks and Recreation offers a myriad of opportunities to enjoy ourfacilities and the wonderful outdoors our unique community has to offer. Explore our website to discover the exciting programs, services and facilities available to you and your family. The benefits are endless!
We work in partnership with citizens to ensure responsive programs, facilities, and open space which promote personal growth, social development, and healthy life-styles.
The WISC provides a climate-controlled environment giving members an opportunity to escape unpleasant weather conditions without missing a beat.
Founder and President, Chris Haywood: “With the unpredictable nature of the weather, it made perfect sense to construct a covered sports center – where kids and adults could enjoy a wide variety of sports, recreation and fitness – all under one roof.”
With its unique state-of-the-art 77,000 square foot indoor facility, the WISC is home to a turf indoor field, a fully equipped Fitness Center, a first class Gymnastics and Cheer Center, Kid’s Club – a superior Pre-School – and a Before & After School Center, a premiere laser tag facility – Galaxy Tag, the WISC Bounce Zone, Marmon Sports Perfomance and Fitness and the Venom Baseball facility.
Participate in the sights and sounds of the 18th century! Experience life as it was in our nation’s yesterdays. Explore the homes and buildings where men like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Patrick Henry inspired the fight for independence.
Today at Jamestown Settlement, the story of the people who founded Jamestown and of the Virginia Indians they encountered is told through film, gallery exhibits and living history. Expansive gallery exhibits and an introductory film trace Jamestown’s beginnings in England and the first century of the Virginia colony and describe the cultures of the Powhatan Indians, Europeans and Africans who converged in 1600s Virginia. Outdoors, visitors can board replicas of the three ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607, explore life-size re-creations of the colonists’ fort and a Powhatan village, and tour a seasonal riverfront discovery area to learn about European, Powhatan and African economic activities associated with water. In the outdoor areas, costumed historical interpreters describe and demonstrate daily life in the early 17th century. Dine at the Jamestown Settlement Cafe when you visit.
Today the Yorktown Victory Center, a museum of the American Revolution, chronicles America’s evolution from colonial status to nationhood through a unique blend of timeline, film, thematic exhibits and outdoor living history.
An open-air exhibit walkway details events that led to American colonies to declare independence from Britain.
Indoor exhibition galleries portray the Declaration of Independence as a revolutionary document that attracted international attention, recount the war’s impact on 10 ordinary men and women who left a record of their experiences, highlight the roles of different nationalities at the Siege of Yorktown, and explore the story of the Betsy and other British ships lost in the York River during the siege. Exhibits also describe how people from many different cultures shaped a new society and the development of a new government with the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Outdoors, visitors can explore a re-created Continental Army encampment, where historical interpreters describe and depict daily life of American soldiers at the end of the war. A re-created 1780s farm, complete with a house, kitchen, tobacco barn, crop fields, and herb and vegetable garden, shows how many Americans lived during the Revolutionary era.
Our Garden has grown from humble beginnings as a WPA project to an 155-acre garden filled with thousands of plants. More than thirty themed gardens are spread across site. Some gardens focus on a single plant (camellias, hydrangeas, roses), others look at a plant from a specific region (Japan, Virginia), while others provide homeowners with great ideas and or new plants to use in their own garden.
Nauticus is an exciting interactive science and technology center that explores the naval, economic, and nautical power of the sea. Home of the Battleship Wisconsin, Nauticus features Battleship Wisconsin-related exhibits, hands-on exhibits, national-caliber traveling exhibits, HD films on a giant screen, sharks, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, and more!
Come explore over 800,000 gallons of one of the best aquariums and live animal habitats in the country at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. Check out our hundreds of hands-on exhibits, outdoor aviary, nature trail, and marshlands. Plus you won’t want to miss our 3D IMAX® Theater. Of course with a screen six stories tall and eight stories wide, it’d be impossible to miss!
The Peninsula Fine Arts Center is the premier arts advocate in the region working to create a stronger community through ART.
Featuring dynamic changing exhibitions, thought-provoking educational programs, a year-round studio art school, an interactive gallery for children, evening mixers and family friendly activities, Pfac has something for everyone—art is what you make it!
The mission of the Children’s Museum of Richmond is to inspire the potential in every child! The Children’s Museum of Richmond, a not-for-profit organization, exists to create innovative learning experiences for all children and those who support them that inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers. Our vision is that The Children’s Museum of Richmond will foster a community that recognizes and appreciates that children grow and learn through play.
We value learning – Children: We have respect for all children and their amazing abilities. We are passionate about the process of learning and the importance of play. We want to inspire creativity, curiosity and exploration.
Staff: We surround ourselves with trustworthy people who thrive on a team and share our energy, passion, creativity, and optimism. We learn by listening to children, families, teachers and others who support them.
Community: We seek partnerships and collaborations that benefit young children. We celebrate our community’s diversity and offer a safe place for all children to interact, play and learn.
Our mission: Inspiring Virginians to enrich their lives through science. Since its founding by the Virginia General Assembly in 1970, the Science Museum of Virginia has become the premier center for hands-on science education in Virginia. The Museum has permanent exhibitions on health, energy and natural science and includes hundreds of interactive exhibits, fascinating artifacts, live animals, a theater company and cutting edge technology. The IMAX®DOME creates the ultimate “you are there” experience with the largest film screen in Virginia wrapped around you. The Museum also features visiting exhibitions, educational programming, overnight adventures, lectures, demonstrations, and summer camps
Metro Richmond Zoo is a privately-owned, for-profit zoo in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It is located in the central Virginia area, on the western side of I-95. Metro Richmond Zoo encompasses about 70 acres (28 ha) and houses around 1,400 animals representing nearly 150 species. It is visited by 25,000-30,000 visitors annually.
The zoo is accredited by the Zoological Association of America (ZAA), and has one of the largest primate collections in the United States.
Chesterfield County is the perfect place to live and work as evidenced by American City Business Journals’ ranking in May 2004 as the “17th Best Place to Live in America.” But, did you know it’s also a great place to play?
There are more than 30 public parks here featuring nearly 3,000 acres of green space, an abundance of historical landmarks and several sports complexes that include playing fields. Pocahontas State Park also is located in the county.
Chesterfield’s central location on the eastern seaboard also places it within a one-day drive of 50 percent of the U.S. population. It’s just two hours from Virginia Beach, the Blue Ridge Parkway and Washington, D.C.; Colonial Williamsburg is just an hour away, as are Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens theme parks.
The Chesterfield County Department of Parks and Recreation offers a steady array of athletic and sporting events, outdoor adventures, therapeutic recreation, special programs for senior adults, teens, families and persons with disabilities, historical tours and annual cultural events and holiday festivities.
The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.
The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all acquisition of artwork, as well as additional general support. Admission itself is free (except for special exhibits). It is one of the first museums in the American South to be operated by state funds.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, together with the adjacent Virginia Historical Society, anchor the eponymous “Museum District” of Richmond (alternatively known as “West of Boulevard”).
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden enlightens and inspires its constituents through its outstanding botanical collections, horticultural displays and landscape design. We engage our constituents with the natural world through interpretation, programs, educational resources and outreach. We advocate for sustainability and stewardship of our planet.
Our Vision is that hrough botanical, horticultural and educational excellence, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden will reveal the unity and integration of human and plant life, celebrate the fundamental significance of the natural world, and enrich our community and beyond.
The Morefield Gem Mine is an exciting place for the whole family. For more than 80 years the mine has produced many varieties of mineral specimens and is open to the public. You may view the exhibits, visit the gift shop, or mine you own gem stones. The Morefield offers something for both the amateur or advanced rock hunter alike.
The Morefield Mine is a highly mineralized pegmatite dike having a length of 2,000 feet and a depth of 300 feet. It produces over 80 different minerals, with more new ones being discovered. The mine produces mica, feldspar, beryl, phenakite for a few popular ones. It produces minerals of the tantalum/columbite series too.
Customers love finding topaz and garnets especially. The children’s favorite would be the purple amethyst. The microcrystals are popular with the collectors of micromounts, also.