Prince William Forest Park ⓘ

8,000 years of human history lies beneath the trees of Prince William Forest Park's 15,000 acre canopy. Throughout the park there are places, some that you can get to... some that you cannot. These places were once the backdrop for the drama of every day life for rural Virginians from the 1600s to the 1930s. Learn about some of these places and hear the land tell its story.

The beautiful green hillside that overlooks Quantico Creek reveals nothing of the devastated landscape left behind by the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine . You can reach the pyrite mine via Pyrite Mine Road, North Valley Trail, and the Cabin Branch Mine Trail.

From 1795 to 1920, Prince William County took care of its poor and infirm at the county poorhouse or poor farm. Located in the Northwest corner of the park, the poorhouse site is inaccessible by trail, but it still has a fascinating story to tell.

These three communities were the centerpieces of life for residents before Prince William Forest Park became a park. Hickory Ridge, Joplin & Batestown were a collection of stores, churches, farms, and country stores scattered along three crossroads. The buildings may have made up the physical landscape of these three communities; but the generations who lived there made up their heart.

Quantico Creek and its South Fork were a popular place for mills in the 18th and 19th century. Very little remains of these mill sites, but they once housed the heart of a local industry.

There are two historically significant bridges in Prince William Forest Park. One that you can drive across on the Scenic Drive; the other you can hike across along Pyrite Mine Road.

Around the time that pyrite was found at the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine, someone struck gold at the Greenwood Gold Mine . Alas, this small vein was not profitable, and the Greenwood Gold Mine closed in 1885 with very little money being made. There are few visible remains on this site.

An important part of preserving the historic integrity of Prince William Forest Park is preserving information about the park's varied past. Use the links below to access the many research papers, reports, and documents that help us manage the preservation of Prince William Forest Park. Review the park's plan that upgrades the roofs on the historic cabins: Balancing Historic Preservation and Environmental Stewardship

Did you know that Prince William Forest Park has six nominations to the National Register of Historic Places? Learn about the nominations and other research documents for the individual camps and one for the architecture of all of the camps. Read a detailed report of the Prince William Forest Park Cultural Landscape Inventory . Here's a quick preview of what you will find:

Cabin Camp 4 was the longstanding home of Camp Pleasant operated by Family and Child Services of Washington, DC.

Cabin Camp 5 was the last of the five cabin camps constructed in Prince William Forest Park. The camp was not nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, since modifications to the buildings over the years were significant enough to compromise their historic integrity.

It may have been a work project, meant to give men jobs during the Great Depression, but the camps at Prince William Forest Park are beautiful.

The Civil War hit the South hard. While the war spurred the Industrial Revolution elsewhere, this region remained largely agrarian. Few areas in the South saw industrial development. The residents of Joplin, Hickory Ridge, and Batestown all struggled with their small farms in the war’s aftermath. Until the 1880s, any chance for economic growth seemed bleak.

One day all that changed when a Baltimore man named John Detrick hiked along Quantico Creek. Near the confluence of the North and South Forks, he noticed something shiny in the water. It was pyrite, known commonly as “fool’s gold” and scientifically as Iron Sulfide. One of the great ironies of this area was that “fool’s gold” would prove more profitable than the real gold found in the Greenwood Gold Mine . The Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine began operations on a limited basis from 1889 to 1908, when the Cabin Branch Mining Company formed. In 1916, the American Agricultural Chemical Company bought the ride.

The large number of patents in the mid-nineteenth century and industrial growth after the Civil War made pyrite profitable. Sulfur was a necessary ingredient in products such as glass, soap, bleach, textiles, paper, dye, medicine, sugar, rubber, and fertilizer. When World War I broke out, the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine contributed to the production of gunpowder.

The mine provided additional income to local subsistence farmers . Workers earned roughly $3.50 a day, though estimates vary. Some sources say workers earned as much as $4.25 a day. They worked two shifts, between ten and twelve hours a day, six days a week. Children sorted ore clumps into small, medium, and large sizes for 50 cents a day.

Despite any economic benefits, there was a human toll to the work. While the mine provided some additional income to local families, it was not enough to make a significant difference. Laborers returned to their farms after their long shifts to work the land. There were also numerous deaths and injuries. One worker was decapitated by an elevator. At least one man, Euriel Reid, died from poison gas and is buried in the park. Several others were injured, including an African American railroad engineer whose train derailed. The mine was a place where Italian and Irish immigrants and African Americans worked side-by-side. The daily challenges of the mine brought the residents of Batestown and Hickory Ridge closer together. Laborers relied on their friends and neighbors for support.

There was also a company town, consisting of more than seventy buildings. There was a company store, machine shop, blacksmith, engine room and a small gauge railroad. When the railroad was not being used for mine operations, it took families, especially children, to the Potomac River to fish. Part of workers’ salaries came in the form of coupons for the company store. The town also included six dormitories for black workers and small houses for white employees and their families.

After World War I, the price of pyrite dropped. Nationwide, in many industries, workers struck. While there is no evidence of union activity, workers at the Cabin Branch Mine struck in 1920. They demanded a 50 cent raise. The owner of the mine allegedly responded, “Before I will give you another penny, I will let the mine fill up with water and let the frogs jump in!” By this time, cheaper sources of sulfur were found overseas.

The mine closed in 1920, and most workers returned to their farms. A fortunate few found work in Dumfries and Quantico, but most remained on their small homesteads. The company left piles of pyrite tailings along the banks of Quantico Creek, and the concrete and wood buildings of the company town stood empty. While the mine’s closing certainly affected workers and their families, it affected the environment for generations. With the exception of the Civilian Conservation Corps using wood from the buildings to construct the cabin camps, the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine remained untouched for years. Following the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1970, the National Park Service began its work to reclaim the site. The pH of the water in Quantico Creek (directly in front of the mine site) was 2.8, equal to that of vinegar.

The largest reclamation project to date began in 1994. The pyrite tailings were buried under top soil and lime. Channels around these hotspots diverted rainwater, preventing acidic runoff from flowing into the creek. Measures were also taken to keep the creek’s bank in place. The mine shafts were capped with concrete. Since this reclamation, which as been somewhat successful, the National Park Service has planted Virginia pines .

As the National Park Service continues to reclaim the site, the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine serves as a reminder of the American dream: making things better for the next generation. The workers sacrificed themselves through hard work to give their families a chance to see some social and economic success. Similarly, the goal of the reclamation effort is to allow future generations to enjoy the recreational and educational opportunities available at Prince William Forest Park.

Before the creation of Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area in 1933, the lands of Prince William Forest Park were not heavily forested. Instead, hundreds of small-scale farmers, laborers, and others lived in the area. Two communities - Hickory Ridge, which developed west of the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine , and Batestown, to the mine’s east - were home to many locals; others lived in the Joplin area in the southwest of the park. Batestown, established by African-Americans following the Civil War , still exists, but the creation of the park and its use by the Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War brought an end to Hickory Ridge.

Tobacco ceased being an important cash crop in Prince William County during the late eighteenth century. Soil fertility fell, and bulk transportation became difficult as siltation closed the port of Dumfries. The few large tobacco plantations broke into smaller farms, and wheat and vegetables became primary crops. Enslavement remained part of local life until the Civil War (1861-1865) and emancipation. The county’s population did not grow with the state’s, as local residents took advantage of opportunities in the expanding western territories of the U.S. Between 1800 and 1940, the county’s total population increased only 28%, from 12,733 to 17,738, while the state’s population grew by 66%. People of African ancestry composed 45% of the county’s population in 1800, but only 14% in 1940. Virginia experienced great devastation during the Civil War and required extensive rebuilding afterwards. Employment opportunities in southeastern Prince William County were few, though the opening of the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine in 1889 and of the Marine Corps base at Quantico in 1917 provided nonagricultural blue-collar jobs to many local people.

People could raise their animals, raise their food, it was how they lived. Former resident, 1990s During its zenith in the 1910s, nearly 300 people lived in Hickory Ridge, west of the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine (near Parking Lot D). Hickory Ridge, established after the mine opened in 1889, included a store, homes, and small crop fields that supplied local tables. Oddfellows Hall, which housed a fraternal organization, also served as a church and a school for African Americans. People sold extra produce at markets throughout northern Virginia and Washington DC. The community obtained water from streams and wells. Light came from kerosene lamps. Residents conducted most local business through barter. The Great Depression had few effects on the area’s economy. The Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine issued scrip coupons to its employees in the early 1900s as part of their pay. Workers used scrip for purchases - often at inflated prices - at the company’s store. Blacks and whites owned property in Hickory Ridge and were neighbors, though Virginia passed a law forbidding integrated public facilities in 1924. Both races worked at the mine, but whites usually held better-paying, higher-skilled jobs. Life in Hickory Ridge, however, was different. There, African Americans had leading places in community life. Among the notable residents was Mary Byrd, an African American midwife. People recognized Byrd throughout the Cabin Branch area for her skill and expertise. The town of Hickory Ridge emerged after the Civil War around property purchased by an African American named Zeal Williams (ca. 1817-1880). Williams appeared in the 1860 census as a farm laborer. He bought 100 acres in 1869, and his son, George, purchased 25 acres nearby soon after. These homesteads would be split among heirs. The land stayed among the original families, the Williamses, Kendalls, Reids, and Byrds. While Batestown was an African American town, Hickory Ridge was a mixed community, where whites and African Americans lived side-by-side. The center of town sat near Scenic Drive and Pyrite Mine Road. There were 171 houses at the town’s peak.

The Cabin Branch Community was an isolated, yet self-contained, community... Local resident, 1990s Batestown emerged after the Civil War as a community of former enslaved people and free African Americans from the family of Betsy Bates ( fl. 1850 ), the local matriarch. It is possible that a local white landowner donated the village’s land to the Bates family. In the 1930s, many Batestown residents were her descendants, living in a hamlet considered the ‘black’ section of Dumfries in that segregated era. As in Hickory Ridge, the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine provided jobs to many Batestown men, who also farmed and harvested timber. Women with outside employment usually worked as domestic servants or, occasionally, as teachers. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Batestown had approximately 150 residents; at the beginning of the twenty-first, nearly 75 people called it home. Many Batestown residents worshipped at the Little Union Baptist Church - which also attracted people from Hickory Ridge - and sent their children to a small primary school on today’s Mine Road. Older children from the Cabin Branch area attended more distant high schools in Occoquan or Manassas. Young and old shopped at the Thomas family’s store and at businesses in Triangle and Dumfries.

A man named Henry Cole, listed in the census as black, owned seventy-eight acres of land in 1842. He bought another 77 in the 1850s, and more in 1872. By the start of the Civil War , he was the largest African American landholder in Prince William County. He owned three houses, a team of oxen, two milk cows, four cattle, eight pigs, and produced wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, and potatoes. In a time when most African Americans lived in bondage, Cole laid the groundwork for the small town of Batestown. By 1860, there were 550 free blacks in Prince William County, and some settled around Cole’s land. Henry Cole bought land once owned by Thorton Kendall, another African American, who owned the property in the 1820s. When Kendall died, he left his homestead to his wife, Sally Bates. Bates kept the name of her first husband. Batestown emerged by the middle of the nineteenth century as the property was divided among Bates’ and Cole’s descendants.

Many residents of Hickory Ridge and Batestown were nearly self-sufficient, growing or hunting most of their food and making most of their clothing. Locals also held jobs at nearby military installations, at the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine (until it closed in 1919), or did odd jobs to earn needed cash; the average local annual cash income in 1933 was $536 (equivalent to about $7,500 in 2003 dollars). Few paved roads crossed the landscape, and the existing rutted roads made extensive travel difficult. Stores were important institutions in the local communities. Among local shops were the W.W. Payne store in Hickory Ridge - the company store for the pyrite mine - and the Thomas Store across from the Little Union Baptist Church in Batestown. They sold goods that local residents were unable to grow or make themselves. These stores, and businesses in nearby Dumfries and Triangle, also served as places where people socialized, catching up on community news. The church was a key social institution in both communities and still is in Batestown, where the Little Union Baptist Church, built in 1903, ministers to its faithful. Church rituals - from baptisms to funerals - and holiday celebrations added to the sense of community felt among local residents.

In 1933, the new administration of President Franklin Roosevelt launched dozens of programs and agencies intended to alleviate the hardships of the Great Depression, including the Resettlement Administration (RA). Led by economist Rexford Tugwell, the RA wanted to move poor farmers from small, “marginal” plots to more fertile locations, while creating recreational areas for the urban poor. RA officials identified 15,000 acres (6,070 ha) 30 miles (48 km) south of Washington, D.C., as “marginal” land, prime for urban recreation. The Resettlement Administration used the creation of Chopawamsic RDA as an example for relief administrators across the country to follow by publishing a booklet about the site’s development in 1936. In this pamphlet, the RA asserted that the people of Joplin, Hickory Ridge, and Batestown needed the help of the U.S. government to escape poverty. Nevertheless, many residents of the towns did not think of themselves as poor and were not interested in leaving their homes. The Department of the Interior acquired title to most of the lands of the new park through purchase or condemnation. Officials from the Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, the agencies charged with developing the RDA, slowly began removing residents from the new park. With the entry of the United States into the Second World War in December of 1941, this changed.

Initial federal acquisition of lands for Chopawamsic RDA proceeded slowly, and some residents of Hickory Ridge had not relinquished their properties before the U.S. entered the war. However, the park’s location, close to Washington, yet rural, and its five cabin camps, capable of housing nearly 200, made it an ideal location for military officials to place secret intelligence training camps. From 1942 until 1945, the Office of Strategic Services trained spies and radio operators in the park’s cabin camps. People who had not yet moved from their homes within Chopawamsic RDA were forced to leave, some within two weeks of notification. Some people moved away from northern Virginia; others relocated to land on the borders of the park. OSS training activities destroyed what remained of Hickory Ridge. Plots of Virginia pines near Parking Lot D and Pyrite Mine Road now mark the locations of village structures. Several cemeteries containing the remains of Hickory Ridge residents are located near the site of the community. While its residents no longer rely on small farms and timber harvesting for their sustenance, the Batestown community still exists. Centered around the Little Union Baptist Church on Mine Road near Dumfries, many of the community’s residents are descendants of its founders.

Both Batestown and Hickory Ridge provided laborers for the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine, which operated from 1889 to 1920. When the mine closed, some residents left, while others continued to labor with the land. In 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, he introduced the Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA) program. The first phase of this involved the purchase of submarginal farm land and the resettlement of the farmers who owned it. All of the residents of Hickory Ridge were moved, but part of Batestown remains outside park borders. The government purchased or condemned a total of 127 properties.

Few books or articles analyze life in Hickory Ridge or Batestown. However, these studies and others provide historical context for the communities: Heinemann, Ronald L. Depression and New Deal in Virginia: The Enduring Dominion. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983. National Park Service, Prince William Forest Park , (May 2003). Parker, Patricia. The Hinterland: An Overview of the Prehistory and History of Prince William Forest Park, Virginia. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1986. Payne-Jackson, Arvilla and Sue Ann Taylor. Prince William Forest Park: The African-American Experience. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2000.

An interesting building in this area at the time was the Prince William County Poorhouse, which sat in the northwest corner of the park. The Poorhouse opened in 1794 and operated until 1927. By the late eighteenth century, the states had different ways to help the less fortunate. In colonial Virginia, charity was left to the Anglican Church, then recognized at the official church of the state. This status ended in 1785 with Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom. The commonwealth’s government insisted that counties make a centralized place to care for the poor, rather than providing door to door relief. The government appointed Overseers of the Poor, who in turn collected a Poor Tax. This was used to fund the poorhouse. Almshouses were deliberately designed to be harsh, the bare minimum, to influence the poor to work hard to advance up the economic ladder. However, most of the occupants at the Prince William County Poorhouse were not capable of working. At the same time, administrators only admited those who could not make a living for themselves. In 1858, only four of the seventeen residents were physically able to work. Those living int he poorhouse were buried in a nearby cemetery. Seventy grave sites have been located, with some having rocks as headstones and footstones. Most of the gravesites are just depressions in the ground with no marker. The county provided coffins for the poor who did not live at the poorhouse.

When the American Revolution ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, aid for the poor differed in varying states. In Virginia, which recognized the Anglican Church as its official church, Anglican parishes distributed relief. In 1785, with the enactment of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Virginia’s parishes lost this responsibility as the state ceased recognizing an official church. Instead, the poor became charges of county governments. Like parishes, counties provided cash or in-kind payments to poor people living in their homes (a type of aid known as “outdoor relief”) and some supported almshouses or poorhouses. The resulting poorhouses, which were a form of “indoor relief,” became more common in Virginia and in other states during the 1790s and early 1800s. Prince William’s County’s poorhouse was one of the first ten built by a Virginia county government. Poorhouses were intended to be spartan and uncomfortable; living conditions were supposed to convince paupers that only through hard work would they escape the atmosphere of penury. However, overseers were late to realize that few inmates were capable of hard work. During the nineteenth century, almshouses also served as places to which masters sometimes emancipated elderly or disabled enslaved laborers and gave counties the responsibility for their upkeep. These former enslaved persons were representative of the typical poorhouse inmate. As this 1794 list of residents shows, most were simply aged or physically or mentally incapable of working and not idle loafers.

Subsistence agriculture dominated the local economy between the 1790s and 1930s. Some residents owned farms, while others worked as tenant farmers or enslaved laborers before the Civil War, or as sharecroppers afterwards. Large tobacco plantations were established during the early 1700s, but by the end of the century most local planters became subsistence farmers, replacing soil exhausting tobacco with crops requiring fewer nutrients, such as corn (maize) and wheat. Even with the shift from tobacco to other crops, agriculture did not bring economic growth. Between 1790 and 1860, the county’s population fell from 11,615 to 8,565, while the state’s population grew by nearly 54%. Many people emigrated to new western states and territories. Those who remained supplemented their incomes by selling fish from the Potomac or through operating blacksmith shops or small dry-goods stores. The Civil War significantly affected Prince William County. Two major battles occurred near Manassas in 1861 and 1862, and a primary route between the capitals of Richmond and Washington passed through the county. High inflation devastated the local economy; extensive troop movements destroyed livestock and crops. In the early twentieth century, the county’s population remained low; census-takers found only 13,951 residents in 1930. Federal impressions of local poverty were contributing factors in the 1935 creation of Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area by the Resettlement Administration. During the final years that the poorhouse operated near Independent Hill, its neighbors worked on their own small farms and supplemented their incomes through jobs at local military bases.

In some areas of the United States, nineteenth century poorhouses housed all sorts of people, from young orphans to the destitute elderly. However, county overseers of the poor distributed cash or in-kind payments to approved able-bodied poor. They remained in their communities and did not live at the poorhouse. The amount of the allowances varied over time. In 1820, payments averaged $11.40 per year, while in 1860 they were $16.22, rising to $47.42 in 1874. In 1912, individuals on the county’s poor list each received about $34.28 per year. Taxes and, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, timber sales, funded these welfare programs. Most individuals who lived at the county poorhouse were elderly or disabled women without the means (or close family) to support themselves. Individuals applied to the overseers of the poor for admission and only gained entry to the poorhouse if they were deemed to be “worthy poor,” people not responsible for their poverty and incapable of improving their own life. Children sometimes lived at the poorhouse for short periods, but the overseers usually apprenticed them to a farmer or tradesman. Most nineteenth-century welfare officials opposed allowing children to live in almshouses and be exposed to the ‘idleness’ of paupers.

While it always had many more white residents than African-Americans , the poorhouse was racially integrated. However, integration does not imply equality. Records from before the Civil War rarely provided African-American residents the small dignity of listing their surnames. African-American residents were almost always physically or mentally disabled. What happened at the poorhouse during the war that freed enslaved people is a mystery; none of its records from 1861 to 1874 survive. Able inmates, together with a few hired farmhands, grew most of the food for poorhouse residents. However, most residents were unable to work due to age and illness; of the 17 residents listed in an 1858 annual report to the state’s Auditor of Public Accounts, only four were healthy enough to work. Archaeological excavations in 2001 found harmonica fragments and pieces of tobacco pipes in the ruins of the poorhouse, suggesting that smoking and music were leisure activities for some poorhouse residents. Medical care came through a contracted local doctor.

The artifacts found around the Poor House structures are similar to those found at farm sites throughout the park. The finds included decorated ceramics, bits of glass tumblers, tobacco pipes, and part of a harmonica reed. The residents of the Poor House seem to have used dishes, drinking glasses and other objects that look much like those of their neighbors. Of course, these objects may have been donated to the poor, or purchased second hand by the overseers. We can't tell from archeological fragments whether the dishes were chipped or cracked by the time they came to the Poor House. The harmonica reed is an evocative find, and we can image some elderly resident sitting in front of the Poor House playing a lonesome tune.

Milling was one of several industries that helped this area grow in the colonial era. This industry, in addition to the tobacco trade, rose up on the banks of Quantico Creek, spurring the growth of the town of Dumfries and the hillsides that became Prince William Forest Park.

Gibson's Mill was the first mill in the area, constructed at the mouth of Quantico Creek in 1691. Little is known about the mill, but it did spur the growth of a small town of the banks of Quantico Creek. Records from the area are virtually inexistent until 1740, when locals requested that the town be planned in a grid pattern. Dumfries was incorporated in 1749 and became a significant colonial port.

After the port of Dumfries collapsed in the late 1700s, milling remained while the economy shifted toward subsistence agriculture. By the 1820s, there were four mills operating on Quantico and Chopawamsic Creeks. None were large scale. Chapman’s Mill, also referred to as Missouri or Purcell’s Mill, sat along Chopawamsic Creek. A combination gristmill and sawmill sat here since before the American Revolution. There are some records that show it was once a enslaved person depot. Following the war, it was a post office. Located on Quantico Creek, Clifton’s Mill was one of the larger operations in the area. It was a water-powered gristmill. Records indicate that it was intended to be a Clifton Mill was terribly unsuccessful. It was sold twice to pay owners’ debts. James Deneale owned the mill from 1813 to 1824 and saw that water power was an important part of America’s future, but was not able to turn a profit. He put the mill up for sale in 1818. There were two other mills along the South Fork of Quantico Creek, but neither of these were successful, nor are there any remnants of them. Despite the possibility of industrial development, these mills failed more often than not. By the mid-1800s, the area of the park became a small, self-contained agrarian community.

There are two historically significant bridges within Prince William Forest Park - learn more about their history and construction.

Originally constructed in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) , the South Fork Quantico Creek Bridge design and construction represents a renewal of interest in rustic forms of architecture that also influenced the construction of this bridge. This style highlighted the use of "native" materials: readily available in the surroundings and natural to a park's environment.

The North Fork Quantico Creek Bridge is representative of a common bridge type of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century America. It is a low Pratt pony metal truss bridge. The bridge predates the park's development and existence. Its present use as a trail bridge is in keeping with the original intention of Prince William Forest Park as a preserved wilderness. As one of the last physical remnants remaining from the mining activities in this region of Prince William County, the bridge is linked to earlier land use in the area.

Following the Civil War, the land that is now Prince William Forest Park was split among small landholders. The owners were family farmers who only grew enough food to survive. However, there was mining in the area, and some gold was discovered and excavated from what was known as the Greenwood Gold Mine. Greenwood Gold Mine was located in the northwestern corner of the park near the headwaters of Quantico Creek. There are few records that tell of its operation. Two vertical shafts were dug, and the mine was only open for a few years before being abandoned by 1907. Currently, there are faint traces of buildings in the area, although it is not known for what they were used. Remnants of the two shafts and trenching can still be seen at the site. Most of Virginia’s gold mines were depleted as early as the mid to late 1800s, and virtually all major mining of gold happened in the western part of the United States. A local historian said that as late as the Great Depression, locals found their way to the mine, but returned with little to show for their efforts. Similar to the Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine, the environment was affected by mining operations. The Greenwood site is known to have contaminated Quantico Creek with mercury. Historically, mercury was used to process gold, and traces of it can sometimes be found in old mine waste piles.

In the fall of 2012, Prince William Forest Park implemented its plans to replace the roofing system on its historic 1930s era cabins. Park staff work around the clock to maintain these historic structures to historic standards, replacing board for board and nail for nail. In planning for the long term stability of the structures, park managers must work to balance the historic standards requirements with ever-present funding constraints and park goals for environmental stewardship. It is the goal of the park to eventually replace all of the cabin roofs in alignment with this plan.

The Prince William Forest Park cabins were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression to provide overnight, outdoor recreation for impoverished youth from Washington, DC. During World War II, these same cabins were taken over by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) , the WWII predecessor the CIA and America's Special Forces, for use as Special Operations and Communications Training Camps. Though many of these cabins have been on the National Register of Historic Places for many years, the park, in its entirety, was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places this year based in a large part on the cabins' Great Depression and WWII era history.

The cabins were constructed following the tenets of the rustic architecture movement which was very popular in the early 20 th century. This movement used locally-harvested materials to achieve a naturalist, pioneer-made look, despite the use of machines for some construction. For the cabin roofs at Prince William Forest Park, the CCC used hand-made, cedar shake shingles on all of the buildings. You can view a Works Progress Administration worker hand-making these shingles in the early park film, The Human Crop.

During the OSS era (1942-1945), some of the original cabin roofs were replaced with asphalt shingles which was cheaper and less labor intensive, despite being aesthetically opposed to the rustic architecture movement. Since the 1940s, layer after layer of asphalt shingles have been laid upon the roofs with more regard to structural preservation that architectural aesthetics. Over the years, the roof color has varied from the original, faded gray for a cedar shake, to brown, green, and gray asphault shingles.

Prince William Forest Park management considered a variety of materials for the proposed roof replacement, and has concluded that the use of authentic cedar shake shingles would be fiscally prohibitive not only due to the cost of the materials themselves, but also because of the frequency with which the shingles would have to be replaced. This new roofing plan will return to a more aesthetic and sustainable roofing material that maintains the character of the rustic style architecture originally used on the camp buildings, as well as to provide for the long-term preservation of these historic buildings. The NPS chose not to select asphalt shingles because they do not match the appearance and visual qualities of wood shake.

Park management has selected to replace the existing asphalt shingles with a substitute material shingle, made of composite, recycled material, which best meets the purpose and need of this project. These shingles are made to replicate the look and profile of the original cedar shake shingles that were hand-made by the CCC and installed on the cabins in the 1930s. They are a faded grey color, matching the look of cedar after a few years of weathering. The long term life cycle replacement (how long the shingles are on the roofs until they need to be replaced) far outstretches both asphalt shingles and the original cedar shake shingles. The composite shingles are fire and mod resistant. These factors led the park to choose the composite shingle for its roofing needs on the historic cabins.

Explore the largest Piedmont Forest in the DC Metro area as you learn about the park's natural resources - from aquatic life and songbirds to wildflowers and mushrooms - and what it takes to preserve such a unique ecosystem. Video by Maddi Whiting Narration by Ian Phillips

Prince William Forest Park protects the largest piedmont forest in the National Park Service and the largest greenspace in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. This park gives area residents and visitors a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in an abundance of natural features, ecosystems, flora, and fauna.

Use the links below to navigate to more information on the natural resources of Prince William Forest Park.

Diversity! That is the key to understanding the animal populations of Prince William Forest Park. Learn more about the 46 species of mammals, 22 species of amphibians, 25 species of reptiles, 129 species of birds, 26 species of fish, and an unknown number of invertebrates that make this park their home.

There are over 900 plant species in Prince William Forest Park. From the smallest wildflower to the tallest tree, each species has a special role to play in this forest ecosystem. 365 days a year, Prince William Forest Park is here to explore - tree bark in winter, wildflowers in spring, canopy cover in summer, and autumn colors in fall.

Despite its status as the largest greenspace in metropolitan Washington, D.C., Prince William Forest Park is not immune to environmental factors that stress its ecosystems. Climate change is altering ecosystem norms. Invasive species carried in on firewood and the bottoms of our shoes and cars can wreak havoc on species (see the gypsy moth defoliation at left). Boundary encroachment and area development stress the pristine ecosystems within with pollution runoff and litter. The park's landscapes are still recovering from historic impacts and non-sustainable practices. The more we learn about these problems, the more we can work together with the surrounding community to seek solutions.

Looking at plants and animals individually is like looking at the earth with tunnel vision. Take a step back and look at the natural features and ecosystems of Prince William Forest Park are all interdependent on each other. Learn how geologic features were formed and how geology leads to soil types and how soil types lead to plant development and how plants lead to animal habitats. It's all right here!

Want to dig a little bit deeper? (figuratively of course...) Check out our Research page to see the science behind the facts and figures. If you want to conduct research in Prince William Forest Park or other national parks, apply for a research permit .

The 15,000 acre piedmont forest of Prince William Forest Park provides excellent habitat for a great diversity of avian species. The park is fortunate enough to have a large unfragmented tract of mature deciduous trees and lots of moving water. This attracts a wide variety of birdlife that can’t be found in many other nearby parks. In addition, park maintenance crews conduct minimal roadside mowing to promote the growth of meadows and grassy areas which provide habitat for many grassland birds. The birds found this park are species that are found in high quality forest habitats. No threatened or endangered birds have been identified in the park. Our national bird, the Bald eagle, flies over the area and sometimes nests here.

There are so many species of songbirds that can be heard upon entering our forest in the early morning hours that the forest sometimes seems to sing. First you may be greeted by the loud "teacher-teacher-teacher" of the overnbird or the whistling high-pitched song of the warbler. Many claim that the song of the wood thrush is their favorite. Perhaps the soft "zsee-zsee" and daper coloration of a cedar waxwing eating winter berries will brighten your day. Listen to the sounds of the songbirds .

The Bald eagle is the only eagle unique to North America making it a good choice for the United States' national emblem. They are opportunistic feeders that prefer fish, but will also hunt large birds and mammals. They well as scavenge carrion. They nest in large trees near large bodies of water that are often reused over many years. The use of the pesticide DDT in the second half of the 20th century had a devastating effect on Bald eagles. Extinction loomed. Population numbers increased with help from reintroduction programs and protection under the Endangered Species Act. In 1995, the Bald eagle was reclassified as Threatened. Now, the species is recovered and no longer on the list.

The Barred owl is a nocturnal bird that hides in dense foliage or in a tree cavity during the day and hunts from a perch at night. They prey mainly upon small mammals, but is an opportunistic hunter and will take various other prey including birds, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates such as crayfish. They are known for its distinctive call that is sounds like "who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all". An owl's eyes are fixed in place because their large size provides no room for muscles. To compensate for this, it can turn its head in almost any direction and angle, including the ability to rotate its head nearly 280 degrees. By comparison, people can only turn their heads a mere 90 degrees. Another resident of Prince William Forest Park, the Great Horned owl, is their only natural predator. Barred Owls will avoid areas where Great Horned owls are present.

The wood duck is considered one of the most beautiful waterfowl. They are found in forested wetlands and along rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. After hatching, the young jump from the nest cavity and make their way to the water where their mother calls to them. The leap from the nest may be as high as 290 feet. They have a broad diet of seeds, fruits, acorns, and aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. They are one of only a few cavity nesting ducks in North America. Nests in natural tree cavities, cavities, cavities made by larger woodpeckers such as the pileated woodpecker, and man-made nest boxes often in close proximity to water. The nest is lined with down feathers from the mother's breast.

Unlike other shorebirds, the American woodcock prefers habitat consisting of forests with open areas. They are encountered most often at dusk in spring while males are performing their elaborate aerial display in an attempt to attract females. The displays are carried out in open areas where the male begins with a series "peent" vocalizations. Eventually, the male will take flight, rising upward in a spiral, before descending in a zig-zag diving motion. During this descent, a twittering sound is produced both vocally and by air passing over modified with feathers. Their diet mostly consists of earthworms and other invertebrates that are acquired by probing the dirt and leaf litter with their bill. The bill has a sensitive flexible tip that is used to locate and grasp worms and other food items without opening its entire bill. Their nests are nothing more than a shallow depression in the ground.

The belted kingfisher is one of only a few bird species where the female is the more colorful of the two sexes. They are found along streams, rivers, and lakes. They eat mostly small fish but also consume aquatic insects, amphibians, reptiles, and crustaceans. They look for prey while perched or hovering over clear water, and then dives head first into water to catch prey with its bill. The Belted Kingfisher will often kill prey by beating it against a branch. The nest in burrows in banks along waterways in which both parents excavate the tunnel, incubate, and feed the young. They often give a loud rattling cry making them sometimes easy to detect.

The hummingbird eats flower nectar, small insects, spiders and sap. They use their long extendable tongue to feed from flowers and feeders. They may consume up to twice their body weight each day. All hummingbirds have a unique figure eight motion of wings during flight that enables them to hover and fly forward, backward, sideways, down, up, and even upside down for brief periods. During flight, the hummingbird beats its wing around 50 times a second and is able to reach speeds of 60 miles per hour. When deprived of food or confronted with cold temperatures, hummingbirds are able to almost completely put body functions on hold and enter a state known as torpor. During this state, they are able to reduce their body temperature to 55°F from the normal 104°F to 111°F. They have very small feet that inhibit them from walking.

The park provides a needed refuge for wildlife populations in the area. The park covers two physiographic provinces and lies in a transition zone between northern and southern climates, resulting in diverse habitats that can support healthy breeding populations of numerous animal species. Inventory data lists at least 46 species of mammals, 22 species of amphibians, 25 species of reptiles, 129 species of birds, 26 species of fish, and an unknown number of invertebrates. Several studies have uncovered a few Virginia state rare or threatened species as well as species of special concern. Threats to wildlife in the park include poaching, development, and direct habitat loss and alteration. Learn more about viewing wildlife in the park safely .

Amphibians are born in water and grow to breathe air. Frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts fall into this class of animals.

Prince William Forest Park is one of the best birding habitats in northern Virginia. Learn more about what birds you can see here!

They may have no backbone, but invertebrates ARE the backbone of the natural world! These colorful insects pollinate our flowers and plants.

Our closest cousins in the animal kingdom. They have hair, three inner-ear bones, are born live (not in eggs), and nurse from their mothers.

They slink, they slither, and invoke love in some, and fear in others. Reptiles include snakes, turtles, and lizards.

The wild turkey is the largest of the upland game bird species. They were nearly eradicated by the early 1900s due to hunting and habitat loss. Reintroduction programs helped to bring the wild turkey population back to a healthy size. They are found in hardwood and pine forest with scattered openings. During the day, they forage along the ground for acorns, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetation, insects, and occasionally small vertebrates such as salamanders. Adult males, called gobblers or toms, are much larger than females, have a long beard made a modified feathers growing out of breast, spurs on the back of their legs, and a bare white, blue, and red head and neck. During the breeding season, toms gobble to announce their presence to females and other males. The gobble can be heard up to a mile away.

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in most of North America with the exception of the rare Ivory-billed Woodpecker. They live in deciduous and coniferous forests with large trees and excavates large nests in cavities of generally dead trees. They usually excavate a new nest each year, creating habitat for other large cavity nesters such as Eastern Screech Owls, Northern Flickers, and Wood Ducks. While foraging for food, Pileated Woodpeckers often cut out large rectangular holes in trees. Small trees can sometimes break in half as a result of these foraging practices. Woodpeckers have stiff tail feathers that act as a brace while they cling to sides of trees and a long barbed, sticky tongue to help capture prey deep inside crevices and tunnels in wood.

The Brown Thrasher is able to mimic up to 3,000 different songs. Other members of the Thrasher family which are also found here at Prince William Forest Park including the Northern Mockingbird and the Gray Catbird. They search for insects by using its bill to sweep leaf litter and debris away. They nest on or close to the ground in dense vegetation often with thorns. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the young. The Brown Thrasher aggressively defends its nest and has been known to strike people and dogs with enough force to draw blood.

People who know and love bird songs often claim that the wood thrush's song is their favorite. Indeed it does possess all the qualities of the classic and traditional "bird song". The wood thrush's song is flute like, flowing, musical and comparatively long. But you do not have to go just by song to identify a wood thrush. They are fairly easy to spot, being very active and robin sized rather than tiny like so many of our other birds. They will be seen flying about in the low to middle canopy and singing during dawn and dusk hours. They do like to stay sheltered and won't often be seen out in the open.

This little beauty is the gem of our woods. A bright dash of vibrant yellow lights up the forest when a hooded warbler flits by. An olive colored back, and yellow face and belly grace the body of this tiny warbler. But it's the black 'hood' over its head that gives them their common name. The female is a lighter version of the male with a less distinct hood. It can be quite frustrating trying to find a hooded warbler. You may hear his whistling high-pitched song close by, but never see that gorgeous plumage. But with some patience you may catch a glimpse, because "hoodeds' don't constantly dwell in the upper canopy like most other warblers. They can be spotted in the mid canopy, but never sit still for very long.

This bird is actually one of our more common wood warblers. His song is so loud and frequent that it can drown out the softer songs of the other birds. He is often seen low in the leaf canopy, or on the ground walking rather than hopping. He is a soft brown and has a white chest with brown spots. His head bears a darker rusty colored stripe. you may hear his call so often that by the time a one hour hike is over, you will have learned his song, committing it to memory. Male and female ovenbirds have similar plumage.

Down by the water, kingfishers and great-blue herons as well as Canada geese may be surprised by your appearance on the trail, flushing up into the air before returning to earth further upstream.

The cedar waxwing is one of few bird species in North America that specializes in eating fruits and berries. They are named for waxy red "droplets" on the tips of secondary flight feathers and their affinity for the fruit of the eastern red-cedar. The "droplets" come from pigments in the fruit that they consume. Humans have also affected the cedar waxwing's coloration. They have been observed with orange tail tips rather than the normal yellow tail tips. This is a result of a red pigment of te berries of an introduced honeysuckle plant. If a waxwing eats the berries while molting its tail feathers, the tip of the feather will be orange.

Feel free to e-mail us for more information on our birds or to report an exciting siting.

Hiking trails meander through 37 miles of Prince William Forest Park, winding along the two forks of Quantico Creek and crossing the short ridges in the park's interior. The park's Scenic Drive, Visitor Center, and campground parking areas provides access to virtually all the trails and features here. While there are only a few loop trails, many of the trails below can be combined into short or long distance hiking loops. If you can't make it to the park, use the interactive trail guide below to explore. You can also explore the park trails by thematic e-walks such as our Geology E-Walk .

Hiking Safety Hiking is done at the visitor's own risk. Please observe these tips for a fun and safe hike. Take five minutes to stretch your muscles before and after your hike. Warm up by starting slowly, then pick up the pace. Plan your trip before you go and let someone know your route. Bring a small first aid kit, always wear sunscreen, take several rests, and carry a map and compass. Drink plenty of water. Always keep dogs on a leash Follow tick prevention and wildlife safety tips. Note: Rocks in park streams can be extremely slippery. Please stay on marked trails and observe park rules.

A moderately easy trail near the visitor center than includes good creekside views (1.8 miles)

A moderately difficult trail that provides a look at the site of the Cabin Branch Mine (0.3 miles)

A moderately difficult trail through the rugged and heavily forested Chopawamsic Backcountry Area. This area requires a permit (2.0 miles)

A self-guided tour near the Oak Ridge Campground of an area where old farmland has reverted back to mature forest (1.0 miles)

Located off the Farms to Forest Trail, this trail offers excellent creekside views of beaver habitat (2.7 miles)

A trail that begins on the ridgetop and descends to the South Fork of Quantico Creek, including a wide variety of habitats (2.1 miles)

Access this short, loop trail near the visitor center and travel to the banks of the South Fork Quantico Creek (1.4 miles)

A short, easy trail that includes excellent opportunities for beaver viewing (0.5 miles)

Trail leads along Quantico Creek and includes small waterfalls with excellent opportunities for geologic study (2.6 miles)

An easy, rubberized trail that includes a wildlife viewing platform with benches (0.2 miles)