Hemlock Overlook Regional Park
Park in Virginia, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hemlock Overlook Regional Park is a multi-use park near Clifton, Virginia, one of several parks lining the Bull Run. The 400-acre park offers dense forests, hilly woodlands, and floodplain scenery. Hemlock Overlook is named after the grove of hemlock trees above the banks in the northern section of the park.
| Hemlock Overlook Regional Park | |
|---|---|
Hemlock grove in Hemlock Overlook Regional Park | |
 Interactive map of Hemlock Overlook Regional Park | |
| Location | Clifton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 38°46′13″N 77°24′35″W |
| Area | 400 acres (161.87 ha) |
| Operator | NOVA Parks |
| Open | year round access |
| Website | |
At the northern edge of the park is the site of the Union Mills and the bridge crossing for the Orange and Alexandria Railroad over the Bull Run; both of these sites have high significance in the Battles of Bull Run. The site of a dam that supported the first hydroelectric power generation to Fairfax County, Virginia, is also on the Hemlock Overlook site. A permanent orienteering course, built with the support of the Quantico Orienteering Club, sits in the southern end of the park, south of Yates Ford Road. The Bull Run-Occoquan Trail (blue trail) is maintained by the PATC.
From 1984 to 2009, Hemlock Overlook operated as a university outdoor education center, through a partnership between George Mason University and the Park Authority.[1][2] Warren Doyle, of Appalachian Trail lore, was a Director. In 2009, the Park Authority engaged a partner, Adventure Links, to operate the facility.[3][4] In 2021, the Park Authority put out a Request for Proposal for new operating partners.[5][6] A new operator, Horizons at Hemlock Overlook, part of Endless Horizons, has been chosen to partner with the Park Authority.
