Description

Located in the rural Northern Neck of Virginia, Belle Isle was the first state park to be purchased with funds from the $95 million 1992 Parks and Recreational Facilities Bond Referendum. The 733 acre site is a window to the beautiful lower Rappahannock River in Lancaster County. Waterfront in the area has been developed extensively by private landowners with little public recreational access. This fact made the lower Rappahannock a priority for purchasing land for a new state park. The park has seven miles of frontage on the north shore of the Rappahannock, and it borders Deep and Mulberry creeks. It features diverse tidal and non-tidal wetlands, lowland marshes, tidal coves and upland forests.

Wildlife: The diverse habitats found in the park provide homes to many predator birds, such as blue herons, osprey, hawks and bald eagles. White-tailed deer, turkeys, groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels, moles, reptiles and amphibians. There are eight distinct types of wetlands within the park.These diverse ecosystems make Belle Isle an excellent outdoor laboratory for environmental education.