It seems that we always get some questions on Facebook as to whether a park is open on a particular holiday. Our Virginia State Parks are open to the public every day of the year. Hours can vary by park but are all posted on the individual park web pages which you can find here. 

The park is open but this doesn't mean the office or visitor center are open. It means you can access the park, hike the trails, and enjoy the outdoors. 

But as you may imagine, sometimes things happen that may force us to close the park. This could be a hurricane, heavy snowfall, or even a managed deer hunt.

We realize our visitors come to expect that the park is open every day so we developed a system on our website that warns when the park is closed or planning to be closed. Sometimes we can post these well in advance. Other times, the cause for closing is sudden so the alert will be last minute. We will always attempt to contact overnight customers using their email address or phone number, but if you decide to pack up the family for a day in the park you might be disappointed if you arrive and the park is closed. So, I always suggest you take a quick peak at the park's web page before heading out.

Example of an Alert on a Park's Web Page

Sometimes we will use the alerts to warn you that part of the park might be closed, or there may be a special event that might reduce your enjoyment of the park, or swimming may be closed, or a particular trail may be closed. November through January you may find your favorite park closed for a couple of days because of a managed deer hunt. So we thought this was a good time to remind you about this system.

Some facilities have defined operating schedules like guarded swimming, visitor centers, and restaurants. These will be listed on the website. We will only include an alert when something that is normally scheduled to be open is closed. 

The alerts are meant to be short. Call the park for more details. You will notice that each park's phone number and email address are right under the park name.