If you haven't been to this unique Virginia State Park, you need to go. There is so much to learn as you walk through the living history demonstrations at Wilderness Road State Park.

This makes for a fun and educational family field-trip, or homeschool event.

Four white-tailed deer line the field with Historic Martin's Station standing in the background at Wilderness Road State Park

WILD FRONTIER

Wilderness Road State Park is in a geographically and historically significant region of Virginia. The park lies astride the Wilderness Road that winds down Powell's Valley. In 1775, Daniel Boone carved the Wilderness Road, and by 1800 more than 300,000 settlers traveled the Wilderness Road westward through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and the Midwest.

Martin Station was originally settled by Joseph Martin, who arrived there on March 26, 1769, after a difficult journey. After an attack that fall by Native American warriors, Martin abandoned the station but returned in earnest in January 1775. 

Click here to visit the Friends of Wilderness Road's website, which provides historic details about Martin's Station.

Enjoy this short video and see reasons to go wild about Wilderness Road State Park:

ABOUT

Wilderness Road State Park offers picnicking, hiking, and nature and living history programs. Visitors can enjoy the visitor center, home to a theater showing an award-winning docudrama, "Wilderness Road, Spirit of a Nation." The center also has a frontier museum and a gift shop with unique regional gifts. The park features the reconstructed Martin's Station, an outdoor living history museum depicting life on Virginia's 1775 frontier. Guests also enjoy the park's picnic shelters, 100-seat amphitheater, nature play-scape, ADA-certified playground, sand volleyball court and horseshoe pits.

Visitors can hike, bike or horseback ride on the 8.5-mile Wilderness Road Trail linking the park with more than 50 miles of trails in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. 

Wilderness Road State Park was originally part of a farm owned by Robert M. Ely. The mansion was built in 1878, and several generations of Ely descendants lived there. The surrounding rural area still bears the name Elydale after the Ely family.

In the 1940s, the mansion and surrounding property were purchased by Karl and Ann Harris. Even though the mansion was renovated several times, the basic structure of the house remains the same.

Wilderness Road Trail bisects Wilderness Road State Park. Visitors may park cars and horse trailers at the park to access the trail. The trail connects the park with the campgrounds at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, six miles away.

Raid at Martin's Station at Wilderness Road State Park is held each May

TRAILS

Wilderness Road Trail, an 8.5-mile hiking, biking and equestrian trail, is registered as a stop on the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail. Indian Ridge Trail, a .77-mile self-guided, is a natural heritage trail. The .9-mile, hiking-only Pioneer Trail offers scenic views of Martin's Station Fort and the iconic White Rocks. Fisherman's Loop Trail, which is 1.1 miles and for only hiking, runs beside the trout fishing area.

EVENTS

The park offers seasonal monthly programs, environmental and nature education programs, special events and living history discussions. Raid at Martin's Station (re-enactment), May, sponsored by Friends of Wilderness Road State Park. Wilderness Road Heritage Festival and Pumpkins in the Park, October. Christmas at Karlan and A Frontier Christmas, December. 

Click here to view all parks' events, festivals, workshops and interpretive programs.

LOCATION

At the intersection of Routes 58 (Wilderness Road) and 923 (Martin's Station Trail), five miles west of Ewing, Va., and 10 miles east of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Middlesboro, Ky.

Drive Time: Northern Virginia, 10 hours; Richmond, eight hours; Tidewater/Norfolk/Virginia Beach, 11 hours; Roanoke, five hours. Google map directions here.

OVERNIGHT

While there are no cabins or campgrounds available to visitors at this park, you will find cabins, lodges, campgrounds and yurts to rent just 1 hour drive at Natural Tunnel State Park. Call 800-933-7275 to learn more, or click here to check availability or to reserve online.

#ThinkOutside