Escape the Indoors

Director’s Fall Guide to the Outdoors in New Kent County

After a hard week at work, what do you want to do? Do you want to take the family out for a boat ride? Are you a sportsman in search of the backwater honey hole or the secluded stand of mighty white oaks? Maybe you just want to unplug under old-growth trees or kick back around a cozy campfire and watch the stars at night. Here in New Kent County, your options seem limitless.

Chickahominy Lake: Credit Michele Appel

Hunting and Fishing

Bordered by the York, the Pamunkey, and the Chickahominy Rivers as well as a multitude of ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and marshlands, there’s no shortage of places to float your day away. If you are up for a short drive, you can be saltwater fishing for striped bass, redfish or speckled trout in the Chesapeake Bay in thirty minutes, or you can head to one of two state Wildlife Management Areas within the County to hunt, trap, and freshwater fish. 

Game Farm Marsh is a 429-acre Wildlife Management Area featuring spectacular flooded cypress forests on the northern shore of Chickahominy Lake and is only accessible by boat. It’s truly amazing to be able to see such a unique ecosystem, one comparable to The Great Dismal Swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of Virginia and North Carolina, right here in New Kent County. When you get back there in the trees, in the summertime, floating on water stained black by tannic acid and covered in duckweed, you feel like you’re down South, lost in the bayous of Louisiana somewhere. Waterfowl, especially wood ducks, are abundant here, as are panfish, bass, crappie and pickerel. 

Ware Creek is a 2,600 acre Wildlife Management Area along the York river, accessible from both land and water.  It’s an incredibly diverse mix of salt and freshwater marshes, ponds, beaver-dammed wetlands, forest, and open fields,and is rich in upland game, deer, wild turkey, waterfowl, and fish. Where else does the public have access to places like these in their own backyard?

Ware Creek WMA: Credit Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources

Hiking and Wildlife Viewing

In addition to our Wildlife Management Areas, there are several other great places to get outside for the afternoon in New Kent County. In the eastern part of the County, the Wahrani Nature Trail offers several miles of trails for a quick hike through the forest that takes you past a couple of colonial gravesites and old-growth trees. Crawfords State Forest is a 258-acre bird and game sanctuary that includes a one-mile nature trail. Here, you can observe nearly a hundred species of birds, as well as very large, very old tupelo and cypress trees. The Cumberland Marsh Natural Area Preserve offers walking trails, a great view of the Pamunkey River, and a wealth of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl for the birdwatchers among us. 

Camping

Whether you prefer pitching a tent, hanging a hammock, or driving your Class A motorcoach, we’ve got plenty of room for you at our campgrounds in New Kent County. Primitive camping is allowed in Ware Creek WMA for up to fourteen days, but if you want a spacious retreat with great amenities and an even better view, we’ve got places like Ed Allen’s Campground and Cottages or Rockahock Campground. Ed Allen’s Campground has a private boat ramp and boat rentals, campsites and cottages, stocked fishing ponds, horseshoe pits, picnic pavilions and a lakeside restaurant within walking distance (NOTE: they are closed for the season but are still accepting monthly reservations.). Rockahock Campground offers their guests two boat launches, kayak rentals, a marina, basketball court and an amphitheater with festivals and concerts along with multiple overnight accommodations.  If you’re itching to get out of those high-density areas or if you just want to get everyone out of the house for the weekend, we have the locations for you to set up your base camp, hit the sights, and come back to a peaceful evening campfire with the family under the stars.

Marina along the Chickahominy River: Credit Rockahock Campground