High Bridge Trail State Park
Virginia State Park And National Recreation Trail On The Former Norfolk And Western Railbed; High Bridge Is A National Historic Landmark, 2,400 Feet Long And 125 Feet Above The Appomattox River · Farmville, Virginia
Thirty-one miles of former Norfolk and Western railbed running across Southside Virginia through Farmville, and one structure that justifies the whole thing. High Bridge is two thousand four hundred feet long and stands a hundred and twenty-five feet above the Appomattox River - among the longest recreational bridges in the United States and by a distance the longest in Virginia - and walking out into the middle of it is a genuinely unsettling experience, because there is nothing on either side but air and a river bottom a long way down. The first bridge here was built in the 1850s; Confederate troops tried to burn it in April 1865 as Lee retreated west and Union forces saved enough of it to keep the pursuit going, which is why the fighting at Sailor's Creek happened a few miles away the same week. The present structure was rebuilt in 1914 and decked for walkers and riders when the park opened in 2012. The rest of the trail is flat crushed stone through farmland and woods, shared with horses, and almost empty away from Farmville.
6888 Green Bay Road, Farmville, Virginia, 23901, United States
Trail open daily, generally dawn to dusk, and free to use; a parking fee applies per vehicle at the developed trailheads. Visitor facilities keep shorter hours and are reduced in winter. HIGH BRIDGE ITSELF HAS CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE in the past - confirm the bridge is open, not just the trail, before travelling for it. Horses are permitted the full length. Bike hire and food are available in Farmville at the midpoint and nowhere else.
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