Westmoreland State Park
Virginia State Park; One Of The Six Original 1936 Parks, Built By The Civilian Conservation Corps, On The Miocene Horsehead Cliffs Of The Potomac · Montross, Virginia
Thirteen hundred acres on the Potomac in the Northern Neck, one of the six parks that opened on 15 June 1936, and the best place in Virginia to pick up something that died fifteen million years ago. The Horsehead Cliffs rise a hundred and fifty feet above the river here, and what they are made of is Miocene seabed - layer after layer of shell, bone and sediment from when this whole coastal plain lay under a warm shallow ocean. The cliffs erode constantly, which is a problem for the park and a gift for visitors: the fossils wash out and end up on Fossil Beach below, and on any given day people are working the waterline for shark teeth, scallop shells and the occasional whale vertebra. You may collect what you find loose on the beach. You may not dig in the cliffs, and you should not stand under them. Behind the beach the park has cabins, camping, a pool, a boat ramp on the Potomac and a good trail network through ravines that run down to the river - and the next estate along the same cliffs is Stratford Hall, where Robert E. Lee was born.
145 Cliff Road, Montross, Virginia, 22520, United States
Park open daily, generally 8 AM to dusk with shorter winter gate hours. Swimming pool, camp store and boat rental are SEASONAL, mainly June to August. Visitor centre keeps shorter hours and is reduced in winter. Cabins and camping by reservation. Parking fee per vehicle, separate pool charge, separate launch fee. Fossil Beach is open year round and is best after winter storms.
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