Picnic Areas In Wythe County

Listed below are 11 public picnic areas you can enjoy in Wythe County. All have picnic tables. Other amenities and information are listed beside each entry. If you know of picnic areas we may have missed, please let us know.

Ager Park - Staford Umberger Drive, Industrial Park, Wytheville. Features: An elaborate fenced playground designed by and for children with adjacent ball field. May be rented for large gatherings. (Located just up the road from several fast food restaurants, for parents traveling with small children wanting an exercise break.) There are a few picnic tables.

Big Bend Picnic Area - US 52, on top of Big Walker Mountain, Jefferson National Forest. Features: Near Appalachian Trail and Big Walker Lookout gift shop (snacks) and overlook. Grills, fireplaces, vault toilets, hiking trails.

Carter Wayside - Highway 11, Max Meadows. Features: Shelters, grills, water fountain, wooded, ball field, fishing. The wayside is located in a horseshoe bend of Reed Creek. Carter Wayside is maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation and there is no reservations or fees required to use the shelters.

Dark Horse Hollow - US 52, Jefferson National Forest. Features: Grills, water pump, outhouse rest rooms, wooded, fishing, Stony Fork Creek, Nature trails, small entrance fee for car.

Elizabeth Brown Park - Between Fourth & Church Street, Downtown Wytheville. Features: Shelter, stage, adjacent to Wytheville Recreation Center, water fountain, rest rooms, wooded, three bridges over creek running length of park. May be rented for large gatherings.

Foster Falls (New River Trail State Park) - Exit I-77 between Fort Chiswell and Popular Camp. Parking fee of $2.00. Picnic tables, Tubing, bicycling, canoeing, rafting rental on premises. Camping available, no water to sites at present, but should be by June, 1999..

Jefferson National Forest - Highway 21, Speedwell. Features: Picnic tables at a highway pullover.

McWayne Swimming Pool, Monroe St., Wytheville. Picnic tables. 223-3316.

Ravens Cliff Horse Camp - State Road 619, Jefferson National Forest. Features: Camping for people with horses, hitching rails, chemical toilets. On a horse trail.

Rural Retreat Lake - State Road 677, Rural Retreat. Features: Tables around lakeside, boat rental, fishing supplies, camping, snacks, usually have lots of wild & tame ducks around lake.

Shot Tower (New River Trail State Park) - Exit I-77 between Fort Chiswell and Popular Camp. Features: Rest rooms, New River Trail State park adjacent, wooded, historic exhibit (fee charged).

Exercise Park

Withers Park - Fourth Street, Wytheville. This is not a picnic area, but a walking & fitness park. After a long day working or driving, you might like to give it a try. The walking track is a one/fifth mile circle. There are benches, wooden beams constructed to exercise different muscles of your body, concrete steps to jog up and down, and labeled plantings of trees surrounding the track. Well lighted for night. Adjacent to municipal pool, Thomas Boyd and Rock House Museums. Picnic tables are located behind nearby McWayne pool.