Machicomoco State Park

View the virtual dedication of Virginia’s 40th State Park, Machicomoco.

These 645 acres, located in Gloucester County overlooking the York River, is the first state park celebrating and honoring the history and legacy of the Native Tribes of Virginia.

The dedication ceremony included a view of the park, speeches, ceremonial blessing and ribbon cutting. The event lasted approximately one hour.

View the recording of the live event.

Park History

On April 26, 2019, the Board of Conservation and Recreation recommended, and DCR's director approved, the name Machicomoco State Park for a future state park at the property also known as Timberneck Farm. As part of the proposed Surry-Skiffes Creek Transmission Line Project memorandum of agreement (MOA) mitigation stipulations, funding was provided for land acquisition, visitor interpretation facilities, archeological investigation and preservation associated with Werowocomoco. The Conservation Fund purchased the Timberneck Tract as part of this stipulation. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects are overseeing the design and construction for a campground, a car-top boat launch, an open-air interpretive center and a picnic area. The property transferred to DCR on Oct. 9, 2020. DCR will open and revisit with public input the Middle Peninsula State Park Master Plan in 2021 to include existing DCR land near Rosewell and the Machicomoco State Park property.

“To Virginia Algonquian speakers, eastern Virginia is known as Tsenacomacoh with Werowocomoco as its capital. Over 30 tribes comprised the Algonquian Powhatan Confederacy at its height, an organization linked by the eastern-Algonquian language and united under Chief Wahunsenacawh. Machicomoco will soon be a new Virginia State Park currently in phase I construction and slated to open early 2021 to the public.

Algonquian language and cosmology frames the land and waterscape to represent the experiential qualities of the land. Wayfinding and interpretation throughout the park references geography, physical characteristics of land and ecology using Algonquian language and cultural signifiers. The park, designed in collaboration with input from tribal representatives, seeks to immerse visitors in the history of this land and the rich Powhatan presence that is deeply linked to this land.

Today, descendants of these tribes, namely the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Monacan, Nansemond, Nottoway, Cheroenhaka (Nottoway), Pamunkey, Patawomeck and Rappahannock, are continuing to assert their presence and engagement with the Tidewater region of Virginia.” Nelson Byrd Woltz, 2020