By state · VA

National Parks in Virginia.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Virginia has Shenandoah National Park as its NPS flagship (the Skyline Drive corridor along the spine of the Blue Ridge) plus an unusually dense corridor of Civil War and Founding Era National Historic Sites and National Military Parks. Notable units include Colonial National Historical Park (Yorktown and Jamestown), Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania, Richmond National Battlefield, Manassas, Petersburg, Cedar Creek and Belle Grove, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Birthplace, and Arlington House. Washington Dulles (IAD), Reagan National (DCA), and Richmond (RIC) anchor different parts of the network. Shenandoah's peak fall-foliage window, mid-October, drives the year's heaviest visitation. Skyline Drive can close in winter weather; most park services run warm-season. Virginia's NPS network is unusually dense with American-history units (Civil War battlefields, Founding Era homesteads, and Revolutionary War landmarks) so a single trip can cover several units within a day's drive of Washington, D.C.

Use this pageShare or cite this guide
Add as a preferred source on Google

National Sites Guide

Share this page

Cite this page

Copy a citation

Virginia map with place names

Virginia National Parks map: labeled satellite map, showing 1 locations: Shenandoah
Virginia's 1 designated National Park. Dots mark general locations, not entrances. This map does not show every NPS source record in the directory below. Map: National Sites Guide, CC BY 4.0.

Customize or download the Virginia map. Change the names, pins and background, or download a ready-made PNG or SVG.

NPS source records in Virginia.

Virginia has 33 records in our combined NPS metadata and visitor-statistics registry: 5 National Historical Parks · 5 Others · 4 National Historic Trails · 3 National Monuments · 3 Part of Colonial National Historical Parks · 2 National Scenic Trails · 2 Parks · 2 National Battlefield Parks · 1 National Seashore · 1 Parkway · 1 National Military Park · 1 Memorial Parkway · 1 National Historic Site · 1 National Battlefield · 1 National Park. This is a source-record count, not the Park Service's official system-unit census. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 40,279,812 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited record is Blue Ridge Parkway at about 16.34M annual visits.

Map of the broader NPS source-record directory
Every National Park Service site in Virginia, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group. 29 of 33 units are mapped here; long-distance trails and units centered in another state are in the table below.
National Park Service sites in Virginia, mapped Interactive map of Virginia showing the location of 29 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. It includes the National Park Shenandoah National Park. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map. 2 5 2

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Blue Ridge Parkway ParkwayBLRI 16,336,836 July
George Washington Memorial Parkway Memorial ParkwayGWMP 7,025,042 August
Appalachian National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailAPPA 6,215,118 July
Colonial National Historical Park National Historical ParkCOLO 2,540,569 April
Assateague Island National Seashore National SeashoreASIS 2,392,510 July
Shenandoah National Park National ParkSHEN 1,603,997 October
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park National Military ParkFRSP 784,425 October
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park National Historical ParkCUGA 767,728 October
Manassas National Battlefield Park National Battlefield ParkMANA 525,937 April
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park National Historical ParkHAFE 434,030 October
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts —WOTR 413,529 August
Prince William Forest Park ParkPRWI 322,001 May
Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial —ARHO 308,323 June
Petersburg National Battlefield National BattlefieldPETE 250,238 August
Richmond National Battlefield Park National Battlefield ParkRICH 160,132 October
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park National Historical ParkAPCO 85,872 April
George Washington Birthplace National Monument National MonumentGEWA 85,783 July
Booker T Washington National Monument National MonumentBOWA 22,796 June
Maggie L Walker National Historic Site National Historic SiteMAWA 4,946 July
Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail National Historic TrailCAJO — —
Cape Henry Memorial Part of Colonial National Historical Park Part of Colonial National Historical ParkCAME — —
Chesapeake Bay —CBPO — —
Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park National Historical ParkCEBE — —
Civil War Defenses of Washington —CWDW — —
Fort Monroe National Monument National MonumentFOMR — —
Great Falls Park ParkGRFA — —
Green Springs —GRSP — —
Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park Part of Colonial National Historical ParkJAME — —
Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail National Historic TrailOVVI — —
Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailPOHE — —
Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail National Historic TrailSTSP — —
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail National Historic TrailWARO — —
Yorktown Battlefield Part of Colonial National Historical Park Part of Colonial National Historical ParkYORK — —

Methodology

Rows come from our combined NPS metadata and Visitor Use Statistics registry, not the Park Service's official census of 433 managed system units. Per-record visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; the "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state records are listed under every state they touch, and their full visit total appears in each state. Official National Park counts use the central 63-park classification rather than the source designation label alone. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Adjacent reading

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-09-10