Sky Meadows State Park

About Sky Meadows State Park

Sky Meadows is named after former owner Sir Robert Hadow, who named the property after Skye Farm on the island of Scotland. Paul Mellon of Upperville donated the land for the park to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1975 and Mellon donated 486 acres in 1988.

This historic park offers a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, horseback riding and hiking. The park also has horse riding trails and a network of horse riding trails, as well as an area developed as an indoor riding arena and horse riding trails. Sky Meadows offers an open-air amphitheater, picnic area, outdoor pool, picnic tables, playgrounds and other amenities.

The settlement of the area can be attributed to the nearby Ashby Gap, which gave settlers access to the Shenandoah Valley. The 5,000-acre property, south of Ash by Ashby Gap, passed into the hands of James Ball.

After his death in 1754, he divided the land into five parts and bequeathed it to his children. Va. Isaac Settle built a house on Mount Bleak and gave it to her son Abner as a wedding present in 1835. In the 1870s, it became the home of William Slater, one of the first nine men in the Shenandoah Valley.
Slater was among them, described in detail by General J.E.B. Stuart and accompanied by a well-known Confederate officer.

That was when Slater first saw Mount Bleak, and the rest of his men, called Mosby Rangers, spent time in the area.

After the war he returned and lived there for 55 years, returning with his wife and two children at the beginning of the 20th century. After 1900 the property changed hands several times, but never for more than a few months.

In 1975, Paul Mellon of Upperville, Va., donated 1,132 acres of the area to the Commonwealth for development as a state park, and in 1987, 245 acres were acquired to create a corridor for the Appalachian Trail. Mellon donated a further 486 hectares in 1990, bringing the total area under cultivation to 1,862 hectares. Fishing is only allowed on land with a valid licence and hunting and fishing only on land.

These fish typically include whitefish, catfish and bluefish, as well as some small fish such as blue trout, red trout and whitefish.

Accommodation is available on a first come, first served basis, and only three picnic tables are protected. Overlooking a gentle pasture, this area has drinking water, barbecues and a modern toilet.

The park has six hiking trails, ranging from less than a mile to almost two miles long, offering a wide variety of different types of trails. There is a small section of the main trail in the park, the Blue Ridge Trail, which is only suitable for hiking.

Pets must be kept on a leash to protect wildlife, and vehicles and bicycles are only allowed on asphalt parking trails. The park also offers access to the Appalachian Trail and is a three-day hike from Harper, which is only accessible by car.

For more information about Sky Meadows State Park, please contact the park's visitor center at (703) 584-5555 or email park @ skymeadows.com.

The park entrance is located on State Route 710, just south of the parking lot on the west side of Sky Meadows Drive, near the intersection of State Road 711 and State Rd.