False Cape State Park, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Located in southern Virginia Beach, False Cape State Park is a mile-wide barrier split between Back Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  Access is through the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and is limited to hiking, bicycling or boating.  The park features primitive camping and an extensive environmental education program in one of the last undisturbed coastal environments on the East Coast.

In the 1800s, False Cape gained a reputation as a shipping graveyard.  The area got its name because its land mass resembled Cape Henry, luring boats into shallow waters.  One of the area's first communities, Wash Woods, was developed by survivors of such a shipwreck.  The village's church and other structures were built using cypress wood that washed ashore from the wreck.  From the turn of the century until the 1960s, False Cape was a haven for a number of prestigious hunt clubs, which took advantage of the area's abundant waterfowl.  The park's Wash Woods Environmental Education Center is a converted hunt clubhouse.  A 1966 study of Virginia's outdoor recreation resources recommended that a substantial ocean beachfront be made available for public use on the Atlantic Ocean south of Virginia Beach.  The development of the park began with the purchase of approximately 4,300 acres of land.

For more information about False Cape– check out www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/fal.shtml