Try a Graves and Ghost Hike Sunday,  Oct. 1 at Pr. Wm. Forest Park

As the weather cools and the leaves begin to change, Prince William Forest Park (off Joplin Road near I-95) will host visitor programs about the history and plant life of the park. Watch Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) re-enactors demonstrate some of the skills needed to build cabin camps in the park or learn about the period of history during World War II when the park became a training area for spies in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). 

Sunday, October 1 – Graves & Ghost Hike
Meet outside the Visitor Center at 10:00am. Happy Halloween Month! It’s the perfect time of year to explore stories of life, death, permanence, and ghosts on a two-mile hike to two historic cemeteries. Please note that this hike includes a section of off-trail travel where bushwhacking is involved. Bring water and wear sturdy shoes.

Saturday, October 7 - Civilian Conservation Corps Living History Days
Meet at Cabin Camp 2 (17175 Mawavi Road) anytime from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During the worst economic depression in U.S. history, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, employed tens of thousands of young men on outdoor recreation and environmental restoration projects across the country. In Prince William Forest Park, these young men built the five cabin camps, constructed reservoirs, and created many of the roads, trails, and bridges still in use today. Come out to Cabin Camp 2 for this drop-in program where CCC reenactors will demonstrate the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps. See exhibits spotlighting 1930s era tools and uniforms. Bring water and wear sturdy shoes for this drop-in program.

Sunday, October 8 - Civilian Conservation Corps Living History Days
Meet at Cabin Camp 2 (17175 Mawavi Road) anytime from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. See program description above.
Saturday, October 14 – Fall Foliage Hike
Meet outside the Visitor Center at 10:00 a.m. Enjoy the beauty of autumn leaves and learn how to identify certain tree species of the park on the 1.4-mile-long Laurel Loop Trail.

Sunday, October 22 – Fall Foliage Fun
Meet outside the Visitor Center at 10:00 a.m. Children and families are invited to this two-hour interactive program celebrating the beauty of autumn. We’ll first take a walk to learn about some of the tree species in the park, and then we’ll complete a couple of fall foliage-themed arts and crafts.

Saturday, November 4 – OSS Day
Meet at Cabin Camp 2 (17175 Mawavi Road) at either 10:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. Explore how the U.S. Military’s Office of Strategic Services secretly trained in Prince William Forest Park to prepare for covert operations overseas during World War II. Discover how the OSS utilized the cabin camps and then trek off trail into the woods with a park ranger to OSS training grounds. Show up at either 10 am or 1 pm for this 2.5-hour walking tour. Note: this program involves two miles of hiking including a substantial amount of time bushwhacking off trail. Please bring water and wear sturdy shoes.


About Prince William Forest Park. Prince William Forest Park, the largest green space in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, is a natural oasis of clean water and wild plants. With dozens of miles of trails for hiking and miles of quiet roadways for bicycling, the park is a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts. The 15,000-acre park preserves thousands of years of archeology and history including stories of indigenous peoples, an integrated community where African Americans and Caucasians lived side by side, and a successful mine where “fool’s gold” was extracted from the earth. In the Great Depression, to provide meaningful employment to unemployed young men, the Civilian Conservation Corps was established; the CCC built cabin camps and reservoirs and the park opened its gates to the public in 1936. While the initial park was created to provide outdoor camps for organized low-income youth groups from Washington, DC, Prince William Forest Park’s fragrant woods and trickling streams have now welcomed generations of tent campers, cabin campers, hikers, bikers and nature lovers from around the region. For more information, visit the park website or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.