Green Pastures Recreation Area

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Virginia — Day-use recreation area in the Blue Ridge foothills — offers picnicking, fishing, and access to the Maury River. Named for its rolling green meadows at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Visitor Information

About Green Pastures

Green Pastures Recreation Area provides outdoor recreation in Virginia’s Blue Ridge region. Virginia’s state park system — established in 1936 with six CCC-built parks — is consistently ranked among the finest in the nation. The state’s parks span from the Atlantic coast barrier islands to the Appalachian highlands, covering every major ecosystem of the Mid-Atlantic.

Things to Do

Hiking, fishing, camping, picnicking, wildlife observation, and connecting to Virginia’s award-winning state park trail system. The surrounding Blue Ridge landscape offers scenic drives, wineries, and fall foliage viewing.

Plan Your Visit

Green Pastures Recreation Area provides day-use recreation including hiking, fishing, and picnicking. The park connects to Virginia’s extensive state park trail system. The Blue Ridge Parkway — America’s most visited National Park Service unit with 15+ million visitors annually — passes through the region. Virginia’s 40 state parks offer lodges, cabins, and campgrounds across the state. The park is free; most Virginia state parks charge a parking fee ($10-15).

Nature & Wildlife

Virginia’s Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions support one of the most diverse temperate forests in North America — over 150 native tree species. White-tailed deer, black bears, and wild turkeys are common. The eastern box turtle is Virginia’s state reptile. Cerulean warblers — one of the most rapidly declining songbirds in North America — nest in the tall canopy of mature hardwood forests throughout the Blue Ridge.

Insider Tips

Virginia outdoors: Virginia’s state park system spans from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachian Mountains — covering every major ecosystem in the Mid-Atlantic. Pro tip: Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in America (Jamestown, 1607) — the state’s history is inseparable from American history. Blue Ridge: The Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia are among the oldest mountains on Earth — 1.1 billion years old.

Best Time to Visit

Fall: Virginia foliage season. Spring: Wildflower bloom in the mountains. Summer: Full recreation season. Winter: Mild compared to northern states.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old are Virginia’s mountains?

The Blue Ridge Mountains contain some of the oldest rock in North America — the basement gneiss is 1.1+ billion years old. The Appalachian Mountains were once as tall as the Himalayas (formed during the same type of continental collision 480 million years ago). Hundreds of millions of years of erosion have worn them down to their current gentle profiles — but the ancient rock tells the story of a violent geological past.