When entering the visitor center, there are bookshelves with items for purchase and old country store antiques for display to the left and a large wooden desk with a park ranger available to answer questions to the right as well as a pathway leading to museum displays.
NPS Photo/Melissa Weih
Prince William Forest Park Visitor Center
The main visitor center for Prince William Forest Park is located at:
18170 Park Entrance Rd
Triangle, VA 22172
In the visitor center area there is:
A paved parking lot
A paved visitor drop-off area
A restroom building
The Visitor Center building
Cement and stone paths connecting all of these places.
Paths
The path between the parking area, visitor center, and restrooms is:
265 feet long
Paved with cement and mostly level.
Crosses a 12 foot service road once, 107 feet from the parking area.
Restrooms
There is a separate building for restrooms to the left (west) of the visitor center.
Split into men’s restroom and women’s restroom.
The men’s restroom is on the left and the women’s restroom is on the right.
Each restroom has one larger stall intended for wheelchair users. The women's restroom has one additional small stall and the men's restroom has an additional standing urinal.
Visitor Center
Access
The visitor center is accessed by either a ramp to the left of the front porch, or four stone steps in the middle of the porch.
The visitor center is split into two sections; the bookstore and the exhibits.
As you walk in the front doors, directly in front of you will be the bookstore.
To your right is the Information Desk and exhibit section.
Information Desk
Rangers staff the information desk and are available to answer questions.
Braille copies of the park brochure are available here.
This is also where you can pay for entrance fees or purchase park passes.
Exhibits
The exhibit area is a long room with panels and cases along the outside perimeter as well as a couple of larger tables in the center of the room.
There are tactile exhibits about the history of the area such a pieces of pyrite (fool's gold) from a historic pyrite mining operation in the park. There are also tactile displays on some of the plants and animals that may be seen in the park.
Audio description of the exhibits is not currently available, but may be in the future.
There is a large tactile map table with a topographic representation of the park land.
Rangers are available to help describe the tactile area map and where different park locations are on it.
There is a large tv display near the information desk featuring old videos about the creation of the park. These are not currently audio described.
Pine Grove Picnic Area
Paths
There are multiple areas to park near the Pine Grove Picnic Area. Some of the paths require climbing a short flight of stairs to reach the picnic area, restrooms, and the playground. From the both parking areas, the path without steps is:
349 feet long from the visitor center parking area to the picnic pavilion and 436 feet long from the Pine Grove parking area to the picnic pavilion if using sidewalks.
570 feet long from the visitor center parking area to the playground and 422 feet long from the Pine Grove parking area to the playground if using sidewalks.
210 feet long from both parking areas to the Pine Grove restrooms if using sidewalks.
