Claude Moore Park Visitor Center
Claude Moore Park Visitor Center is a well-maintained park known for its family-friendly amenities and beautiful natural surroundings. It features wheelchair-accessible entrances and parking, picnic tables, a playground with slides, hiking trails suitable for kids, public restrooms, and a kid-friendly environment. The park is popular for nature education programs, especially about native plants and wildlife, and offers a tranquil setting with ponds and shaded trails. Dogs are allowed, making it a great spot for visitors with pets. While the park staff are knowledgeable and helpful according to some reviews, there are mixed experiences noted about interactions with the staff.
Reviews
Park itself is not bad
But the staff is very RUDE,
There was this black lady in golf cart came
And said I can’t even smoke a cigarettes,
How come ? This is public I said and, the signs don’t say no smoke by entrance.
So she made that up.
They have these nosy staff looping around the park every 20 min
Keep bothering you.
We had such a fun visit to Claude Moore Park! It’s a beautiful little nook with a sandbox, fields, and paths.
This park is great for kids, dogs, and even photoshoots!
Park is well maintained. However the staff makes you want to leave. This lady Kathy o whatever her name is wouldn’t stop bothering. We had to request permission to play our music”foreign” so that she wouldn’t feel offended. The pavilion is far away from the parking lot. They claim they are there to help carry stuff, but When she was called out for not doing so. she claimed that she was in the middle of a shift change. She couldn’t spare 5 mins. As we were leaving she clearly saw me struggling carrying items to the vehicle, but she just drove off in other way. We couldn’t have a balloon because of the environment. Yet, she drives around a combustion gas vehicle around all day. I am positive her Gator or mule creates more carbon print than a freaking balloon. If you are a minority I would recommend renting a pavilion. This lady would not leave you alone.
Very cool park. Lots of walking trails, bathrooms in the nature center and a good amount of cool historic buildings. Two ponds and shaded trails through the woods, a small ampitheater and a kids play area with balance beams, two sand pits and a play kitchen as well as some musical instruments. There are a ton of ducks and geese at the second pond on the wooded trails and over by the kids area there were some recreations of primitive style structures. A very cute place for a day trip and easy hikes so it’s kid friendly (my three year old had no problems!). Bring water on hot days though as the main area is a big field until you get on the trails and it can get a smidge hot.
Knowledgeable park staff and always very approachable. Sarah, Bobby, and Gretchen at the visitor center really know the park well. They are often seen helping visitors, including myself, better understand the species of trees, native plants, and animals inside Claude Moore Park. They offer a lot of kid programs and do so much work to keep this one of the best nature centers in the NOVA parks system. The park is a treasure …. the number of butterfly species in the park is the best I have seen anywhere in the world. The staff in the Nature Center is a big factor as to why with their collection inside the park of native plants and habitats.