Volunteers needed to help clean up and maintain trails at Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park

Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park in western Prince William County was the site of two Civil War battles. Today, it consists of 140 acres with 2.7 miles of walking and equestrian trails and abundant wildlife in its fields, woods and ponds.

Those trails need periodic maintenance, and park officials are calling for volunteers to help with a clean up on Saturday, April 7, at the intersection of Iron Brigade Unit Avenue and Tenth Alabama Way at the park, said Historic Site Manager Bill Backus.

Cleaning up and maintaining the trails at the battlefield will be part of the larger National Park Day effort, Backus said. Special attention this year will focus on a 200-yard section of an old road that armies used during the Civil War, Backus said. “For this year, what we’re going to be doing, in addition to our usual activities of picking up trash and redoing mulch trails, is to convert what is the remnants of an old Civil War road into an actual trail that people can use. We’ll have some tools so people can clear out some of the scrub brush, and then we’ll take mulch and mulch that road bed.”

Backus said he thinks people will appreciate the significance of the road after it’s made useful again. “It’s was part of the landscape during the Civil War. The soldiers who went to the battlefield actually used that road.”

For more information, call 703-365-7895.